A nurse and two certified nursing assistants have been charged for negligence in relation to a patient death at a Colorado nursing home, according to CBS affiliate KKTV.
Police were called Feb. 3 to Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Union Printers Home after the body of 90-year-old Margarita Sam was found on a bench outside. A coroner determined that Ms. Sam had died of hypothermia. The resident had wandered outside in 23- to 30-degree temperatures, police wrote in an Oct. 15 news release cited by KKTV.
Nurse Rosalie Warren, 52, was charged with a felony related to negligent death and a class 1 misdemeanor. CNAs Asia Murray, 35, and Taquenis Eldridge, 31, were each charged with neglect of an at-risk person, a class 1 misdemeanor. All three await upcoming court dates.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment suspended Union Printers' license in February and began transferring residents to other centers.
"There have been numerous complaints and subsequent investigations at this facility in the past few years, most notably after a recent resident death," the department said in a statement sent to KKTV Feb. 12. "Findings from those investigations demonstrate that Union Printers does not have the ability to provide consistently safe care to its residents."