Nursing Home Staffer Arrested in Death of a Resident
A Pennsylvania nurse has been arrested and charged in the death of H.R. McMaster, Sr., the father of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster’s Jr. McMaster’s Sr. was an 84-year-old resident of the Cathedral Living Senior Center in Philadelphia when he was found on the night of April 12, 2018 on the floor of his room having suffered a fall, with cuts and bruises on his head.
When a nursing home resident suffers a fall and head injury, it is typical for staff to perform regular neurological checks over the next 72 hours, and the Cathedral Village’s own guidelines require at least eight neuro checks over the next day after a fall. McMaster’s Sr. received no neurological checks. Instead, the LPN assigned to McMaster’s care, Christann Gainey, instructed CNAs to leave McMaster in a wheelchair in the lobby of the nursing home where he stayed all night and was found dead the next morning.
Surveillance video of the facility found Gainey failed to assess McMasters at all as he sat in a wheelchair in the lobby all night. Moreover, Gainey was found to have falsified paperwork alleging she did provide the checks. If neuro checks had been performed, McMaster’s level of consciousness and need for medical care could be assessed which may have resulted in treatment that would have avoided his suffering and death.
“When a family selects a senior living facility, they do not expect their loved one to be found dead in the lobby of a place that was supposed to be caring for him,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a news conference Thursday. “This nurse ignored her job responsibilities, falsified paperwork, lied to her supervisors and neglected Mr. McMaster, who died.”
McMaster’s Sr. was a retired U.S. Army officer. His son is a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, having served as the Trump Administration’s National Security Advisor. McMaster Sr.’s daughter, Letitia McMasters, said her father was a tough and compassionate soldier and public servant. She says the best way to honor his memory is for people to “help prevent others from suffering at the hands of those who lack compassion” and abandon “even the most basic standards of human decency.”
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Here at the Poppe Law Firm®, we routinely represent families of injured or deceased nursing home residents who suffered under substandard and negligent care at facilities across Kentucky and Indiana. Unfortunately, Kentucky ranks near the bottom of states in the quality of care provided to nursing home residents. If you or a loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse and neglect, please do not hesitate to contact our office online or call us at 502-895-3400.