As the son of two doctors who practiced medicine from home offices and treated sick people around the clock, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman said he knows what constitutes good patient care.

“That’s not what happened here,” the judge told former nursing home supervisor Kathryn Galati yesterday before sentencing her to five years of probation for her role in a failed plan to cover up how a former resident died in 2001.

Judge Cashman also barred Ms. Galati, a registered nurse, from working in health care during that time. Ms. Galati, 61, of the North Side, in March pleaded guilty to perjury, false swearing, conspiracy and tampering with evidence.

Ms. Galati was the supervisor at the defunct Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing, Research and Rehabilitation Center in Robinson when resident Mabel Taylor died on Oct. 26, 2001. Mrs. Taylor, 88, who had Alzheimer’s disease, was trapped overnight in an outdoor courtyard in 40-degree weather.

Investigators accused Ms. Galati of conspiring with former Atrium administrator Martha F. Bell to deceive Mrs. Taylor’s family by directing employees to drag the victim’s body inside, wash and place her in bed and claim she’d died peacefully in her sleep.

Mrs. Taylor’s daughter, Jane Baczewski of Hopewell, testified yesterday of her horror after discovering the “elaborate scheme to conceal” the truth.

“I will live with that picture of my dear mother being dragged on that pavement for the rest of my life,” she said, her voice cracking.

Ms. Galati did not speak yesterday. Her attorney, Leslie Perlow, said she is “not the greatest communicator,” but is remorseful and knows “what she did was wrong.”

A sentence of probation seems a little insufficient to me in this case. A woman died due to the lack of good supervision this nurse failed to provide; and the actions after are just horrible. But I am not a judge or jury in this case.

Previous Posts about this case

Martha F. Bell, the nursing home operator found guilty last week of trying to cover up the death of a client, was sentenced this morning to nearly four years in state prison.

Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman orderd Mrs. Bell, 60, of West Mifflin, to serve 22 to 44 months in state prison. A jury last week convicted her and the nursing home of neglect of a care-dependent person, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

The charges stem from the Oct. 26, 2001, death of Mabel Taylor, 88, who had been a client at the defunct Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Robinson.

Mrs. Taylor, formerly of Crafton, died after she was locked outside in a courtyard where she succumbed to heart disease and exposure to cold.

Mrs. Bell’s sentence is to be served consecutive to a federal prison term.

In October, U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry sentenced Mrs. Bell to serve five years in prison and pay $50,000 in fines following her conviction on one count of health care fraud and eight counts of making false statements on health care matters.

She is to report to a federal prison in West Virginia on Monday to begin that sentence.

Once completed, she will serve the state sentence, which also includes a fine of $25,000, Judge Cashman said.

It doesn’t seem right when one considers that Mrs. Bell ordered the cover up of the events surrounding the death of Mabel Taylor. The jury convicted Bell, and justice has been served. I don’t agree with the sentence, but it sends loud message to other nursing home operators who are of questionable ethics.

A jury yesterday convicted former nursing home administrator Martha F. Bell and the facility she operated on all of the charges they faced in the death of former resident Mabel Taylor.

After hearing testimony for more than four weeks, the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court jury found Mrs. Bell and the nursing home guilty of neglect of a care-dependent person, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

The jury of six women and six men, which deliberated for about eight hours over two days, also found Mrs. Bell guilty of conspiring to cover up the circumstances of Mrs. Taylor’s death at the former Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing, Research and Rehabilitation Center.

Judge David Cashman scheduled sentencing for Monday and allowed Mrs. Bell, 60, of West Mifflin, to remain free on bond. She could face up to 14 1/2 to 29 years in prison and fines of up to $45,000. Atrium could also be fined.

One thing seems certain: A resident died due to poor staffing and management at this nursing home. Ms. Bell allegedly told staff to cover this death up. We’ll see what the jury thinks.

Previous Posts:

Nursing Home Owner Trial Begins

Nurse testifies in cover up of nursing home resident’s death

Jurors Visit Scene of Death

Families Testify

A Tough Woman to work for

Under Martha F. Bell’s direction, the former Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing, Research and Rehabilitation Center became a model facility that provided good to excellent care for its residents, its former medical director testified.

