Brick Woman's Daughter: My Mother Was Hit At Care Facility

The daughters of a Brick woman have one question: How did their mom get a big bruise around her left eye?

Alison Scioscia and Debbie Noce say they have been trying since Friday to get answers about what happened to their 76-year-old mother, Rosemarie Terlizzi, during the last night of her stay at Care One at Holmdel that caused the bruise. Five days later, they’re not satisfied with what they’ve been told.

“They believe she hit her face on the fax machine behind the nurses’ station,” Noce and Scioscia each said they have been told by staff at Care One. Noce and Scioscia say they believe the real explanation is what Terlizzi told police: “They hit me.”

According to staff at the Holmdel nursing facility, that is not the case.

“We do not comment on specific matters related to patients treated at our center in accordance with privacy and HIPAA guidelines,” Terri Rufo, assistant administrator at Care One at Holmdel, said by email to the Patch. “Regarding this particular issue, however, we are comfortable with the investigation conducted by the local authorities which concluded there was no sign of a fall or assault with the patient in question. These findings are consistent with our own investigation.”

However, the report by Holmdel Township Patrolman Joseph Van Pelt, who responded to Care One at Holmdel on Saturday and spoke with Noce and Terlizzi, says only that it was unclear what caused the bruise:

“I inspected the area of injury on her face; she had a large contusion surrounding her left eye, the upper part of her left cheek and the side of her face which extended up around the side of the forehead. There were no lacerations or any other evident injury which would indicate if the mechanism was an assault or fall, or if it was accidental or intentionally caused,” it says in the report, a copy of which was provided to the Patch.

A review of available records online from Medicare.gov and ratings by other companies reveals issues with care at Care One at Holmdel. None of the available records indicated allegations of patient abuse, however.

A routine inspection by the state Department of Health in October 2014 cited 11 deficiencies, including medication errors and a failure to give thorough discharge instructions, according to the report available on Medicare.gov. The most eggregious issue was in relation to safely cooking, serving and storing food.

Donna Leusner, director of communications for the New Jersey Department of Health, said in an email to the Patch that the department has received complaints about Care One at Holmdel and is looking into them.

“It is an ongoing investigation,” Leusner said. “At the conclusion of the investigation, any survey reports issued and corrective action plans required can be obtained by filing an OPRA request.”

There was no indication in her email of the nature of the complaints.

Rufo said Care One did not know the Holmdel facility was being investigated.

“We are not aware of any open investigations, and we are in full regulatory compliance with the NJ Department of Health operating guidelines,” Rufo said.

She additionally said the center has been awarded the highest rating for quality, five stars, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services.

While that is technically accurate, the quality rating was the only one where the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services rated Care One at five stars. Its overall rating was a below-average two stars, which it also received for staffing. It received one star for health inspections.

“Our center provides higher registered nurse staffing than both the state and national averages and is rated above average by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services for Registered Nurse staffing,” Rufo said.

For her part, Noce has been warning friends to avoid Care One at Holmdel via social media. She said her mother wound up there because it was the only bed available.

Terlizzi came down with the flu in early January, and that and a bout with pneumonia plus a string of urinary tract infections had taken a toll on her, Noce said. Terlizzi was transferred Care One to get her back on her feet after the draining illnesses, Noce said, and Care One was the only facility with an open bed at the time.

“At that age, they (UTIs) knock you out,” Noce said. But after a month, her mother had made no real progress. Coming home has made all the difference, she said.

“Since Sunday (when Terlizzi went home to Brick) she’s a different person,” Noce said. “She’s walking with the walker, she’s getting around well. She’s doing better in two days than she did in a month in that place.”

In his report, Holmdel Patrolman Van Pelt said Terlizzi told him she wanted to leave Care One.

“I asked what happened to her eye and she initally responded “they hit me.” I inquired further and she later responded that she did not know what happened to her eye or how it got injured. She did state that she wanted to leave there because they hurt her,” the report said.

Noce and Scioscia said Care One staff did not handle the situation properly from the start. Scioscia said the staff tried to discharge Terlizzi without a doctor seeing her injury, and Noce said the staff refused to communicate with her even though she was listed on her mother’s health care declarations form.

“They just wanted her out of there,” Noce said. Scioscia, who lives in Watchung, said staffers refused to even give Terlizzi Tylenol for the headache she was experiencing that Friday.

“I said, ‘I’ll give you the $2.99, just give it to her,” Scioscia said.

Scioscia demanded the staff doctor examine Terlizzi, and she contacted her mother’s neurologist, who ordered a CAT scan. The CAT scan was completed at Bayshore Hospital on Saturday, Noce said, and came back negative. But Terlizzi continues to suffer vision problems in her left eye. And she continues to say that someone hit her.

“Her case manager was here and said, ‘What happened to your eye?’ and she told her someone hit her,” Noce said Tuesday.

“We just want answers and we’re not getting them,” she said.

Victor Finamore, a family friend who has a background in health care and who urged Noce to take action, said he has seen cases like this before, but people were too afraid to speak up for their family members, fearing retribution.

“I hope this case encourages others to speak up,” he said.

(Photo: Rosemarie Terlizzi has a bruise around her left eye after an unexplained injury suffered last Thursday during her stay at Care One at Holmdel. Photo courtesy Debbie Noce)