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Workers Plead Guilty In Nursing Home Death

April 18, 2005
Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr. says two former caretakers at the Greenmeadow Haven Nursing Home in Coushatta, Louisiana have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 2002 death of a 76-year-old nursing home resident from suffocation.

Doris Dyess Downs of Marthaville, Louisiana pled guilty to one felony count of cruelty to the infirmed in the death of the 76-year-old resident for failure to provide tracheotomy care to the victim as ordered by the victim's treating physician. The victim died as a result of the tracheotomy tube becoming dislodged.

Downs was employed as a Licensed Practical Nurse (L.P.N.) at the Greenmeadow Haven Nursing Home when the death occurred.

Ella Gathright Bowen of Shreveport, Louisiana pled guilty to one felony count of obstruction of justice. Bowen admitted that she previously lied to Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) Investigators and police during the course and scope of the criminal investigation into the victim's death. Bowen was employed as a Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A.) when the death occurred.

Also, as part of the plea agreements, Downs and Bowen were ordered to permanently surrender their respective state L.P.N. and C.N.A. licenses.

Downs and Bowen were sentenced to two years imprisonment with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, suspended, and placed on one year supervised probation.

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