Nurse arrested for grabbing 79 year old nursing home resident by the throat: Kern Valley Healthcare District

Kern Valley Healthcare District another case of elder abuse shocks community...and hospital.

Rene Gotico a licensed Registered Nurse has been released on bail after being arrested for allegedly pushing a patient of the Kern Valley Healthcare District skilled nursing facility by the throat as she tried to get up and go to the bathroom.

According to Ray Pruitt, Public Information Officer with the Kern County Sheriff's department, officers were called out at 8:40 pm on Monday, August 23, as a witness to the alleged event called law enforcement.

The 79 year-old victim was supposedly trying to get help to get to the bathroom and Gotico was supposed to have told her to wait. It was reported the woman sat up and got to the edge of the bed.
"Allegedly Gotico took hold of her neck and pushed her back down," Pruitt said.

The incident is reported to have taken place at 7 pm Monday night, and when investigators arrived almost two hours later, they could see marks on the elderly woman's neck.

"Investigators found visible signs of redness on her neck," Pruit explained.

Pruit said Gotico was then arrested on one charge of felony elder abuse, penal code 368 B 1. This is one of the same charges facing Pamela Ott, Dr. Hoshang Pormir and Gwen Hughes, in the previous elder abuse case involving the use of psychotropic drugs allegedly used to keep patients quiet.

The report is that Gotico was arrested the same night and has now been released on bail. No word on the date of his arraignment as of today.

According to Kern Valley Healthcare District, CEO, Tim McGlew, the nurse was recently hired on at the hospital on a permanent basis, as he had been a traveling nurse for many years coming and going from the Kern Valley Hospital.

"Mr. Gotico has worked with the facility for some years as a traveling nurse. He was hired on as an employee about one month ago. He is a registered nurse," McGlew responded in an email regarding the situation.

"We had not experienced any behaviors of the kind demonstrated by this individual before Monday night. It was to all involved, a surprise" McGlew went on to explain.

The CEO also wrote that the ER director, Dr. Sacapano, was notified immediately and had the staff call the sheriff's department which he said was "protocol" in a situation like this.

All the typical hospital agencies, including Public Health were notified, as well as himself as administrator of both hospital and the skilled nursing facility as it took place after regular business hours.

"As I shared with the Californian (newspaper) and the other media outlets that have contacted us, our first priority was and is the safety of our patients and residents. Mr. Gotico was removed from all patient care contact immediately after the incident and was suspended pending investigation,"

I will follow up as Mr. Gotico will be in court in the next few weeks.

Currently awaiting basic facts in the California Attorney Generals elder abuse case, which is scheduled to come back to court on October 15 at the Kern County Superior Court for an arraignment. This includes all three defendants. Will have more details later...