He 'Rotted to Death.' Ohio's AG Blames Nurses

7 accused of mistreating patients in Columbus
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 15, 2019 11:39 AM CST
He 'Rotted to Death.' Ohio's AG Blames Nurses
Seven nurses are accused of involuntary manslaughter, gross patient neglect, and forgery.   (Getty Images/Martin Barraud)

Seven nurses in Ohio face a combined 34 charges related to the alleged mistreatment of two patients in their care, including one who the state attorney general says "literally rotted to death." Involuntary manslaughter, gross patient neglect, and forgery are among the charges levied against six current and former employees of Whetstone Gardens and Care Center in Columbus and a contracted certified nurse, AG Dave Yost announced Thursday. "Evidence shows these nurses forced the victims to endure awful mistreatment and then lied about it," Yost said of the "gut-wrenching" case, per CNN. He said physical harm befell the second patient as a result of inadequate care, with nurses falsifying the medical records or forging signatures, per 10TV.

A Whetstone rep says four employees were immediately fired after records showed care was administered when the patient wasn't even present at the facility, per CNN. "We were just as mad as everybody," Ryan Stubenrauch tells ABC6. However, the facility disagrees with the claim that three nurses were responsible for the other patient's death from septic shock in March 2017. Yost said nurses delayed in bringing the man to a hospital after wounds he developed were found to be infected with gangrenous and necrotic tissue. But "there are a lot of circumstances around that gentleman" and "we are confident that once those things come out it will be clear that the care he was provided at Whetstone did not contribute to his death," Stubenrauch tells CNN. (This nurse is accused of raping an incapacitated patient.)

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