Four nurses from the Woodmere Rehabilitation Health Care Center, including one from East Williston, were arrested yesterday for allegedly fudging documents to cover up the neglect of a patient, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced.
Riadel Manzano, 43 of East Williston, Rodel Placino, 44 of Hewlett, Marrianne Borromeo, age 41 of Woodside, and Benetia Johnson, 25 of St. Albans, were working as nurses and supervising nurses caring for patients at Woodmere during the period from June 1 to June 9, 2012, when they failed to properly monitor a disabled patient, Schneiderman said. According to court filings, the nurses falsely documented or instructed others to falsely document that a disabled nursing home resident had been monitored every 30 for his safety, as ordered by his physician after a series of falls.
“The charges in this case allege a shocking level of neglect and mistreatment, which caused serious injury to a patient,” Schneiderman stated. “We have no tolerance for nursing home employees who fail to provide responsible care to patients in need. New Yorkers must know that their loved ones in nursing facilities are safe and being cared for by trustworthy individuals.”
The court documents said a resident fell and lacerated his head. He was hospitalized and received staples to his scalp. The resident returned to Woodmere the following day and was found on the floor, which preceded a second hospitalization for respiratory failure and pulmonary edema.
The four nurses were arrested by Schneiderman’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit on June 10, 2015, and charged with falsifying business records in the first degree. Manzano, the former director of nursing services at Woodmere who supervised the other three defendants, was also charged with first-degree offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and tampering with physical evidence.
The nurses were arraigned before Judge Paul Meli in First District Court in Hempstead yesterday. The cases of Manzano, Placino and Borromeo were adjourned for conferences on June 16 and Johnson’s next court date was adjourned until June 22 in Mineola.
