[BobbyB]

Trial begins in neglect case


By AMANDA STEWART
astewart@manassasjm.com
Tuesday, January 8, 2008


In August 2003, Charles Furry couldn't walk.

He could barely move.

He couldn't get to the bathroom by himself.

He couldn't speak.

He needed help to perform the most basic tasks.

And Joann Williams, a nurse's aide assigned to help him, didn't, prosecutors said in Prince William Circuit Court Monday

On the first day of her three-day non-jury trial, Williams, 47, pleaded not guilty to abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult, obtaining money by false pretenses and five counts of making false statements.

Defense attorney John Carroll argued that Furry's condition was deteriorating long before Williams was assigned to his case.

For about two months in the summer of 2003, Williams, working with the Woodbridge-based Sierra Home Health Care, was assigned to provide personal care to Furry, a 55-year-old man diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gerhig's disease, among other illnesses.

Her job was to visit his apartment, bathe and feed him, perform light housekeeping and identify any other medical needs he might have, Assistant Attorney General Steven W. Grist said.

Prosecutors said Williams provided "grotesquely inadequate care."

On Aug. 21, 2003, Williams's nursing supervisor, Isatu Wurie, visited Furry's apartment and found him sitting, immobile, in an armchair. He was covered in urine and maggots, prosecutors said. Williams was not there.

Wurie called a non-emergency number for paramedics.

When the paramedics responded, they took Furry to Potomac Hospital for treatment.

Prosecutors argued that Furry's condition on that day indicted that Williams had not been caring for him.

About two weeks after paramedics took him to the hospital, Furry died of Lou Gehrig's disease, according to court records.

Prosecutors also said that Williams made false statements by submitting aid records to her employer indicating that she had done certain tasks to care for him. The records had to kept in order for Medicaid to pay her, prosecutors said.

In late spring 2003, officials from Prince William County's Community Services Board recommended that Furry be moved to a nursing facility, where he could receive more care, Carroll, Williams' attorney, said.

Furry refused to go, he said.

After that, Sierra Home Health Care was hired to provide at-home care for Furry.

Williams, a newly hired nurse's aide, was assigned to Furry; he was her first client, Carroll said.

Soon after she began caring for him, Williams noticed his condition deteriorating. She saw sores on his swollen feet and noticed he was no longer able to walk.

At that point Williams asked for help, Carroll said.

"She notified Sierra Home Health Care ... and she received no help," he said in opening statements.

In July, a jury found Wurie, the nursing supervisor, not guilty of abuse and neglect.

Williams' trial continues today.

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[Alffe]

Another example of why we need a health care program in this country.
People aren't just falling through the cracks...we are killing them with neglect.

[Alffe]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries.


The study by the Commonwealth Fund and published in the January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare.

The study, entitled "Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis," was written by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It looked at death rates in subjects younger than 75 that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care.

The researchers found that while most countries surveyed saw preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States saw only a four percent dip.

The non-profit Commonwealth Fund, which financed the study, expressed alarm at the findings.

"It is startling to see the US falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less."

The 19 countries, in order of best to worst, were: France, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Some countries showed dramatic improvement in the periods studied -- 1997 and 1998 and again between 2002 and 2003 -- outpacing the United States, which showed only slight improvement.

White the United States ranked 15th of 19 between 1997-98, by 2002-03 it had fallen to last place.

"It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the US," said Ellen Nolte, lead author of the study.

Had the United States performed as well as any of the top three industrialized countries, there would have been 101,000 fewer deaths per year, the researchers said.