Letter: Aides should find new jobs
The Medford Multicare Center at 3115 Horseblock Rd. in Medford is shown on July 31, 2014. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
I was sickened to read about the light sentence handed out to three nurse's aides on duty the night of Oct. 25, 2012, when 72-year-old Aurelia Rios tragically lost her life in a Medford nursing home ["Probation in death," News, Oct. 22]. For hours, these aides did nothing while alarms were signaling Rios was in distress.
Rios, who was supposed to go home after a short stay, died because of the nursing home staff.
Five other ex-health care workers in this case received jail time. However, the nurse's aides were sentenced to three years' probation, during which they are not allowed to work with "incapacitated individuals." This intimates that, after their probation has ended, they can return to this line of work. That is criminal.
This is like a nightmare. Imagine lying in bed, gasping for breath, and the people in the same room, whose job it is to care for you, ignore you? They should never have the chance to work with incapacitated people ever again.
Ellen Fass Greenspan, Bay Shore
