what a strange trip it's been...and still is!

Some things are ridiculous...

Since the 2006/2007 KVHD elder abuse case flopped on it's face last year we now get to see such players as Pam Ott gassing up her diesel truck at Costco. Perhaps on her way to work. Where does one who is charged with eight counts of criminal elder abuse happen to be employed?

The California Department of Justice initially overlooked Ott as a defendant in their case in 2009. The DOJ hauled in three other defendants in February of that year, but Ott get caught at the helm of a sinking ship at Sierra Kings District Hospital in Reedley.

As I've stated repeatedly, Ott as CEO, left Sierra Kings at the edge of bankruptcy, and others allege she took money from that hospital's General Obligation Bond money along with employee pensions! That's big time crime from a small town criminal. I would have hoped the Fresno DA would have been more open to getting a case together. Ott slipped out of that noose too!

More tales of the bizarre that the three elder abuse defendants, a doctor, a nurse, and a CEO, all seem to have been able to gain employment back into the business they failed: healthcare.

Others who were scapegoats or simply run under the KVHD bus, have not fared as well as their former employers.

What we have here is a case of reverse justice. It's simple that the bad guys won the first rounds. We waged a righteous war (or I did), and somehow this ended up on it's head.

I've never seen so many cowards in my life!

The people who would not speak out or come forward, the one's hiding in the shadows preying on the tiny healthcare district, caused the problems getting true justice. I won't say their names, maybe just their credentials, CEO, CFO, CCO, CNO, board member, DA, Governor, Assemblywoman, Senator, etc...

Instead of helping the people effected such as the family of the people chemically restrained, these same cowards ignored these people. I took on the role to help families heal their pain. I made sure they were heard by someone, their pain understood and action taken.

Whatever the state and the attorneys who will profit from this fiasco think of their case it's not as real or thorough as what I put together. However, they do not want my case, they want their own cases. I'm afraid that's the lesson here, they have the cases they want to have. They will begin the spin! It's no longer about truth or justice.

So, what does an elder abused charged CEO do in her off time? Murder isn't murder anymore, we are half way to ending the lives of our family who can no longer fend for themselves. It's a true scenario to put these people "to sleep" "out of their misery." KVHD accomplished this task. And with the help of the CEO, who maybe working at a healthcare district or hospital near you!

KVHD Elder Abuse case scheduled Jan. 5: we will get you the report

If it's rotten at the top...

Former Kern Valley Healthcare District, CEO, Pam Ott, is scheduled in court today, Jan. 5, along with the Director of nursing she hired, Gwen Hughes, and a doctor who had been with the district ten years before Ott even arrived, Dr. Hoshang Pormir.

http://www.kern.courts.ca.gov/

For more information on the times and charges, go to the Kern County Superior court link, and you can look up the criminal as well as certain civil cases that are underway or have concluded.

Pam Ott, who seems to be the last defendant charged by the state, Medi-cal fraud and elder abuse, as well as spending time under the scrutiny of the board of registered nursing.

Ott was hired on in 2003 as the CEO of the KVHD hospital. Her resume showed two obviously, had someone actually looked at it, degrees from a school not even accredited in the state.

But that major flaw that the board of director's and former CEO, David Green, from BRIM management company, brought in around 2000, after the  board negated a contract with William Casey who was thrust upon the district by our creditor, Cal Mtg.

After Green streaked out of here leaving Ott in charge of the henhouse, things slowly but surely began to change.

The Ott regime has been dilineated on this blog, but again, the day before we head back to court I can't help wondering why there wasn't more that was taken off the top?

The people in charge at the time were all mandated reporters, meaning they would have had to turn themselves in for ignoring serious problems caused by staffing cuts which lead to unsafe conditions.

We had Ott at the top of administration, the CEO, and the one who signed the reports for the skilled nursing facility: the very same one she claims she knew nothing about what they were really doing in there. (Hey, she signed these forms as administrator, not as "I guess that's what they're doing.")

