Employer of visiting nurse who was killed did not defend her and ought to be fined, security company says

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A house well being care firm failed to guard a visiting nurse who was killed throughout an appointment with a convicted rapist at a Connecticut midway home and ought to be fined about $161,000, federal office security officers stated Wednesday.

The Occupational Security and Well being Administration launched the outcomes of its investigation into Elara Caring and the Oct. 28 death of Joyce Grayson, a 63-year-old mom of six and nurse for 36 years. The Dallas, Texas-based firm, which gives residence take care of greater than 60,000 sufferers in 17 states, stated it disputes OSHA’s findings and plans to contest them.

OSHA decided the corporate “uncovered residence healthcare workers to office violence from sufferers who exhibited aggressive conduct and have been identified to pose a danger to others,” the company stated in an announcement.

“Elara Caring failed its authorized responsibility to guard workers from office harm by not having efficient measures in place to guard workers towards a identified hazard and it price a employee her life,” Charles McGrevy, an OSHA space director in Hartford, Connecticut, stated within the assertion.

OSHA stated the corporate might have diminished the danger of office violence in a variety of methods together with offering its well being care suppliers with complete background data on sufferers, giving them panic alert buttons and growing procedures for utilizing security escorts with sure sufferers.

The company stated Elara Caring should develop and implement required safeguards together with a complete office violence prevention program. OSHA cited Elara and two subsidiaries, Jordan Well being Companies and New England House Care.

Elara Caring stated in an announcement emailed to The Related Press that “the quotation that the Occupational Security and Well being Administration issued to the corporate is unwarranted, and we intend to contest it vigorously.”

The corporate stated Connecticut officers decided the convicted rapist accused of killing Grayson, Michael Reese, was not a hazard to the neighborhood. Reese, 39, was on probation and residing in a midway home in Willimantic after serving greater than 14 years in jail for stabbing and sexually assaulting a girl in 2006 in New Haven.

“Put up-release, state authorities have been answerable for monitoring and managing the affected person’s actions,” the corporate stated. “The demise of Joyce Grayson was a tragedy, and we proceed to grieve with the household.”

The corporate has beforehand stated it had safeguards in place to guard employees and was reviewing them in response to Grayson’s demise.

The state court docket system, which oversees probation, says it doesn’t touch upon instances involving potential litigation.

An off-the-cuff assembly between OSHA and Elara Caring was set for Thursday, an OSHA spokesperson stated. The corporate has till Might 17 to answer the OSHA quotation, together with complying with the company’s directives or difficult them.

Grayson’s demise spurred a name for higher protections for residence well being care employees in Connecticut and throughout the nation. Connecticut lawmakers at the moment are contemplating a invoice that may enhance security for well being care employees.

On the day she was killed, Grayson had a morning appointment at Reese’s midway home to manage his treatment. After she missed subsequent appointments, her daughter known as police to request a well-being verify.

Grayson was discovered strangled within the basement of the midway home, police and the medical expert’s workplace stated. She additionally had blunt-force accidents to her head, torso and extremities, an arrest warrant for Reese stated.

Reese is charged with murder, tried first-degree sexual assault and different crimes in connection to Grayson’s demise. He has not entered pleas, and his public defender has not returned messages looking for remark together with an e-mail despatched Wednesday.

Kelly Reardon, a lawyer for Grayson’s household, stated the household hopes the OSHA findings will immediate security adjustments within the residence well being care business.

“OSHA has acknowledged what the Grayson household has identified since Joyce was murdered on October 28, 2023 — that Elara Caring willfully positioned her in hurt’s approach by repeatedly ignoring workers complaints about aggressive and violent sufferers they have been required to deal with,” Reardon stated in an e-mail to the AP.

OSHA additionally cited Elara Caring for a much less severe alleged violation — not offering work-related harm and sickness data to OSHA inside the required 4 enterprise hours — and proposed a further fantastic of $2,300.