Impropriety alleged at Ill. nursing home

[cougarnurse]

Just shaking my head on this one: Impropriety alleged at Ill. nursing home - UPI.com

WOODSTOCK, Ill., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Employees of a nursing home in Woodstock, Ill., mistreated their patients and one nurse drugged them just to keep them quiet, investigators say.


Illinois Department of Public Health investigators said in a report that employees at the nursing home formerly known as the Woodstock Residence routinely abused their positions and contributed to the deaths of five patients, the Chicago Tribune said.

There were five suspicious deaths at the facility in 2006, leading to the state investigation.

While no nursing home employees have been formally charged, the report said that drugs such as morphine sulfate that were given to the patients likely contributed to their deaths.

"She won't make it through the day," the report quotes one unidentified nurse as saying about a patient. "I made sure of that."
The unidentified nurse and a site supervisor, whose identity also was not released, are at the center of the impropriety allegations. The Tribune said two former nurses at the nursing home, Marty Himebaugh and Penny Whitlock, are facing charges for allegedly endangering patients' lives.

[cougarnurse]

And this, too: Nursing Home Fined $360K - News Story - WMAQ | Chicago

A northern Illinois nursing home where six patients died suspiciously has been fined $360,000 after regulators alleged a former nurse drugged patients for whom she didn't want to care.

The fines were imposed by both state and federal authorities after the Illinois Department of Public Health report outlined allegations that Marty Himebaugh administered overdoses of drugs so she'd have a quieter shift at the Woodstock Residence home.

Himebaugh and Director of Nursing Penny Whitlock were indicted last spring on criminal charges including neglect stemming from some of the deaths.

Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.