Her second in command, former Chief Nursing Officer, Sharon Brucker, was so close to the situation, knew and heard all the complaints, and finally succumbed to the paranoia brought on by Ott's fear that someone, anyone, a sick reporter, may find out.

Brucker was involved in a coupe against the hospital's own employees. Like CFO, Chet Beedle, and Human Resources leader, Michelle Rosato, all "top guns," who broke the privacy laws by trying to impugn the reputations of certain employees who didn't agree with them. (later it would be the firing squad as times got more desperate.)

Ott, Brucker, Beedle, Rosato: CEO, CNO, HR, knew nothing about what was happening in the skilled nursing facility? The top administrators?

But what about the board of directors whom this community votes into place, the one's who are to keep the people, voters, patients, rights overseen, were cramped up into a ball of three out of five. (the sticky three, a quorum in a five person board)

Bob Jamison defended Ott even after her resignation. He used the radio station, his employer, and formerly paid for advertisements by KVHD, to defend Ott.

Former board member, Barbara Casas was apparently unaware that Ott was calling her "crazy" and other names behind her back, (I have emails) as she was used basically for the third vote.

And Brad Armstrong, what can you say about somebody who has the opportunity to save lives and careers but does nothing but attack the victims? His message hasn't changed: the employees are and were the problem. (I disagree. He allowed the problem to continue and created a hostile environment where the truth that the CEO, CNO, CFO, and HR were involved was not to be spoken without recourse)

How to get fired or get a reputation: by KVHD employees

I remember the nurse who wrote this very well. She came to me after she was fired, because there was nobody out there who came to help.

We were alone in our investigation. Yes, it was reported to many agencies, whom I will call soon, because as I said, this is the year of "accountability."

Public health didn't just recieve one phone call, no matter what they try to sell you, they just didn't know how bad it really was and they had a very persuasive CEO, in Ott, to deal with.

The Kern County Grand Jury didn't think much of our situation here either.

Oh, and the media, well, they weren't going to cut their own purse strings, and some were bold enough to lie and dupe anyone who would listen.

This nurse knew that Ott was aware of the situation. Why? Because she was one of many who complained. She was fired.

I'm a nurse practitioner and I can help you

In November of 2006, one month after I had a sudden weight loss which never resolved, I had to tell my "friend" at the time, Pam Ott, that I had a nightmare experience in the emergency room.

I went in seeking "food" but intravenously, because I was wasting away. Instead I got loaded full of drugs which "blacked me out." (we will address the irony of this situation in another blog, Rural Health Clinic, Jewel of the District)

Unfortunately, they sent me home intoxicated and driving by myself. I don't rememeber how I got home. I was alarmed.

So, I told Ott what had happened, and now began a whole new round of trying to help me, checking on what I'm eating, making referrals with doctors inside the hospital so I don't get too excited and tell someone about what happened.

In this email to me from Ott, she tells me that she wants to help me get better, and that she was a "very good nurse practitioner" at one time.

Ott, according to state records, has a registered nursing license she recieved from Fresno city college in 1971, but she was not a nurse practitioner.

So, what does that make her telling me she was a nurse practitioner? A liar, yes, but also someone who would say and do anything to cover thier own butt. Who would openly lie about credentials as Ott did?

And the state almost left her behind in this investigation. Jerry, Steve, Donny, she is the one you want to prosecute, the one to put in front of a jury.

But I am dissappointed that you didn't take the top layer. You have done so in many cases coming through on your public relations pipeline: why not us? This is a form of the corporate fraud you like to tangle with. Or get money from or something like that.

As you  can see I continued the effort to unveil Ott, but I also stay on here at the hospital waiting to unveil the rest your "big time attorney general's office" chooses to ignore.

No, no, it's okay, I'll finish your work for you. If you're too afraid to get mixed up with obvious wrongdoing, I guess we will fend for ourselves.

I'm taking one of them, Bob Jamison, to small claims next month, and then I guess you will just have to wait and see what I do next.

See you in court...

Pam Ott appears: at Kern County Court, case continued, information collected

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.

