1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Elder abuse probes linger" by James Drew
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
4-Apr-10
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
An investigation by The Dallas Morning News found that a criminal probe into two former workers accused of abusing seven residents in the Alzheimer's disease unit at a state-owned veterans home languished for more than two years because of confusion over who should investigate, and conflicts among local police, state officials, and veterans home administrators.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The story began when a reporter scrolled through a federal website that lists nursing homes nationwide, and noticed that a brief description referred to several as "government-owned." That led the reporter to a Texas state agency that owns veterans homes. The News used the state public records law to review nursing home inspection reports and complaints about veterans homes in Big Spring and Amarillo, Texas that had received the second-lowest rankings possible from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. After the reporter challenged the state Department of Aging on the number and extent of redactions made on nursing home inspection records, the state provided the newspaper with a new set of documents after acknowledging it had improperly applied the law. The News obtained police records in a West Texas town documenting that abuse allegations at a state veterans home were first checked by police in late 2007. Interviews and records obtained by The News through state open-records laws indicated that a criminal investigation was delayed partly because the police yielded to the state agency that inspects nursing homes, but that agency did not adhere to a 2003 law requiring joint investigations with law enforcement of the most serious allegations of abuse and neglect. In March, 2010, two weeks after an interview with The News, a county district attorney filed felony charges against two ex-employees of the veterans home. The News also documented that in late 2007 the company hired by the state to run the veterans home had fired the two employees accused of abuse. The newspaper obtained records showing how the company used a nationwide program called "informal dispute resolution" to overturn the findings of alleged abuse in the state and federal inspection records.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Officials of the General Land Office, a state agency which has a division that owns seven veterans homes; state and federal nursing home inspection staff, veterans home residents and relatives, veterans home employees, officials of companies that operate veterans homes, a county district attorney, and police officers and detectives.
6. Results (if any).
After publication of the April 4, 2010 story, three state agencies pledged to a Senate committee that they would improve responses to elder abuse allegations. The state Department of Aging announced it would offer annual training to law enforcement officers on how to investigate allegations of harm to the elderly. The commissioner of the aging department also acknowledged that the agency's relationship with law enforcement departments across the state is "probably not as strong as it should be." The state Department of Health and Human Services said it had made changes in how it reviews appeals from nursing home operators that contest violations documented by state regulators. The General Land Commissioner said he would take steps to ensure that local police officers work with nursing home operators on investigations. The chairwoman of a Senate committee, which held a special hearing in response to The News' investigation, called on state agencies to enforce a 2003 law that required the state Department of Aging and local law enforcement officers to jointly investigate the most serious allegations of abuse and neglect. The state Department of Aging acknowledged that a joint probe did not happen when the veterans' home in Big Spring reported allegations to the state in 2007 that two employees had abused seven residents in the Alzheimer's disease unit.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
Follow-ups published April 6, April 7, May 6, May 13, and June 9, 2010
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
This project required flexibility, and the approach of pursuing a minimum-maximum story. It began with a minimum story — two veterans homes that federal regulators had ranked as among the worst nursing homes in Texas. But after winning a public records battle — through the reporter showing a state official that inspection records had been overly-redacted and convincing that official to provide a new set of documents with several redactions removed — The News found a maximum story as it pursued a short to mid-range investigative project. By taking the extra step of flying from Austin to the West Texas town of Big Spring, the reporter was able to walk into the office of a local district attorney who had refused to return phone calls. That district attorney not only agreed to talk about the case, but let the reporter examine the file and then summoned a detective to ask further questions. The interview and the records enabled The News to determine that the company hired by the state to run the state veterans home initially had not cooperated with police. The police did not investigate, yielding to the state Department of Aging. The aging department conducted an inspection, not a criminal investigation. The attorney general's
Medicaid Fraud Unit had investigated, but had not taken any action for more than two years. Charges were not filed until March, 2010, weeks after The News first inquired about the abuse allegations. By then, the local district attorney could not find the witnesses who had come forward in 2007 and both of the alleged victims had died.