Nursing home aide pleads guilty in patient's death

A 55-year-old former aide in a Hatfield Township nursing home pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an Alzheimer's patient whom she fed steaming-hot cereal.

Ronald Myers, 79, was being cared for by Alvador Thompson in the hospice unit of the Cambridge Brightfield facility when she poured hot Cream of Wheat down his throat on Oct. 8.

The cereal so scalded Myers' mouth and esophagus that he was unable to eat any longer. He was treated for second-degree burns at a hospital, and died two weeks later, court papers said.

Yesterday in Montgomery County Court, Thompson pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor of the first degree that carries a maximum penalty of 21/2 to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Thompson, a Hatfield Township resident, will be sentenced in about 90 days, said Assistant District Attorney Bradford A. Richman.

Thompson cried on the stand as she admitted responsibility for not checking the temperature of the cereal before feeding Myers, said her attorney, Norris E. Gelman of Philadelphia.

"She did not know how hot it was; she did not test it, and she should have," Gelman said. Adding to her culpability was the fact that Myers could not speak, Gelman said.

But the court took into account the fact that Thompson was not acting out of malice, Gelman said. "There was no intent to harm him. It was a tragic accident."

According to court records, Doris Brake, Myers' daughter, called Hatfield Township police Oct. 9 to report that her father had been burned.

The facility let a half-day go by before seeking medical attention, according to records.

The state Department of Public Welfare revoked its provisional license in the wake of this and two other incidents last year in which patients were found unresponsive and had to be hospitalized.

After Feb. 13, no new residents could be admitted to the facility, said Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the Welfare Department.

Thompson was later fired from her job at Cambridge Brightfield. Gelman said she now works as a private attendant for an elderly woman.