How did the media do on Ott's story...I give best story to the Bakersfield Californian

As you can imagine in your nightmares, I went and checked on all the media coverage regarding the elder abuse charges against former CEO of the Kern Valley Healthcare District, Pamela Ott, this week.

Some of it, was laughable, others used straight news releases from the Department of Justice, some used the news releases as foundation for their articles, then other crashed so much information on top of you it was hard to understand.

Of all the outlets covering, I say The Bakersfield Californian did the best job. Good facts, simplicity of coverage, best quote award and it was well written.

Ott's attorney, Jim Faulkner, said she was completely innocent. Boy are we going to have fun with that.

I know I popped the Californian in the jaw earlier this year, and explained to them that we are not just "carnage canyon" to feed breaking news, we have a "history" up here, that the surrounding beauty does not belie.

So, I emailed all of the media outlets with corrections, (I'm sure they just loved that) and let it go at that.

Basic facts:

Here are some of the basic facts:

This happened at the Kern Valley Healthcare District in Mt. Mesa California. KVHD is a public healthcare district.

They have a hospital and a skilled nursing center in the same building.

Pam Ott has phony credentials as to her administration degrees. Google, Kennedy Western University.

The state investigation runs from Aug. 1, 2006 until Jan. 25, 2007.

Ott resigned in May 2007, when the the civil lawsuits began to appear.

Ott worked with a board of directors, who had a quorum, three of the five always voted the way Ott wanted them too. Open Brown act violations occurred.

It's no doubt the board knew what was going on as well.

Feb. 20 of this year, the state charged, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, the medical director for the SNF, Debbi Hayes, the Pharmacist, and Gwen Hughes, the director of nursing who began working at the hospital after Ott and her CNO, were tagged by CMS/DHS in 2006 for using physical restraints and short staffing.

Aug. 14, Debbi Hayes, the pharmacist plead no contest to a conspiracy charge, got a one year suspended sentence, three years of probation, and community service so she can become a witness in the case.

On Sept. 8, it was supposed to be the pre preliminary hearing for the doctor and director of nursing, but Ott got the spotlight as they charged her that day, and the case was continued to Nov.3 and 4.

Ott's charged and walks out on own recognizance right into me...

Former Kern Valley Healthcare District CEO/Administrator, Pamela Ott, shown in court today facing charges of elder abuse and conspiracy charges for her role in the skilled nursing facility scandal which resulted in charges against a doctor and director of nursing.
(Court room pictures provided by KGET Channel 17 in Bakersfield)



As I rushed to get to the courtroom this morning at the Kern County Superior Court, I was but five minutes late and cursing myself as the overly attendant security system resulted in almost a strip search.

After retrieving my watch, keys, phone, and not the camera, I caught the trail of a bright young reporter on his way to the court room to see our former CEO brought up on the charges.

It was six months later, Feb. 20 of this year, being the date of the original charges being brought against the hospital, and the reporters from the Bakersfield region had no idea what was going on and who this person was and what her appearing in the case suddenly represented.

Note here, this is not an indictment, as much as I prefer the sound of "indictment watch" to " felony complaint watch" or "lawbreaker watch," it gives you the reader incorrect idea.

Indictment is what I tried to do in June of 2007, when I contacted the grand jury, we had a little teeny weeny investigation, and hands shook, but nothing happened.

These charges emanate from the state department of justice, so it's not an indictment as such. (Darn.)

Anyway, I find my way to the court practically knocking people down in my path: there are way too many people in the legal system, the walls were packed like sardines, lawyers, crying babies, crying lawyers, worried looks, and the murmur of plea bargaining and attorneys fees and ...a lot of pacing in the narrow hallway.

I quickly opened the door to the court room extremely certain I was not going to find Pam Ott in shackles as was done to the first three defendants as we all got to see their images blasted everywhere.

No, I opened the door in between the court and the haul, the vestibule and the other door opened, and I literally "ran into" Pam Ott, no exaggeration.

