Three Former Nursing Home Employees Charged with Abuse
Written by Jeff Meyer on May 5, 2015
Though they don’t work there anymore, three former employees at Edmonson Center nursing home reportedly committed a whole host of ghastly abuses against the residents there. This is according to a recently publicized report of a state inspection.
An Investigation by the Inspector General
The investigation was carried out last August by the Kentucky Office of the Inspector General. It concluded that, in total, 12 residents had suffered abuse from three former members of staff. These employees consisted of a state registered nurse’s aide, a registered nurse and a licensed practical nurse. These three shared a shift together at Edmonson Center nursing home.
Sadly, the investigators also discovered that 10 other employees not only knew the abuse was happening, but witnessed it firsthand, yet didn’t intervene or report it. Some of them claimed they were threatened by the licensed practical nurse with retaliation if they tried to come forward.
Suspects and Charges
Three former employees have since been arrested. They are Jerry Snyder, 30, of Leithfield who entered a plea of not guilty to his first-degree criminal abuse charges, of which there were 14. He is also facing another 14 counts of knowingly abusing/neglecting an adult. Then is facing a further 14 for fourth-degree assault. Finally, he is being charged with two counts of second-degree wanton endangerment. However, he has pled non-guilty to all of those charges as well.
Kayla Kinser, 22, and also of Leitchfield is also being charged with Kelly Duvall, 50, of Sweden. They both face four counts of first-degree criminal abuse, four counts of knowingly abusing/neglecting an adult and two counts of second-degree wanton endangerment.
Kinser faces another count of fourth-degree assault and Duvall has four more counts of fourth-degree assault. They both pled not guilty to all of them.
All three of them have their cases set for the end of July in Edmonson Circuit Court.
Those charges really don’t do justice to the level of cruelty these three allegedly committed during their time at Edmonson Center nursing home. The list of alleged assaults includes:
- Dropping a resident into bed while they’re naked
- Putting a gloved finger into the mouth of a resident
- Pinching the breasts and noses of residents
- Slapping a resident
- Jumping on a resident’s bed before pretending to throw up in their ear
- Ice water dumped on a resident
- A resident forced to cluck like a chicken
- A resident sent to bed every night at 6pm
- Access to a personal computer being denied
Again, these are just some of the acts that are said to have been carried out. There was also a lot of non-physical, emotional abuse listed too. Fortunately for the state, many of these crimes were recorded on someone’s phone, meaning they’ll have indisputable evidence to show in court.
Violations Come to Light
The phone call that started it all came back in August. An anonymous employee placed a call with Scott Lindsey who is in charge of marketing and admissions at Edmonson Center. According to Lindsey, the anonymous person asked him to come visit the facility and speak with a specific nurse about the violations. He was told that the caller didn’t want to reach out to the administrator directly for fear they would recognize their voice.
August 3rd, the next day, Lindsey called law enforcement to report the allegations. Soon after the state began their investigation and found that while widespread abuse appeared to be happening, many who knew about it were either threatened by the male staff member or thought nothing would come of complaining.
Unfortunately, this is a reminder that you need to look into any care facility you place a loved one and check with them often about their level of care. If you suspect something is up, call the authorities and contact a good lawyer.
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