The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Woman gets 3 years for death
Former Madison Twp. assisted living administrator sentenced for deadly patient abuse
The former administrator of a Madison Township assisted living facility was sentenced Jan. 17 to three years in prison for causing an elderly resident’s death.
Alice Ramsey, 55, of Madison Township, was arrested last year after shoving too many eggs and medication into the mouth of 85-year-old Mary Srpan on Jan. 3, 2017, at Hubbard Road Meadow. The victim died about two weeks after the incident under hospice care.
However, if it weren’t for 28-year-old Anais Silva, a new employee of the center who secretly worked behind the scenes gathering evidence against Ramsey, she likely would still be free, said Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Patrick Condon.
“The defendant was cruel to Mary,” Condon said. “She would grab her by the face and hair. She would refer to Mary as an (expletive). This defendant treated Mary with no dignity.”
Condon said Silva, who had only worked at the center for weeks, immediately realized
If it weren’t for .... a new employee of the center who secretly worked behind the scenes gathering evidence against Ramsey, she likely would still be free.
Ramsey was mistreating Srpan. After Silva told her mother, her mother encouraged her to get proof to show the police.
Silva snapped cellphone pictures of Srpan’s neck covered in bruises, and she also recorded audio of Ramsey verbally abusing and mocking the 4-foot-7, 86-pound woman with dementia who walked with a cane.
“Without Anna (Anais), there is no case,” Condon said.
“This would just be another elderly person who passed away in a care facility. The word ‘hero’ is thrown around a lot and generally is misused. Anna (Anais) is a hero.”
After the victim began going into respiratory distress from the eggs, Ramsey failed to quickly call 911.
Ramsey, who is married with a son, worked at Hubbard Road Meadow for 20 years and had no prior criminal record, defense attorney William Bobulsky said.
Ramsey told Judge Eugene A. Lucci she never intended to harm Srpan.
“What happened was my fault and it shouldn’t have happened,” said Ramsey. “I wasn’t careful enough.”
The victim’s granddaughter, Kristin Srpan, described her grandmother as a great cook who loved gardening and spending time with family. She requested Ramsey be sentenced to the maximum 4 ½ years in prison rather than the three years recommended by the prosecutor.
Ramsey previously pleaded guilty to one count each of reckless homicide and patient abuse.
“The offender seemed to be motivated by some type of age problem, accusing the victim of exaggerating or acting,” Lucci said when handing down his sentence. “... The court finds it’s very cruel to treat an individual with such weakness in such a manner.”
Lucci received 47 letters in support of Ramsey’s character, but said, “However, sometimes good people do bad things.”
After learning her fate, Ramsey’s attorney asked that his client be allowed to remain free another month to get her affairs in order. Lucci refused the request.
Hubbard Road Meadow lost its license last March.
Srpan was not the only resident who was mistreated at the facility.
According to officials with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services:
There were at least four known deaths at the facility in which the department was not notified, including an incident involving a different female whose head was found wedged in a nightstand after she was heard in her room banging. Visitors helped free the woman, who later died at an emergency room.
ODMHAS officials said the facility had previous incidents of neglect, failure to report deaths and falls, and violations of hiring regulations.
Three of the four rooms furnished with bathtubs did not have the required nonskid surfaces in the tubs, according to an ODMHAS investigation.
In addition, required background checks were not completed on all employees, and there was no documentation verifying compliance with staff training requirements.
The ODMHAS investigation also found that residents were not given keys to their rooms, which had deadbolts that can be opened from the inside. This presented a danger of a resident with dementia accidentally locking themselves in their room — or being locked in the room by staff against their will.