A state grand jury indicted the owner of a home for the aging in Nogales, Arizona, on four felony counts of vulnerable adult abuse, Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Friday.
Raul Lopez, owner of La Paloma Home for the Aging, was indicted in a 2018 case investigated by Adult Protective Services and special agents with the attorney general’s office health care fraud and abuse section, according to a news release.
On Feb. 13, 2018, a 90-year-old resident of the home for the aging was taken to a local hospital for an injury sustained due to a fall, officials said.
While being examined, hospital staff claimed to observe “several pressure ulcers that were not reported on the resident’s feet and heels,” states the release.
“Doctors determined the wounds to the resident’s feet were full thickness necrosis, consistent with chronic dry gangrene,” according to the release.
Physicians said the wounds occurred over a period of time.
They said that the caregivers should have seen this if they had checked or cared for the victim’s feet.
In addition, the indictment states that the victim also had a pressure ulcer on the hip and buttocks.
