Rome woman pleads guilty to elder abuse

ajc.com

Credit: Lois Norder

Credit: Lois Norder

An 84-year-old, bedridden nursing home patient suffered about 100 ant bites after she was left unattended for 11 hours. And last month, three former nursing home employees were sentenced in an Alabama court for neglect of the woman.

Shawna Rogers of Rome and two Alabama women, Sandra Michele Curry and Kacey Minerva Allen, each pleaded guilty in December to one count of attempted elder abuse.

The three were responsible for the woman's care at Cherokee County Health and Rehabilitation Center in Alabama, and they had listed in a chart that they had checked her throughout the night of Sept. 3, 2016, according to news reports.

But surveillance video reviewed after the patient's injuries were discovered showed none of them had entered the woman's room, the reports say. The woman reportedly recovered after the bites, a report by the Chattanooga Times Free Press says.

All three former employees were sentenced to two years in prison, but their sentences were suspended and all three were placed on probation. They are barred from further work in a healthcare facility.