State Inspectors have found numerous care deficiencies at nursing home already on the list of the nation’s worst-performing nursing homes. The most recent inspection turned up 34 deficiencies, nine of them problems the facility has been cited for in past inspections. In the latest inspection, one of the more serious deficiencies was the facility’s failure to properly treat and prevent bedsores (also known as pressures sores, pressure ulcers, decubitus sores and decubitus ulcers).

A state grand jury investigation has prompted neglect charges against the former owner of a personal care home and two former employees. Last year when the facility’s license was revoked by the state. This week, the owner and two former employees were arraigned.

A former Certified Nurse’s Assistant (CNA) was heard in court this week on criminal charges for selling rings that she stole from veterans living at a Roanoke nursing home. At the hearing, the former CNA was sentenced to five years in prison. The woman said she sold the four stolen wedding bands, which had been stripped from residents fingers, at pawn shops.

A certified nursing assistant has been accused of punching a paralyzed nursing home resident, according to state investigators. Police say the assault was caught on surveillance cameras at the facility. The video shows the wheelchair bound victim and the nurse’s aid in an altercation.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal has brought to light the lack of transparency regarding deadly mistakes in the medical field. The author contrasts the critical response of errors in aviation, which involve a thorough federal investigation and enhanced safety measures, with the mediocre response of medical mistakes. Medical mistakes, including those caused by nursing home neglect, go largely unnoticed despite the fact that they take lives on a daily basis.

According to a state investigation, a former nurse has been accused of stealing hundreds of painkillers that were intended for more than thirty different nursing home residents. The thefts of the powerful narcotics totaled 764 dosages meant for 34 residents at the facility over just five months. The nurse was quickly suspended and quit after being confronted by facility officials about why she signed out medication three times in one shift without giving any medication to the resident.