According to the Kern Valley Sun, on September 8, 2009 Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that Pamela Ott, the former Kern Valley Hospital administrator, was being charged with eight felony counts of elder abuse. She is being charged with allowing staff to forcibly administer psychotropic medications to patients for their own convenience, rather than for their patients’ therapeutic interests. Three nursing home residents allegedly died as a result of these actions.
Ott pled not guilty to the charges in court on September 8, 2009 and was released on her recognizance on the condition that she not run a skilled nursing facility.
These charges were filed along with charges against three others in February 2009:
- Gwen Hughes, the former Director of Nursing at the skilled nursing facility of the Kern Valley Healthcare District in Lake Isabella, Kern County was charged with elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Upon taking over in September 2006, Ott hired and supervised Director of Nursing Gwen Hughes. Hughes ordered that patients, who suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia, be given high doses of psychotropic medications to make them more tranquil and easy to control. She ordered the administration of these medications to patients who argued with her, were noisy, or who were otherwise disruptive. Two patients who resisted were held down and forcibly given injections. After being informed of these actions, Ms. Ott allowed them to continue.
- Debbi Hayes, the former pharmacist at the Valley Healthcare District, was charged with elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. On August 14, Hayes pled no contest to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to public health. She is a cooperating witness for the people. Hayes allegedly filled prescriptions for psychotropic medications, without first obtaining a doctor’s approval.
- Dr. Hoshang Pormir, a staff physician at Kern Valley Healthcare District, who was serving as the medical director of the skilled nursing facility, was charged with elder abuse. Dr. Pormir approved the psychotropic medications only after they had been administered and without examination of the patients to determine whether these psychotropic medications were medically necessary.
Several of the patients allegedly suffered complications as a result of being given the psychotropic medications, including lethargy and the inability to eat or drink properly. Three patients are believed to have died and one patient suffered great bodily injury as a result of the medications.