After caring for her late mother and aunts, Mrs. Bell devoted her life to obtaining funding and building a “fantastic” facility where others afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease could live with dignity in a safe, homelike environment, Dr. John M. Prendergast testified yesterday.

Dr. Prendergast was the first defense witness since the prosecution rested in the ongoing trial of Mrs. Bell, 60, of West Mifflin, and Atrium on neglect of a care-dependent person and other charges in the death of resident Mabel Taylor. Mrs. Taylor, 88, died in 2001 after she became locked overnight in an outdoor courtyard at the nursing home in Robinson.

The doctor, who said he was not paid as medical director but used office space at Atrium, said he spent between eight and 12 hours a week and treated patients there.

Before Atrium opened in 1995, people with Alzheimer’s were more likely to stay in their beds or rooms than to be encouraged to walk, eat together or socialize, said Dr. Prendergast, who is director of the division of geriatrics at Mercy Hospital.

Atrium also successfully cared for patients so difficult that other facilities didn’t want them, said Dr. Prendergast, who was medical director from 1995 until shortly before the state closed it in 2004.

“No one has done more [for people with Alzheimer's disease] than that woman,” he said.

Dr. Prendergast described Mrs. Bell as a hands-on, open-door administrator who was available and responsive to residents’ families. He said he believed she was concerned and determined to correct deficiencies cited by state inspectors, but also was frustrated by inspectors’ emphasis on process and lack of helpful recommendations.

Mrs. Bell irritated inspectors by challenging their findings and displaying knowledge of regulations that matched or exceed their own, he said. She also was impatient and did not involve her staff as much as she should have, choosing to handle problems herself rather than delegate, he said.

There is more to read about this.

Previous Posts:

Nursing Home Owner Trial Begins

Nurse testifies in cover up of nursing home resident’s death

Jurors Visit Scene of Death

Families Testify

One daughter of a former patient testified yesterday that Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing, Research and Rehabilitation Center was a deplorable, understaffed place where her mother was injured and neglected.

A daughter-in-law of another patient told jurors the nursing home in Robinson was a loving, clean environment with a caring staff, including its administrator.

It’s strange how different people have different opinions of these things. On any given day, a facility can be clean and appear to be running quite smoothly…and the next day a totally different scene.

Defense attorneys were permitted prematurely to call one witness, Perla Sanchez of Mexico City, because she needed to fly home today before the defense case begins. She said her mother-in-law, a Pittsburgh resident with Alzheimer’s disease, received quality care at the facility from 1996 to 2002.

“They had these nurses helping — they really loved their work,” Ms. Sanchez said. “In case I get that disease, I would like to be in a place like that.”

A series of prosecution witnesses continued finding fault with Atrium’s staffing levels, patient care, management, regulatory compliance, executive compensation and other matters.

Linda Margaret Lasher of Robinson said that she became so concerned by her mother’s falls in 2001 that, after five years there, she moved her to Marian Manor in Green Tree. “There was 180 degrees difference” in attentive care her mother received in the new place, she said.

Dr. William Bader, a geriatrician who stopped serving as an attending physician at the facility in 1998, said Atrium had more state Department of Health violations than other facilities where he tended patients. Mrs. Bell, who headed the nonprofit organization that developed Atrium, became administrator after parting ways with others she had hired for the position.

“I thought if [Mrs. Bell] were the administrator always there wouldn’t be any way to seek correction of the problems,” Dr. Bader said.

Another prosecution witness, a medical staffing contractor, testified that he stopped sending nurses and nurses’ aides to Atrium because Mrs. Bell failed to pay $34,000 he was owed.

Nursing home resident Mabel Taylor died of heart disease, but sudden exposure to cold and stress after she was locked outdoors contributed to her death, a forensic pathologist testified.

An autopsy on Mrs. Taylor showed a blood vessel in her heart was 75 percent blocked and another was 35 percent blocked, Dr. Shaun Ladham testified yesterday. The sudden onset of cold and stress after Mrs. Taylor was locked outside in a fenced nursing home courtyard caused a sudden arrhythmia in her diseased heart, he said.

Dr. Ladham, formerly of the Allegheny County coroner’s office, said he did not believe Mrs. Taylor suffered the arrhythmia before she went outside. Her body temperature indicated she had been dead outdoors for at least two hours, he said.

