The elderly often have a long list of medications that they need to maintain good health and live comfortably. They also depend on the staff of their nursing home to distribute and monitor their medications properly. As nursing home abuse lawyers, we know that most elder abuse and neglect is most of the time an abuse of power. We have seen many cases where caretakers or nursing home staff takes advantage of their access to medications and medical supplies for their own benefit or drug habit. Stealing medications that were intended for the elderly or disabled is both a criminal act and neglect of the patients who need those medications. These caretakers are abusing their position for their own gain, which cannot be tolerated.
Care Worker Steals and Uses Pain Medication While on Duty
Peggy Ballinger, a 55-year-old former care provider at the Alois Alzheimer Center, is facing charges after being accused of stealing pain medications from her Alzheimer’s patients. She is being charged with two counts of theft, two counts of deception to obtain a dangerous drug and two counts of illegal processing of drug documents. She falsified the facility’s drug logs, used a preprinted blank prescription, and stole Percocet and Vicodin. Ballinger is even being accused by a co-worker of consuming the drugs and being high while on duty at the care facility. She was arrested late on Monday, November 21 and is scheduled for an arraignment this week.
Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If your loved one is being taken advantage of, not given the medications they need, or you believe the care they are receiving is abusive or negligent, you should contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation. You may also call for a free consultation with one of our nursing home abuse lawyers at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, and (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Brian Watt, a 29-year-old sex offender and former certified nursing assistant at the facility, was arrested on September 9. He was charged with 
Sandy Pasch originally wrote the bill in an attempt to disallow courts to consider healthcare provider’s apologies, but since the bill became more expanded, she elected to vote against the bill. Pasch, a nurse, was quoted as saying,
Richard Lee Wallace, 57, is standing trial this month for charges of elder abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in death. Paramedics found his 86-year-old mother, Elise Wallace, dead in the home they shared on April 18. They found her body on the couch of the messy home covered in maggot-filled bedsores, gangrene, and surrounded by hundreds of flies. The paramedics testified that she had been dead no more than an hour when they arrived. The cause of death was determined to be a 
According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Diane Hallman, her mother’s death was the result of neglect by the Regent Care Center where the elderly woman was living. Rachel Mohr, 78, was found on March 4 yelling for help on the floor next to her bed. The lawsuit says that Mohr was put back in bed after she suffered head trauma and bleeding. “She was neurologically alert, coherent and in severe pain. She was placed back in bed and was later discovered nonresponsive,” the lawsuit claims. She was taken to the hospital where she died from the severe and fatal neurological injuries she suffered during the fall.
Carle has served as an advisor on a project by the GTX Corporation to develop location-tracking shoes with a GPS in the heel. They were developing the shoe for marathon runners and children when Carle “pointed out why this was an ideal technology for people with dementia who wander.” There has been GPS pocket devices, wristbands, and bracelets and pendants with names and contact numbers on the market but these were easily lost or removed. The wearer is much less likely to remove their shoes. The shoe’s technology will allow a family member to set a perimeter such as the house and yard that the wearer can move around freely, “But if he breaks the fence, Google maps pops up on my computer or my phone to show me where he is,” Carle explained. When it comes out on the market, the shoe is going to cost about $300 with a $30 to $40 monthly subscription fee.
