scales of justice and law books

A nurse at a California assisted living community whose alleged improper care of a resident contributed to the woman’s death has been convicted on a felony elder abuse charge.

Emily Beth Jones, who was a registered nurse with hospice care provider, pleaded guilty in a plea bargain and was immediately sentenced to 24 months of probation and ordered to serve 90 days in a work release program, according to a report in the California News Times. She also was required to forfeit her nursing license and will pay reparations to the resident’s family. 

As McKnight’s Senior Living previously reported, Jones was charged with neglect and abuse of a 69-year-old female resident of a Riverside, CA, assisted living community. Jones was assigned as the residents’ case manager in 2017, according to an Aug. 19, 2020, complaint filed by then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. 

The complaint alleged that Jones did not record in the woman’s medical record the discovery of open ulcers and did not notify a physician or the resident’s family of the woman’s deteriorating health condition. The complaint stated that Jones “knowingly and willfully” caused the woman, identified only as Marjorie S., to suffer the “unjustifiable physical pain and mental suffering” that ultimately resulted in her death.

Jones lost her job in 2017 as a result of the incident.

The California Board of Registered Nursing conducted an investigation, and a a criminal investigation was conducted by the California Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.

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