HILLSDALE - Two former nursing home executives who have been charged with patient abuse face preliminary hearings next week in Hillsdale Circuit Court.
The Michigan Attorney General's Office filed two counts of nursing home patient abuse against Laura Tackett, the former director of nursing at Litchfield Nursing Centre in Litchfield.
In addition, the state charged Ms. Tackett, of Homer, and Mary Tamlyn, Litchfield's former administrator, with two counts each of failing to report patient abuse to state authorities.
The two were arraigned last week in Hillsdale District Court and are free on personal recognizance bonds pending a pretrial hearing Sept. 27.
If convicted, Ms. Tackett faces up to one year in prison and up to 90 days in jail for failing to report patient abuse.
She denies the allegations, which stem from incidents in February, 2005.The complaint alleges that two patients went into respiratory distress and needed to have their airways suctioned.
Mike Cox, the state attorney general, said the equipment used for this procedure failed to operate properly. The state said its investigation showed that these problems had occurred previously, and had not been corrected.
The current executive director of the facility, Mark Major, said that since he was brought in to run the 50-bed long-term-care facility a year ago, "we have had no issues."
"When patients are placed in a nursing home, the facility is entrusted to look after their well-being," Mr. Cox said in a statement. "What is alleged to have taken place at Litchfield is intolerable. Two patients were placed in danger as a result of this harmful neglect."
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