Danvers Nursing Home Residents Say They Were Abused

DANVERS, MA — State officials ordered the Brentwood Nursing Home in Danvers to submit a correction plan after investigating reports of abuse from residents. Residents reported a wide range of physical and verbal abuse, including being choked, dragged into a room and being left alone, and lapses in care. The reports of inspections by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in July, August and December 2018 were made public on the Website Nursing Home Compare.

Brentwood, according to the reports, did not always report of investigate the abuse allegations as required by state law. A spokesperson for Brentwood was not immediately available for comment Monday, but over the weekend administrator Carly Veiga told the Salem News that it was working on improvements, and reports from a more recent inspection will show the facility is "moving in the right direction."

Among the allegations in the inspection reports:

• A resident reported being choked by a nursing assistant on March 19, 2018 after taking extra packages of cookies off of a cart. The resident reported the incident to a nurse, but she took no action on it because she did not believe the resident.
• State inspectors reviewed video footage that showed a nursing assistant drag a resident into a room on July 24, 2018 and left the resident alone in the room.
• A resident reported a nursing assistant had grabbed her hand and nearly broke it in Nov. 2018.
• A resident suffered from incontinence after staff refused to take the resident to the bathroom.
• One resident said a staff member yelled "get the [expletive deleted] out of my way while I make my tea."
• During one inspection, an official saw a resident dripping blood from an open thigh wound with no dressing. The resident was moaning from the pain, the report said.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).