Officials: local home health aide pleads guilty to abusing elderly patient

SPRINGFIELD (WGGB/WSHM) – A local home health aide has pleaded guilty to charges that she abused an elderly patient in her care.

Mass. Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said that 54-year-old Rodette Robinson of Springfield pleaded guilty to two counts of the charge of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of an elder by a caretaker.

Authorities said that, in November 2021, the family of a 91-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in Wilbraham reported to the home health agency for which Robinson worked that Robinson physically abused the patient by shaking the patient in a recliner and dragging the patient to a bathroom, which caused bruising on one arm and side. The incident was reportedly caught on the family’s home video surveillance system.

Robinson was terminated from her job a short time after the incident was reported. An investigation by the Mass. Department of Public Health led to her CNA license being suspended and the incident was referred to the attorney general’s office. Robinson was indicted by a Hampden County Superior Court jury in September 2022.

Campbell said in a statement:

“This defendant callously and violently assaulted an elder Alzheimer’s patient, and was caught on camera doing it…We will continue to investigate and prosecute these elder abuse cases because home health patients and their loved ones deserve to trust that caretakers will provide compassionate and excellent care.”

Robinson was sentenced to two years in a house of correction, suspended for three years, and three years of probation. During her probation, she must complete anger management and conflict resolution programs and is prohibited from having any responsibility for elders and persons with disabilities, including any employment - paid or volunteer - and from working in any home health care setting, nursing home, rest home, or long-term care facility.

Copyright 2023. Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All rights reserved.