Previous Posts on This:

Nursing Home Owner Trial Begins

Nurse testifies in cover up of nursing home resident’s death

Jurors Visit Scene of Death

Jurors on Monday will visit a building in Robinson that once housed the nursing home where resident Mabel Taylor died after she was trapped overnight in a fenced outdoor courtyard in 2001.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman yesterday told jurors they will visit the site of the defunct Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing, Research and Rehabilitation Center off Campbells Run Road.

The visit is part of the ongoing trial of Atrium and its former administrator, Martha F. Bell, 60, of West Mifflin.

Mrs. Bell and Atrium are charged with neglect of a care-dependent person, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the death of Mrs. Taylor, 88.

Mrs. Bell also is charged with conspiring to cover up the circumstances of Mrs. Taylor’s death, and theft of payroll.

Atrium was closed by the state in January 2004 and the building was sold. It now is operated by The Bradley Center as a residential treatment facility for children with disabilities.

A nursing home supervisor told other workers that the home’s administrator had directed them to clean the body of resident Mabel Taylor and tell her family she’d died in her sleep, a licensed practical nurse testified yesterday.

Licensed practical nurse Cynthia Osborn said that she and other workers moved Mrs. Taylor’s body inside and used a sheet to drag the body back to Mrs. Taylor’s room after finding her lifeless in an outdoor courtyard.

“I tried to wake her and shake her. She was gone,” said Ms. Osborn, who worked at the former Ronald Reagan Atrium I Nursing, Research and Rehabilitation Center in Robinson. “I went screaming down the hall [for help.]”

After workers lifted Mrs. Taylor’s body into bed, nursing supervisor Kathryn Galati left the room to telephone Atrium administrator Martha F. Bell, Ms. Osborn testified. Ms. Galati returned and told workers that Mrs. Bell had said to wipe off Mrs. Taylor’s body and “we’d take care of it in the morning.

“We were going to tell the family she’d died in her sleep,” Ms. Osborn said, adding that Ms. Galati said an incident report was not to be written. Ms. Osborn said she should have written nursing notes about Mrs. Taylor’s death, but Ms. Galati said she would handle it and allowed her to go home early because she was upset.

Ms. Osborn’s testimony came in the trial of Ms. Bell, 60, of West Mifflin, and Atrium’s parent corporation, the Alzheimer’s Disease Alliance of Western Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

Both are charged with neglect of a care-dependent person, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the death of Mrs. Taylor, 88, who was trapped overnight in the locked courtyard at Atrium. Mrs. Bell also is charged with conspiring to cover up the circumstances of Mrs. Taylor’s death and theft of payroll funds.

Mrs. Bell’s attorney, John Elash, repeatedly questioned Ms. Osborn about her supervision of Mrs. Taylor’s unit of 29 residents, many of whom had Alzheimer’s or dementia, before Mrs. Taylor’s body was found.

Ms. Osborn, who was working alone on the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, conceded that she “glanced” into residents’ rooms but never actually saw Mrs. Taylor. She also acknowledged that she did not perform a thorough check of all residents and alarms that, when activated, rang when exterior doors were opened.

She said she did not have time for more thorough checks because other workers had called off and she was also trying to complete required monthly reports. She said she “took it for granted” that alarms had been activated because Ms. Galati worked on her unit on the previous shift and had reported no problems.

Ms. Osborn said she didn’t ask Ms. Galati for more help because other units had no workers to spare.

“I was there by myself, responsible for all those patients,” she said. “I did the best I could.”

What would YOU do if you were asked to cover up the death of a resident??

PITTSBURGH — The long-awaited trial for a nursing home operator accused of covering up the death of a patient in Robinson Township began Monday.

Prosecutors said Martha Bell is responsible for what happened to a woman with Alzheimer’s disease.

Bell, 60, and the Atrium One Nursing Home are charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and neglect in the death of Mabel Taylor, 88.

In October 2001, Taylor was found dead in the early-morning hours in the courtyard of the nursing home.

Prosecutors said Bell coordinated an attempted cover-up by employees. Prosecutors said Bell told employees to bring the body inside and lie to family, saying the woman died in her sleep.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. IF these allegations are true, the operator and everyone else involved should do a lot of time. I cannot imagine working at this place when this happened; the thought of being an employee there makes me ill.