Ex-Nurse To Serve 99 Years for Killing a Patient

CMS Proposes New Medicare Standards for Hospices

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EX-NURSE TO SERVE 99 YEARS  - A former nurse with a long criminal history received a 99-year prison sentence 28May for killing a former patient with a fatal dose of insulin.

A 12-member jury took 35 minutes to sentence Jeanine Hannah, 55, after convicting her 25May05 with the murder of 68-year-old Margaret Bradley of McAllen in May, 2002. Bradley’s daughters held hands as they waited for the verdict and whispered "Thank you" after it was read. Hannah shook her head. "We feel justice has been done in this case," Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney William McPherson told jurors, thanking them for their service.

A home healthcare agency hired Hannah to care for Bradley, who lived with her daughter Rhonda, son-in-law and grandson in McAllen. Margaret Bradley suffered from multiple sclerosis and was mostly paralyzed, but did not have diabetes.

Doctors initially ruled her death of natural causes, but changed the death certificate to a homicide after blood tests showed she died from an insulin overdose. Hannah’s attorneys told Judge Salinas they would file a notice of appeal.

The judge also set a hearing  on Hannah’s theft charge, where she is charged with stealing nearly $4,600 from Margaret Bradley by forging Margaret Bradley’s checks and making ATM withdrawals from her account. Jurors listened to several witnesses regarding Hannah’s criminal past, and reviewed court judgments finding her guilty of felonies in WI, CA and OR dating back to 1970.

Hannah was charged with stealing from elderly patients in 1999 in Oregon, indicted on nine theft charges and, in exchange for a no contest plea in December 2000, received five years probation and was ordered to pay $27,000 back to her victims, according to records from court and the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners.

One of those patients died while under Hannah’s care. The family of that woman, Anne Jones, later sued the nursing home for wrongful death, and Hannah had a $2 million judgment issued against her, according to Oregon court records.
[May 28,2005 Brittney Booth  The Monitor, Edinburg; 29May Valko RN; R. Panzer http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=7402&Section=Local
http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=7446&Section=Local]

CMS PROPOSES NEW MEDICARE STANDARDS FOR HOSPICES - Hospices would have to meet standards for assessing patients at admission and tracking improvement or deterioration in patients' health as a condition of Medicare participation, under a CMS proposal to be published in Friday's Federal Register.

The new standards would be the first changes to Medicare's conditions of participation for hospices since the rules were created in 1983. The CMS proposal would replace a current quality-assurance requirement; drop a requirement that hospices staff a registered nurse at an inpatient facility 24 hours a day; and provide guidance to hospices on caring for nursing home residents. The agency will accept comments on the proposal through July 27. -- by Joseph Mantone [http://www.modernhealthcare.com/dailydose/2005-05-26_dailydose.html#ts5; N Valko RN; R. Panzer]