Norristown Nurse Not Guilty Of Neglect
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A southeastern Pennsylvania nurse has been acquitted of all charges of endangering a nursing home patient by ignoring an alarm signaling that her breathing tube was disconnected.
A Montgomery County jury deliberated for four hours Friday before finding 45-year-old Abiodun Oke (ah-bye-OH'-dun oak) of Macungie not guilty of neglect of a care-dependent person and recklessly endangering another person.
Oke was fired from AristaCare at Meadow Springs in Plymouth Meeting outside Philadelphia after a co-worker said he endangered an 81-year-old woman, who had pneumonia and dementia, in August 2009. The co-worker alleged that the patient was turning blue and Oke was just standing there, and he said he wanted to see the woman suffer. The patient survived.
The (Pottstown) Mercury says Oke said the patient twice unhooked the tube and the alarm went off again when she coughed or moved.
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