When Mean Girls Lurk in the Nursing Home

Albert Lea, MNThey appear to be just your average teen, pictured smiling and bedecked in a sports jersey and sweater. In contrast, a horrific story of nursing home abuse is emerging at the hands of two teenage girls, and a collection of minors too young to be legally identified for their alleged role in nursing home negligence. The resulting story is yet another sordid tale of nursing home neglect—the neglect, is that it had to happen in the first place.

According to reports, eight teens working as part-time nursing assistants at the Good Samaritan Society Nursing home in Albert Lea, Minnesota are accused of taking turns abusing seven residents at the facility between January 1st and May 1st of this year. The alleged offences range from taunting a resident by repeatedly removing his hat, to lying in bed beside a resident and inserting a finger into the resident's anus.

It is alleged that the incidents were videotaped for posterity.

An investigation into the alleged offences against vulnerable elderly adults suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia was launched in May.

ABC News reported that as part of the probe, in May, co-accused Brianna Broitzman admitted to police that she had poked a resident in the breasts. An unidentified co-accused, not identified because she is a minor, reportedly told police that Broitzman and co-accused Ashton Larson made a habit of playing with a patient's cane, riding it like a horse. They would then proceed to strike the resident's buttocks with it.

Larson allegedly admitted to spitting water on a resident, lying in bed and kissing a resident—and at one point inserting a finger into the patient's rectum.
The teen also admitted to patting a resident's buttocks.

In another report, one of the unidentified minors who have been accused recalled that Ashton was sponge-bathing a male resident, "…rougher than they needed to, and he got an erection from it."

The rubbing of residents' genitals is but one of the alleged offences committed against the residents of Good Samaritan. The eight teens facing charges could face up to a year in prison and a fine of $300,000—however those close to the investigation expect the teens to be let off with probation and a suspended sentence. The hammer would come down, were they to ever get into trouble subsequently.

Brianna Broitzman, 19, and Ashton Larson, 18, are the two adults identified. Broitzman faces a total of 11 criminal charges while Larson faces 10. Those charges include assault, and abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact.

Some of the others are in trouble not for participating per se, but for not coming forward with knowledge of the incidents.

A spokesperson for the nursing home reportedly told a local news station in Minnesota that principles at the facility were devastated at hearing the news, and of the allegations. Mark Anderson, the administrator for the facility, was quoted by a local news source in Minnesota as saying "Our hearts are in the right place. We're moving forward. Our heads are held up high."

Indeed.

To be fair, nursing home abuse can, and has caused grievous injury to residents, and even death. It appears, in contrast, that resident's safety at the Good Samaritan was never in jeopardy. However, their dignity is another matter entirely. And for nursing home negligence to be minimized, one would expect there needs to be much more facility and care supervision on the floor, and more due diligence in hiring. For such sordid behavior to be allowed to happen is symptomatic of nursing home neglect. The teens are accused of carrying out the misdeeds. However, the facility allowed it to happen. Shame on them all.

Pride and dignity are just as important, to some, as health and safety. Look for lawsuits to stem from this one.