According to the Department of Justice, Patricia Waible, of Nashua, NH, plead guilty to two counts of making false statements during the investigation of a patient’s death. The defendant allegedly claimed that she had conducted the required hourly bed checks on the patient the night of his death, but investigators later found that this was not the case.
On July 3rd, 2016, Waible was working as a nursing assistant at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford. Her shift was scheduled from midnight to 8 am in the nursing home unit. During that shift, Waible was responsible for performing hourly bed checks to ensure that patients were breathing. One of these patients was known to suffer from multiple health complications and was found unresponsive early that morning.
The patient was transferred to the facility’s emergency room, where he was soon pronounced dead. An investigation followed, where Waible stated on multiple occasions that she had performed the required hourly bed checks on the patients when she had not.
For making false statements, Waible, 52, faces up to five years of imprisonment as well as a $250,000 fine. Waible plead guilty to two counts of making false statements and will make an appearance in federal court in Boston at a later date.
This care is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys Amanda Strachan and William Brady of Lelling’s Health Care Fraud Unit.
To learn more about this case or other instances of health care fraud, visit the Jeff Newman Law Whistleblower Help Center and blog!
