(LEX 18) — After the arrest of a nurse at a Lawrenceburg nursing home, three other nurses who care for patients at the facility said they feel something should have been done sooner.
50-year-old Abigail Hall is facing multiple counts of wanton endangerment, possession of a controlled substance, and theft of a legend drug, according to court records. She also faces two counts of knowingly abusing or neglecting an adult.
The nurses who spoke with LEX 18 Investigates said that they and others tried to express concerns about Hall to administrators at the nursing home, Heritage Hall Care Center, long before the night of her arrest.
"There were multiple nurses and aides that said something is off about her," one of the nurses told LEX 18. "Too many instances came up … it should have been investigated four months ago."
The nurses, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for their jobs, said that they were told by administrators not to call police the night of Hall's arrest. The administrators said that the concerns about Hall were "speculation," and that another nurse should tell her that the facility was over budget and she should go home, according to the nurses who spoke with LEX 18.
They called police anyway.
"I couldn't go to sleep that night knowing … if I didn't call, or if she got away with this again, I couldn't live with myself," one of the nurses said.
Police responded to the report that Hall was leaving while intoxicated, and when they arrived she was pulling out of the nursing home parking lot, according to her arrest warrant.
LEX 18 asked for comment from Signature HealthCARE, the company that runs Heritage Hall Care Center. The company said they couldn't comment due to the "ongoing and in-depth investigation."
Previously, the company released the following statement:
"Signature HealthCARE continues to cooperate with local authorities in this ongoing investigation. The person arrested in this matter is from a staffing agency contractor and not employed by Signature HealthCARE. As this is an active investigation, we can make no further comment with the exception of ensuring that the safety and well-being of our residents continues to be our top priority and we commend the nurses and CNAs at Heritage Hall for reacting quickly in this matter."
LEX 18 also reached out to the Shelby County Detention Center and was told that Hall is declining interviews with reporters.
"When I go to work, I treat these residents like they're my grandmother or my grandfather or my loved one," one of the nurses told LEX 18. "As nurses, we took an oath to do no harm and to provide the best quality of care under the situation."
On the night of Aug. 27, Hall was caring for 21 patients at the nursing home, according to her arrest warrant. The warrant states that Hall appeared intoxicated and was suspected of stealing morphine.
A witness told investigators that Hall went into the bathroom for an extended period of time during her shift, and after she came out that witness went into the bathroom and found the cover of a morphine bottle in the trash, according to the warrant.
Police later found a backpack believed to be Hall's at the nursing home that had seven syringes of blue liquid, according to the warrant.
"... Hall advised that the seven syringes with the blue liquid was morphine that she had taken from Heritage Hall," the warrant states. "Ms. Hall also advised Sgt. Brashears that she had taken a dose of morphine while on shift earlier tonight while caring for twenty-one patients."
"She was inebriated, intoxicated, and at work," one of the nurses who spoke to LEX 18 said. "She's taking care of fragile lives and at any point in time, she could have killed someone, whether she gave the wrong blood pressure medicine, or she gave too much medicine or not enough medicine."
Hall also told investigators that she had replaced the taken morphine with a mixture of tap water and blue food coloring, according to the warrant.
"She stole meds from hospice patients that were unable to advocate for themselves … we haven't slept well knowing that they sat there lying in pain," one of the nurses who spoke to LEX 18 said.
Ultimately, the nurses who spoke with LEX 18 said they came forward in hopes of preventing what happened from happening again.
"We don't want to see this happen to any other patient, any other family member," one nurse said. "We want to make sure that this stops today."
