Nursing Home Official Charged With Neglect

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) _ The former nursing director of an assisted-living facility was accused of neglecting a patient's head wound for so long that it filled with maggots, and of trying to conceal the

Wednesday, February 14th 2007, 1:02 pm

By: News On 6

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) _ The former nursing director of an assisted-living facility was accused of neglecting a patient's head wound for so long that it filled with maggots, and of trying to conceal the poor care by altering records.

Authorities on Tuesday charged Donna Marie Cameron, 39, of Aston, with criminal neglect, perjury and tampering with records at St. James Retirement and Rehabilitation Center in Chester, a Philadelphia suburb.

State regulators shut down the facility last year, citing unsanitary conditions and alleged mistreatment of patients.

According to prosecutors, Cameron neglected a deep head wound suffered by a 72-year-old patient in June. In September, the woman was taken to a hospital emergency room where nurses found more than 50 maggots in the wound.

The woman recovered and now lives in another assisted-living home.

Cameron tried to hide the neglect by altering medical charts to falsely state that workers had treated the wound with antibiotic ointment and changed dressings, authorities said.

Cameron was arraigned Tuesday and released on $50,000 unsecured bail. Neither Cameron nor her lawyer could immediately be reached.

On Monday, two of Cameron's co-workers were charged with perjury and tampering with evidence for allegedly altering medical records and lying to a state grand jury about the case.

The St. James facility opened in 1996 and was operated by William B. Strine, a Delaware County real estate developer. Strine and his brother, Walter M. Strine, have had run-ins with regulators over other elder-care facilities they operated. All have since closed.

A lawyer for the home, Joseph F. Murphy, said the operators did nothing wrong.