Elderly Assisted Living Resident Found Dead While in Her Care

BALTIMORE, MD (February 3, 2009) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Mahindra Singh, 64, of North Potomac, pled guilty to Neglect of a Vulnerable Adult in the First Degree after an elderly resident in her care was found dead in her bed. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Louise G. Scrivener sentenced Singh to five years incarceration with all but 16 months suspended to be served in home detention. Singh, a former manager of and registered nurse at Haven Assisted Living Group Home in Chevy Chase, was also placed on three years supervised probation under the condition that she not provide care to any vulnerable adult other than her family members and abstain from direct care employment in assisted living.

The investigation revealed that the patient, 87-year old Wanda Beetham, suffered from Alzheimer’s and other physical impairments. On the evening of April 16, 2006, Beetham fell on a hard marble-tile floor in the dining room at Haven. Singh heard the fall and found Beetham on the floor. Singh placed a band-aid over a laceration above Beetham’s eye and applied ice. Singh did not contact Beetham’s physician, call 911, or send Beetham to an emergency room or acute care facility and failed to monitor her throughout the night. Singh was the only caregiver that evening and throughout the night. Beetham was found unresponsive in her bed the following morning and was pronounced dead by paramedics. An autopsy revealed Beetham had multiple brain bruises and hemorrhaging. According to the autopsy, head injuries from the fall were the cause of death.

The case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office and was referred to the Unit by a private citizen and the Board of Nursing. Singh’s nursing license was revoked in November 2007.