Three former nursing home employees will not have to serve time in jail stemming from a resident’s alarm-fatigue related death.
Instead, the trio of providers will serve three months of probation, along with surrendering their medial credentials during that same time period and serving 200 hours of community services, a judge ruled Friday. A New York jury last fall acquitted the three former nursing home workers of felony homicide charges tied to allegations that they ignored alarms warning of a disconnected ventilator. However, each still earned misdemeanor counts of violating public health laws.
“Given the history and the absence of any evidence of malice on the part of the defendants, I don’t think a sentence of imprisonment is necessary,” Acting State Supreme Court Justice Robert Schwartz said Friday.
The incident in question occurred in December 2015, when 81-year-old Carmela Contrera’s ventilator became disconnected at the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility, in Uniondale, NY. Registered nurses Sijimole Reji, 44, and Annieamma Augustine, 59, and certified nurse aide Martine Morland, 43, allegedly heard alarms indicating the disconnection, but they waited nine minutes to intervene. Plaintiff attorneys alleged the three were chatting at their station 40 feet away during those crucial minutes, while the defendants claimed an alarm never sounded throughout the entire unit.
Contrera’s family had sought at least a year in jail and was upset following the judge’s decision. While dodging homicide charges, Morland did earn a felony for falsifying business records.
