Illinois Nursing Home Birth Ends in Arrests and Citations
November 10, 2005
Raynaldo Brucal Jr., 18, of Schaumburg, Illinois was arrested last week and charged with four counts of criminal sexual assault in a high-profile nursing home abuse case in that state. Brucal could face a 30-year prison term.
Brucal's DNA was discovered to be matched to a baby born to one of the Alden Village Health Facility's patients, Amy Jo Hale, 23. Hale has been developmentally disabled since childhood and can't walk, talk, or even feed herself. She has been moved to a different nursing home and her mother is caring for the child.
The Alden Village Health Facility is also under investigation for its role in allegedly covering up the pregnancy and failing to do anything about it. Many employees have come forward with new information about the case. One employee says that a supervisor was repeatedly told about the suspected pregnancy but failed to do anything about it.
When Hale was found to be seven months pregnant, she was moved to an area hospital. She gave birth on July 20.
Brucal was a former nurse's aide and is being charged with four counts of aggravated criminal assault.
The Illinois Department of Health issues 19 citations to the facility, in addition to ones related to this particular case. The nursing home allowed current and former employees to work alone with patients before any criminal investigations were performed on their backgrounds.
In addition, since 2001 the Alden Village Facility has received numerous citations from the state including ones for failure to report another allegation of sexual abuse, patient neglect, insufficient staffing, injured patient, a patient who drank a bottle of detergent, and a patient who was found with a needle in their internal organs. In July, the facility was also fined $50,000 by the state in the death of a young patient who had died after falling out of bed.
Contact
a Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Find Nursing Home Abuse News in Your State:
Search Nursing
Home Abuse News Nationwide
top of page |
