California Nursing Home Neglect Case Goes to Trial
Two Placerville, California nurses have pled not guilty to charges of felony elder abuse in relation to the death of a Cameron Park woman in 2008.
The Sacramento Bee reported that Donna Darlene Palmer, 58, and Rebecca LeAn Smith, 38, denied wrongdoing in the death of Johnnie Esco, 77, a resident of El Dorado Care Center in Placerville. Esco had been a resident only 13 days when she passed away.
The two defendants appeared in El Dorado County Superior Court on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. They are charged with neglecting Esco’s needs, which contributed to her death in March 2008. Palmer was the director of nursing at the facility at the time of Esco’s death. Smith served as a floor nurse on the staff.
Smith turned herself in to California authorities, after having moved to Louisiana, and has agreed to suspend all practice of nursing while the case is being heard. She has been released on her own recognizance to care for her five children.
The California attorney general, who re-filed the charges, did so after a September 2012 Sacramento Bee series on the problem of nursing home falsified records was published, citing Esco’s story. The attorney general’s case represents California’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.
In 2009, Johnnie Esco’s family filed a lawsuit that accused El Dorado Care Center of the alteration and falsification of her medical records.
A request by state prosecutors to have Palmer’s nursing license revoked was denied by the judge in the case. The request will be re-visited when the case concludes. The two nurses’ defense lawyers argued that criminal charges should have been filed in 2008 when the case was originally investigated.
Since graduating magna cum laude in 2005 from the University of Memphis School of Law, Thomas has helped make a difference in the lives of victims of serious personal injury, wrongful death, and professional negligence. Thomas has extensive trial experience in both state and federal court. Among other victories in the courtroom, Thomas obtained several impressive jury verdicts and settlements
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