Dr. Hoshang Pormir, Gwen Hughes DON, and Pamela Ott former CEO, of the Kern Valley Healthcare District agreed to waive their rights to a speedy preliminary hearing as the court date today was continued until Jan. 5.
But it was an interesting day which has lead me to all sorts of vital information which I will turn into predictions. Some of which I will tell you, some not.
Gwen Hughes scapegoat from the beginning
I stood in the hall way in the basement of the courtroom in front of the court room the defendants were listed to be heard for the pre-prelim.
Gwen Hughes, who has taken most of the blame by witnesses and by the administrators of the hospital, sat across from me in the hallway in her wheelchair.
Hughes is reported to have suffered from Polio, and uses her wheelchair on a part time basis.
When Hughes started her employment at KVHD which lasted all of six months, she came into the skilled nursing facility on the heels of a negative report from public health on the conditions in the skilled nursing facility.
One of the many things needing to be corrected according to the state in March of 2006, was the use of physical restraints. A dignified dining experience was also cited as it is easier with a short staff to feed the residents in their rooms rather than have employees take them to the dining room.
Another issue was the fact that the administrator, Pam Ott, did not have a nursing home administrators license, and that there was no full time director of nursing.
Certain drugs were being utilized, such as Ativan, and psychotropic drugs as well.
A bigger issue played off by the CNO of the time, Sharon Brucker, was the fact that patients were losing weight, a lot of weight.
So, when Hughes came on as full time director of nursing for the skilled nursing facility, she had a lot of cleaning up to do. And one the things she allegedly had experience in was the medications used in geriatric homes.
Hughes started her job in August of 2006, and left as Ott said at one time or was fired as Ott said another time.
The director of nursing was "allowed" to do what she did. She didn't do it on her own.
A CNA told me that when she met Hughes, she was told all patients come out of their rooms for meals. The nurses aid said she tried to tell her some of them chose not to and some could not.
It was all about correcting the mistakes from the prior year, but there was the issue that staff had been cut, and there wasn't a full contingent in the SNF at the time.
Which would lead to certain safety issue situations.
As Ott called the problems in the skilled nursing facility a "system's failure," you can't help but say the system's failure took place "before" the start of Gwen Hughes' employment, and went on afterwards.
How can you blame that on a person who was in a very temporary situation? The leadership however should have known and not tried to escape responsibility, but use it to make the improvements.
Risk assessment by liability carrier Betahc
We recently heard at the last board meeting in October that the hospital''s liability insurance company, Beta group, had recently completed a risk assessment of the nursing center and were impressed though they had some suggestions.
It came to my attention recently that the liability company was in the skilled nursing center under the guidance of the CNO, at the end of 2006. If this was the case, then they also did not catch the problems, and are therefore part of the problem.
The court date, today
Pam Ott and three unidentified people, except for the fourth, Jim Faulkner Ott's attorney, who spotted me early on and kept all conversation with his client down the hall away from me.
But today, it wasn't Jim Faulkner not realizing I was standing there listening intently to every word and even doing some lip reading: it was Steve Muni, a deputy attorney general with state medi-cal fraud office.
While I standing there watching Gwen Hughes adjust her gloves she uses for her wheelchair, her attorney, Bruce Blythe came out of the courtroom with another man, unidentified at the time, and they began chatting like friends.
I'd seen and listened to Bruce Blythe in the hall of the court last time I was there, in September, he didn't seem to be quite as friendly nor was he beaming and grinning from ear to ear.
So, noticing the blushing Blythe I turned my attention to whatever was making him so darn happy. He even turned and waved at his client who was stuck out in the hall.
As I listened to the conversation I realized something was happening in that the defendants and their attorneys were so pliable as to waive their rights to a speedy trial. All three defendants did this.
Why would you do that unless there will be some plea bargaining out.
The reason given for the continuance was that the attorneys for Pormir were going to be in court during this time frame.
That doesn't make much sense either unless you happen to overhear a conversation in the hall.
After we saw the judge
We all filed into the courtroom and the judge, I'll get her name for you since she seems to think it's okay to let elder abuse defendant, Pam Ott, swing in like she was getting a quick lunch, without bail, or a truly practical set of specific parameters.
The judge didn't look at Ott as being an imminent threat, but she is more of a threat than the other two.
Though Ott is not charged for what she did to the employees at the hospital, or the defamation of all who opposed her, she is not only a threat to the elderly but to those who would disagree or expose her bad deeds.
And she can lead people down the wrong path, expound a faulty philosophy, lie to a whole community: yet, she isn't a threat.
I do give credit to the woman from the Board of Registered Nursing who gave the judge a round of why Ott should have to check in before being employed in any "leadership" role. I agree. And, sorry I didn't catch the name of this woman, but she seemed to be the only one making sense today.
The judge, of course, fluffed up her power and denied the Board of Nursing's request.
Now the Board of Nursing has a complaint filed by me personally, as Ott claimed to be a "Nurse Practioner" which is much different than being a Registered Nurse, which is the license she has on file.
I have an email where Ott claims these extra credentials which I sent to the Board of Nursing with my complaint.
So, Ott allowed a stranger, a new director of nursing to run the nursing center. The CNO, Brucker, did the same thing. They covered it up, which many people can testify to. And before the proverbial meltdown occurred, the CNO left her position and a few months later Ott ran out the door.
Elderly residents at the very least were not given proper attention which may have been more the reason that there were allegedly untimely deaths. Not staffing the necessary amount of staff is bad enough, but it's the kind of staff that counts: it's the nurse's aides who are closest to the patients.
Hello Mr. Muni, I'm Laura Hart
After court the players in the game the state and the attorneys headed out the courtroom door with me in chase, looking for Steve Muni.
I introduced myself, which of course, made him irritated because now he knew who the person was who was so interested in his conversation with the defense attorney for Hughes.
I asked a few questions about the continuance which he said had to do with Dr. Pormir's attorney's schedules.
I said what will happen at this status conference, why are they having it before the preliminary hearing?
Muni told me, "somebody could plead out."
The next question was were we (the state) ready to go to trial.
"we're always prepared to go to trial," he said.
Pam Ott pacing up and down the hall
She must have passed me at least four times, as Ott waited outside the court room, while attorneys piled up on the inside. She never looked at me, though I did smile and said hello. (just trying to be polite)
She seemed to be in a good mood, but still would not look ovedr at me.
Come Jan.5 we will find out if the state is ready to go for trial and if they are going to add other defendants and charges.
I'm not soo sure we should get our hopes up on this be disappointed.
Board of Directors reular monthly board meeting will be held tomrrow night, Nov. 4 at 5:30 pm in the hospital cafeteria.
With all the informtion out there about the pharmacy, we will hopefully hear about the hospital's new strategy, the employees situation, and what to do about Cheif Financial Officer, Chet Beedle.
Ask questions get answers (even though so many have been lies, still do it)as it will prove time and again that the hospital administrators and some board members are not telling the truth.
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