Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office arrested a former assisted living facility resident aide shift supervisor for neglect of a resident. Pamela Grice, employed by Magnolia House to provide assistance to residents of the senior living facility, failed to report the fall of a 98-year-old, wheelchair-bound dementia resident, resulting in excruciating injuries. Acting on a referral by Adult Protective Services, a division of the Department of Children and Family Services, MFCU investigators discovered that on Aug. 24, 2019, Grice failed to report the fall of a disabled adult. The investigation revealed that nurses from Big Bend Hospice returned to Magnolia House after the weekend to discover a 98-year-old bedridden dementia patient in excruciating pain with severe bruising on the left leg. When BBH nurses inquired to Magnolia House staff about what caused the injury, no incident reports were made. An X-ray determined the resident suffered a broken hip, with multiple medical opinions concluding the resulting injury could have only been sustained from a fall. Given the resident’s inability to walk, the only cause for the fall was being dropped by an employee.
Interviews conducted throughout the investigation revealed that a Magnolia House employee had difficulty pushing the resident in a wheelchair and accidentally caused the wheelchair to tip over and eject the resident from the chair. The employee immediately called for assistance from Grice—the shift supervisor and only other employee working that shift. Grice assisted in placing the resident back into the wheelchair without proper evaluation of injuries or planning of future medical evaluation. The employee reported the fall to the direct supervisor, Grice; however, Grice neglected to contact family members, medical staff, facility supervisors, ambulatory care services or a hospital to have the resident evaluated for the fall. Furthermore, Grice made no report to alert the resident’s other caregivers of the fall. Grice’s failure to report the fall resulted in a delay of proper care and treatment for the resident’s pain and injuries upwards of two days.
