Caregivers fired after ignoring resident injury, dragging him across the floor

Three caregivers from Peninsula Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in New York face felony charges for ignoring a sick, bleeding resident and then dragging him across the floor, according to the New York Post and several other news sources.

In a surveillance video Peninsula turned over to police, Esohe Agbonkpolor, 39, was seen standing around on Oct. 23, 2014, when the 51-year-old man fell. She did nothing to help the man who suffered from debilitating conditions, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told the New York Post. 

Another nearby aide, Emmanuael Ufot, 36, yanked the patient by his arm to his room. The man had been on the floor bleeding for 12 minutes. When the patient came back out of his room, he was bleeding from the back of his head and had a serious jaw injury. Nurse Funmilola Taiwo, 34, was also nearby, and mostly ignored the man for another 20 minutes.

In the surveillance video, Ufot is seen twisting the man's hospital gown around his neck and dragging him back into his room, Schneiderman told the New York Post.

All three nurses have been charged with felony endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, and misdemeanor willful violation of health laws. They have all been fired or resigned from the facility.

"My office will not tolerate nurses who callously fail to treat or endanger injured patients under their care," said Schneiderman in a statement in a New York Post article. "Caregivers must know that we will vigorously prosecute behavior that endangers our most vulnerable citizens."

Read the New York Post article here.

See surveillance video here (Warning: Graphic video)

Megan Combs

Megan Combs was Associate Editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long Term Living from 2013-2018.