When the two doors closed it was quiet and we looked at each other. It felt like a confessional. There was no real emotion between us, just an understanding that what she did to the community was not going away, because way too many of us know what she did.

It was real to both of us as we stood there. I would say Ott almost had a look of resignation.

But that's timing folks and that's Karma.

As she went outside a free woman, charged, fingerprinted, but no bail, no shackles, no real public embarrassment for the person most responsible for what happened in the nursing center in 2006/07 at the KVHD hospital, I opened to the door to the court and looked at least 30 people in jumpsuits inside waiting to be heard.

Like I predicted last night on the blog, the "Martha Stewart" treatment.

First thing I did when I got home was to put a call into the Department of Justice Press office and ask why was Ott treated differently. I'm still waiting on my response.

What was different about all those people in the court room, in shackles, and jumpsuits? They didn't have enough money. Its that simple.

Pam Ott is being represented, by criminal defense attorney, Jim Faulkner, of Bakersfield. And she apparently made some sort of deal for the white collar treatment she got.

Dr. Pormir and Gwen Hughes also appeared but with the additional defendant, Ott, the case has been postponed until Nov. 3 and 4.

Dr. Pormir got his passport back today and Gwen Hughes quickly wheeled by me in her wheelchair which was another dejavu moment.

The last time I saw Hughes she was at the nursing center Christmas party. She raced by me then, saying she had a security problem, and then I find out from Pam Ott, that she had hit two board members with her wheelchair trying to get them out of the SNF.

Ott, in an email, thought the incident funny, but even now as that moment today with Gwen, it reminded me of how crazy it had gotten at the hospital. Trying to keep people out of the nursing center because of fear of being caught with your staff down.

Two of the defendants showed up for this, another continuance, which costs money, and neither have left the country or tried to flee.

Now, Ott left the Kern River Valley though in May of 2007: she fled. She got a reference from the chairman of the board and went up to meet friends in Reedley, CA, at the Sierra King District hospital.

The only provision given for Ott is not to work in a facility with a nursing center. ???

Now she hasn't been charged with such an act, but she falsely claimed to be more than a Registered Nurse. She even ordered medical treatment.

Her credentials are shaky at best for administration.

Yet, somehow, she is less of a risk.

So, I met up with Faulkner, Ott's attorney, sort of, in the felony department of this legal retail outfit called superior court.

Faulkner was telling another reporter that Ott was brought up on all the charges the others were, though we could not get the paperwork, and elucidated the mistake about this being a grand jury indictment.

Ott's attorney went on to literally wave his hand dismissing any notion this was a big thing in regard to the Ott case. Of course, he was talking to a reporter with no background on the situation, he was trying to chase off or at least subdue any interest on the part of the press. That's what attorney's do.

I listened intently standing at the counter wondering what he might say next. Let out the rope and see what happens.

Sorry, I couldn't take much more of it, so I introduced myself, "hi, I'm Laura Hart." (that's one heck of a calling card these days. It is kind of like when 60 minutes used to show up, same nauseous feeling I'm sure.)

His face fell, chin dropped, and then the evil eye, then retreat back to the other reporter. I asked him where Pam was and that I wanted some pictures, it was a facetious question of course.

He knew who I was, but I guess he didn't expect me to be standing there watching him posture for the press who knows nothing.

Then I said, I don't think you have a good case, in fact I know you don't.

I think he will be a good attorney for Ott though, as I asked again about her whereabouts for a photo op, he moved his large frame quickly in my path.

(I'm sure I'll get no more information from him other than that eavesdropping session, but it was worth it just to see his face do those things.)

Ott was fingerprinted but never entered the jail or was otherwise incarcerated at any point.

I found Dr. Pormir, who cannot speak to any questions involving the case, but he can listen and not respond.

Finally, I told him, the right person is being charged in this case. I said, you know it and I know it.

Here is the press release from those "bad boys" of PR, at the attorney general's office. I must say, I like it. Again, except the part about the release of Ott.

