March 6, 2007
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Facility Administrator, Certified Nursing Assistant Charged with Neglect
~Elderly victim was ignored while she suffered~
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of two Miami-Dade women on charges they neglected an elderly victim under their care. Norma Queen, the administrator and director of a Miami daycare facility, and Lissett Asencion, a certified nursing assistant at the facility, allegedly failed to provide necessary care to an elderly resident of the facility after the victim suffered a severe fall.
The arrests are the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Miami-Dade County Police Department after they received information from the Department of Children and Families. Last March, a patient at the facility where the two women worked was injured while being transported to the facility. The victim, a 74-year-old female who was wheelchair-bound, blind and diabetic, suffered life threatening injuries as a result of a fall which left her with fractures and internal injuries. Neither Queen nor Asencion made any effort to provide essential medical care to the victim, although they were notified of the victim's injuries by the driver of the van.
The woman remained in excruciating pain at the facility without receiving any medical attention for approximately four hours. Although she eventually received medical attention, the victim died a month later and an autopsy revealed that the injuries caused by the fall were a contributing factor to the victims death.
Queen and Asencion were charged with one count of neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult, a second-degree felony. Each woman faces a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 if convicted. The cases will be prosecuted by attorneys with the Patient Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation team within the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.