Warren County, New York – State officials arrested and charged a group home aide with medication case, as the suspect allegedly failed to provide residents their medication and falsified official paperwork.
The suspect Scott Brown, 37, allegedly failed to give residents of a group home their anti-seizure, anti-spasticity medications, breathing treatments, and vitamins. The group home is included in the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) in Lake Luzerne.
Attorney Kate Hogan of Warren County District said there were no reported illnesses due to the missed medications. She added that every person who belongs or a resident of a group home has all the rights to rely on its employees, who should fulfill their non-delegable responsibility in dispensing medications properly. Added in the news release, Hogan said such duty is a critical responsibility, providing urgent care to residents. Thus, when the suspect failed to do so, he was charged with medication case, a criminal offense.
Brown of Hadley works in a group home, an urgent care clinic on Fenway Drive as an assistant, and supervises 5 residents, according to OPWDD. Throughout the investigation by authorities, Brown’s co-workers believed the suspect was accomplishing his medication rounds too fast, that the other medications were missed on, so, when the pills were totaled, it was proven that some of them were not properly administered.
Officials also said Brown was disciplined; however, he was not fired after the state Inspector General’s Office investigation of the case. The misdemeanor was found in 2012, suspending him for 120 days. In early 2013, Brown returned to work, however, he was prohibited to administer medications. It was a sort of an urgent care near me for the residents.
The OPWDD, for some reasons, did not refer the misconduct for prosecution until lately, when the office got in touch with the District Attorney’s Office of Warren County. The Inspector General’s Office stated on Wednesday that there was no further information available regarding the medication case or incident.
Brown was accused with 3 counts of official misdemeanor, including falsifying of business records, and compromising the welfare of a physically disabled or incompetent person. Thus, urgent care clinics and other facilities within the area have become very wary as an outcome of the issue.
He was arrested by the Sheriff’s Office of Warren County after an independent investigation of OPWDD. Brown was released, with a pending medication case prosecution in Town Court in Lake Luzerne.