Brown Files Criminal Charges Against Former Nursing Home Administrator in Kern Valley Elder Abuse Case
Bakersfield - Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that Kern Valley Hospital administrator Pamela Ott was charged on eight felony counts of elder abuse today for allowing staff to forcibly administer psychotropic medications to patients for their own convenience, rather than for their patients' therapeutic interests. These actions are alleged to have resulted in the deaths of three nursing home residents. "As hospital administrator, Pamela Ott, was ultimately responsible for safeguarding the welfare of her patients," Brown said. "Instead, Ott abdicated her responsibility and allowed the staff of the Kern Valley Hospital to forcibly sedate patients who questioned their care." Brown the charges against Ott in Kern County Superior Court. She surrendered herself in court this morning and pled not guilty. She was released on her own recognizance on the condition that she not run a skilled nursing facility. A preliminary hearing is set for November 4, 2009. Today's charges are in addition to those filed in February 2009 against: - Gwen Hughes, the former Director of Nursing at the skilled nursing facility of the Kern Valley Healthcare District in Lake Isabella, Kern County on charges of elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. - Debbi Hayes, the former pharmacist at the Valley Healthcare District, on charges of elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. On August 14, 2009, Hayes pled no contest to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to public health. She is a cooperating witness for the people. - Dr. Hoshang Pormir, a staff physician at Kern Valley Healthcare District, who was serving as the medical director of the skilled nursing facility, on charges of elder abuse. As the Administrator of the Kern Valley Health Care District, Ott hired and supervised Director of Nursing Gwen Hughes. Upon taking over in September 2006, Hughes ordered that Alzheimer's and other dementia patients be given high doses of psychotropic medications to make them more tranquil and easy to control. She ordered the administration of these medications to patients who argued with her, were noisy, or who were otherwise disruptive. Two patients who resisted were held down and forcibly given injections. Ms. Ott was informed of these actions and allowed them to continue. Hughes is also alleged to have directed Debbi Hayes, the hospital pharmacist, to fill prescriptions for psychotropic medications. Hayes wrote and filled these prescriptions without first obtaining a doctor's approval. Dr. Pormir approved these psychotropic medications only some time after they had been administered and without examining the patients first and determining whether these psychotropic medications were medically necessary. Several of these patients are alleged to have had medical complications as a result of being given these psychotropic medications, including lethargy and the inability to eat or drink properly. It is believed that three patients died and one patient suffered great bodily injury as a result. The investigation Kern Valley Healthcare District operates a small community hospital and skilled nursing facility in Lake Isabella. The case came to the attention of authorities in January 2007, when an ombudsman reported to the Bakersfield office of the California Department of Public Health that a patient in the skilled nursing facility had been held down and given an injection of psychotropic medication by force. The Department of Public Health immediately sent an investigative team with a doctor, a nurse, and a doctor of pharmacology. They determined that 22 patients, including some who were suffering from Alzheimer's at the skilled nursing facility, were being given high doses of psychotropic medication not for therapeutic reasons, but to simply control and quiet them for the convenience of the staff. The Department of Public Health issued a Certificate of Immediate Jeopardy which resulted in the immediate dismissal of the Ms. Hughes. The matter was then turned over to the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse. Special Agents from the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse began a year-long investigation, with the co-operation and assistance of the Department of Public Health and the administration of the Kern Valley Healthcare District. A search warrant was served on the facility in August 2008, resulting in the seizure of numerous medical files and records. If convicted, all defendants could face up to 11 years in prison. The case is being prosecuted by the Attorney General's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, with the co-operation and assistance of the Kern County District Attorney's Office. To view the news releases issued February 2009 about this case, go to http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1682&. To report elder abuse or Medi-Cal fraud, call the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse's hotline at (800) 722-0432. The complaints are attached.
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You may view the full account of this posting, including possible attachments, in the News & Alerts section of our website at: http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1798

(I didn't format the press release, but I did spell check it for them. Only two mistakes. Good job PR guys.)

More of today's story to come and more pictures. Who was there?