Family In OKC Nursing Home Abuse Case Frustrated By Investigation

For the family of a 96 year old woman, frustrations have continued to grow. They caught aides on camera abusing Eryetha Mayberry while she was living in the Quail Creek Nursing Home and Retirement Center.

The family said they first reported the abuse in April 2012 but to this day have not seen any findings from an internal investigation that the nursing home was supposed to conduct, according to the Oklahoma Department of Health.

2/28/2013 Related Story: Family In Nursing Home Abuse Case Say Records Being Withheld

Mayberry's daughters planted a camera inside their mother's room when they suspected some of the people inside the home were stealing from her.

"We were just so shocked to find out what was going on," said Sandra Cisper, one of Mayberry's daughter.

The video recording showed two caretakers shoving rubber gloves into Mayberry's mouth. It also appeared that one of the aides pushed Mayberry's head.

Cisper told News 9 on Thursday morning that she did not think enough had been done to investigate her mother's abuse, "Start following up on these cases of abuse that are being reported and no one is doing anything about it."

The Oklahoma Department of Health released the following statement to News 9 in response to the calls for more detailed information about Mayberry's case.

"The Oklahoma State Department of Health has zero tolerance for abuse or neglect of residents in nursing facilities.

From May 2009 to January 2013, the Oklahoma State Department of Health cited nursing facilities for failure to protect residents from abuse 20 times.

In 2007, the Oklahoma State Board of Health and the Oklahoma State Department of Health strengthened the regulations against abuse of residents by requiring nursing facilities to immediately report suspected criminal acts to local law enforcement agencies.

Quail Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in April 2012 reported to local law enforcement as required by Oklahoma law and rules. Law enforcement investigated, two nurse aides were arrested, and one aide was convicted and incarcerated.

Quail Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center filed an incident report with the Oklahoma State Department of Health in April 2012. The report demonstrated that the nursing facility took prompt and appropriate action to intervene and protect residents, and to conduct a thorough investigation. Law enforcement determined that the abuse was the result of a criminal act attributable to the nurse aides.

From July 2011 to June 2012, the Oklahoma State Department of Health:

• Received 1,240 complaints on nursing facilities;

• Cited 1,042 violations based on complaints received;

• Cited 7,603 total violations against nursing facilities;

• Took 404 enforcement actions against nursing facilities based on violations.

Oklahoma had 318 licensed nursing facilities operating in June 2012.

All allegations and complaints of abuse are investigated by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Any person who has information of suspected abuse in a nursing facility is encouraged to call the Oklahoma State Department of Health at 405 271 6868, or send an email to LtcComplaints@health.ok.gov."

Mayberry's daughters both said they thought more abuse was going on than has been reported. They also worry that there could be more victims.

"People need to really be on their toes about if they have loved-ones in nursing homes, keep an eye on them and get a camera," warned Cisper.

Quail Creek Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center said they would issue a statement to News 9 in response to questions about their internal investigation. That statement had not been sent at the time this article was published.