Nursing home staff fired after posting video taunting woman with dementia
Video / WGN
Two nursing home workers have been fired after they uploaded footage of themselves cruelly taunting a 91-year-old dementia patient while dressing her in a gown.
Illinois patient Margaret Collins grew increasingly upset, flailing her arms and pushing the two nurses away after they threw a gown at her, taunting herto put it on while hurling abuse her way.
"She's waving her arms because of one reason. She doesn't have the mobility to get away. That's the only option she has to protect herself," her son Tom Collins told ABC 7.
In the video one of the nurses can be heard saying "Margaret hates gowns" as well as posting two laughing emojis on the snapchat video.
The 91-year-old's family say staff knew Margaret didn't like gowns, instead preferred to wear her own clothing.
"They deliberately taunted and bullied my mum," Joan Biebel, Collins' daughter, said in a statement. "They did this for their own entertainment, and posted it for their friends."
Margaret Collins, a 91-year-old great grandmother with dementia, was taunted by two nursing home workers in a Snapchat video they shot appearing to try and force her to wear a hospital gown.
An investigation was launched by the nursing home, who came back saying the allegations were "unsubstantiated", and just six days later allowed the two nurses to continue working.
Margaret was moved from The Abington, but she was afraid of a "repeat attack" and her family had to hire a private caregiver to be with her because her health deteriorated.
Margaret's son said the incident "really set her back."
Margaret's family, who also said she "was heartbroken because she loved these kids," had also contacted police after seeing the video.
Jamie Montesa and Brayan Cortez were arrested after taunting a 91-year-old woman with dementia at a nursing home where they worked. Photo / Glenview Police Department
Family members complained the terminations didn't happen fast enough, which for them was evidence the facility had turned a blind eye.
"They violate her safety, her privacy, and then they do a slow walk to correct the behaviour?" Margaret's son Tom said.
The incident last December.
Cortez and Montesa confessed to being involved with the video and were charged in January with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanour, according to a report from the Glenview Police Department.
The nursing home said in a statement: "The privacy and dignity of our residents are of the utmost concern at the Abington. Recently, two employees were immediately terminated when it was determined that they violated our standards and policies."
