Nursing Home Administrators in Bucks County Sentenced to Jail for Neglecting to Report Sexual Assault of Three Dementia Patients:
In an egregious act of nursing home malpractice, two former administrators at The Landing of Southampton filed sanitized incident reports that neglected to document the sexual assaults of three dementia patients by a fourth patient at their assisted living facility.
Two former Bucks County nursing home administrators were recently sentenced to time in jail for failing to report the sexual assaults of three dementia patients by another nursing home resident, says The Philadelphia Inquirer. According to the article, the administrators at the Landing of Southampton dissuaded employees from filing written reports or notifying county authorities of these occurrences of nursing home malpractice, as required by state law.
Joy Alfonsi, 48, and Ashley Harker, 38, were given 3-to-24 months in the county jail for attempting to cover up the assaults at the Bucks County facility where both were administrators. Alfonsi was previously the director of nursing and Ashley Harker the general manager of the Landing until they were fired in October 2021 during the criminal investigation of the incident of nursing home malpractice.
The sexual assaults were brought to the attention of state investigators via anonymous reports by The Landing staff members, says the article. Together with the efforts of local police, the investigators uncovered that a male dementia patient had sexually assaulted three other dementia patients across a four-day span last summer. The assaults were committed in common areas where they were witnessed by The Landing employees, who intervened in each case to pull the assailant away from his victims. Due to the man’s dementia diagnosis, he was not charged with criminal activity, but was transferred to a different home.
Both Alfonsi and Harker pleaded guilty in January to three counts of endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person. The Inquirer article reports Bucks County Court Judge Gary B. Gillman as saying the sentences he handed down will hopefully discourage such inclinations toward nursing home malpractice in other nursing homes responsible for vulnerable residents.
“This case is about having a moral compass, and needing one to protect those who can’t help themselves,” Gillman said. “How you got to the point where you callously didn’t report sexual assaults and then lied to the families of the victims, I do not know.”
Your Advocate against Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death
Attorney Brian P. Murphy is a skilled nursing home malpractice lawyer and wrongful death attorney serving nursing home residents in Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes. Your loved one living in a Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home should confidently expect to live free from elder abuse, neglect, and every other kind of nursing home malpractice. Brian Murphy holds Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes accountable for substandard care and incidents of abuse, particularly events of nursing home malpractice that result in wrongful death. Attorney Brian Murphy is ready to discuss your legal options. If you or your loved one needs to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today.
