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My Mother's Story

Dear Sirs,

I am contacting your office to ultimately clear up a problem that has been a mystery in itself and had cost my mother and myself a lot of lost time together.

My mother is now deceased and had been a resident of [name] of nursing home in Nebraska, since the early 1990’s-1992. I believe she was placed there if memory serves. My mother did not acclimate easily to this institution's living arrangement.

She had been taken care for a number of years prior to this home by her faithful husband of many years, Mr. T.

She was placed there when he could no longer meet all of her needs that she required.

My mother entered the nursing home suffering from multiple sclerosis and ultimately diabetes and was unable to walk or care for herself.

I am her oldest son from a previous marriage. Before she met and married Mr. T. in 1951, and there were seven children born into this marriage.

Over the years I become separated from the family after joining the United States Navy in 1967, and after moving to Colorado we are all but estranged.

I never failed to visit my mother regularly at home in Nebraska. It was only a distance of 400 miles. My trips to Nebraska eventually included the nursing home where my mother lived out the rest of her life and ultimately passed away at a hospital four years ago this month in Nebraska.

There needs to be accountability this late after her passing for the physical and mental abuse my mother endured during her stay at the nursing home.

I had seen the abuse marks many times on her face from being hit or slapped by person or persons unknown. I would ask her who did this to you mom and she would say “I can’t tell you.”

I had applied for guardianship for my mother years ago since it came to my attention the corporate office was demanding such action be taken on her behalf since she would become a ward of the state if no action were taken soon. That has been about 7 or 8 years ago. I petitioned the [Name] County Court in Nebraska for guardianship of my mother.

On the day of the hearing the opposing attorney representing Mr. T. presented a question that appalled me. I was under oath and asked by the attorney ”Have you ever hit your mother?” It seemed an outrageous thing to ask at the time and led me to believe to this hour that the nursing home had done a lot to hide about her abuse.

I had to think a lot over my mother’s and my history and stated yes I had slapped my mother’s hand in a tussle over a mop as a kid while still in school in Nebraska.

This came about when I was helping my mother clean house. My late little bother M.L. was suffering with Hodgkin’s disease and had a goiter on his neck. Like any other kid, he wanted attention. So he kicked the sweepings I swept up in the kitchen. I turned him around by his shoulders and told him to stop it. He ran to our mother stating I had squeezed his goiter. My mother was in grief about the medical situation with M.L. and her over reacted and clobbered with old style flip handle mop. I wrestled it away from her and slapped her hand telling her she could really hurt me by doing that. That’s all there was to it.

I stated in [Name] County Court after my attorney the late Mr. A. asked me to explain my having stated yes I hit mother as a kid earlier in my testimony.

This testimony of me slapping my mother’s hand as a kid was eventually used to ban me from that nursing home through a supposed banishment order. This came about after I had again complained about seeing slap marks on my mother’s face. Keeping in mind she was an at risk patient at the nursing home.

Ultimately, I was ordered off the property one morning when I came to visit her. How ironic that a sheriff’s deputy arrives after the Director Ms. B embellishes the situation on her telephone. When this sheriff’s deputy arrives he orders me to leave the property and never come back. I asked if he would listen to my side about what had happen to my mother there and he stated that he did not want to hear anything I had to say.

As far I am concerned this deputy was complicit in what was happening to my mother by his actions that day refusing to hear anything on what I had to say about the abuse against my mother and possible abuse on other patients. It was my understanding at that time the deputy had a relative employed at the nursing home.

To sum this entire up, I had to hire another attorney to gain access to my mother. The corporate people had a lot of damage control to do. They assigned a female corporate attorney to bolster their story. I was made to go before a hearing officer multiple times because of this in Nebraska. I was eventually allowed back on the property of the nursing home under supervised visitation arrangements.

Not long before my mother passed one of the nursing home staff members approached me in strict confidence and stated to me that abuse had been going on a long time as I had feared. I believed she had to clear her conscience.

This was a nurse named Ms. L., I am not sure if she was an LPN or RN. She stated the abuse of my mother had started when my mother slapped a staff member, she would not say who the staff member was or why she slapped that person.

(Typed version of written statement)

To this day that persons or persons unknown to me have been able to escape punishment through the justice system and is it is possible that she is still employed at the nursing. Nurse L. also stated to me that she would not reveal the identity of the abuser because it would ultimately cost her job there at the nursing home.

So I would assume collecting her paycheck outweighed the abuse of my mother. This Nurse L. now works for another nursing home in Nevada.

The former Director Ms. B. of the [Name] Facility is now at another nursing home in Nebraska. I wanted this resolved sooner rather than later and I appeal to your office to get this nurse to identify the abuser of my mother, Mrs. T.

I was with my mother when she passed. Before that I promised her I would identify her abuser and try to remove that person or person or persons from the industry and prosecute her abuser.

Respectfully Yours,

Mr. S.

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