Civil suit filed against Heritage Springs Memory Care Center of Lewisburg alleging ‘utter cruelty’
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LEWISBURG -- The owners, operators and managers of Heritage Springs Memory Care Center, Lewisburg have been accused in a civil suit of treating a 93-year-old female resident with "utter cruelty" over the past eight months, according to a story by PennLive reporter John Beauge.
Two former employees, residents of the Montgomery area, were charged by Buffalo Valley Regional Police on July 12 in relation to the allegation.
Madison Laine Cox, 18, and a 17-year-old boy, both from the Montgomery area, have been accused criminally of taking pictures and videos of elderly residents, some of whom were nude, and placing them on Snapchat, the PennLive story stated.
The two were classmates in school and both worked from 4 p.m. to midnight. Police said they were told neither is still employed there.
Cox is accused in the criminal charges of taking pictures or videos of Longenberger between Dec. 14 and April 18 for no purpose other than to demean or ridicule her, PennLive reported.
The suit, filed in Union County court on behalf of Alice K. Longenberger, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2018, claimed she and other residents were subjected to torture for eight months.
The civil suit alleges Cox and the juvenile proliferated videos and images of Longenberger and other residents of the facility.
The pictures referenced include Longenberger sitting in a wheelchair with her breasts exposed with a tag that stated "busted," in bed after she soiled herself and another of her nude with a tag that stated "slaying."
Heritage Springs administrator Tambra Speece, who is one of the defendants, said the investigation into the incidents is ongoing and she did not have any comment on the civil action, the PennLive account stated.
While Cox and the juvenile have been charged, the managers, owners and operators are equally culpable in allowing such abusive conduct within their walls, the suit claims.
"Rather than hiring and training well-credentialed clinical specialists, Heritage Springs Memory Care Center was often staffed by children and hooligans, if at all," the document charges.
Longenberger's family members often stayed after hours to care for her and other residents due to insufficient and untrained staff, it states.
"Defendants decision to charge exorbitant rent for what was effectively warehousing the cognitively impaired, as opposed to a functioning memory care center for those most in need of clinical care, is reprehensible," Longenberger's attorney Erica C. Wilson wrote.
The suit accuses Heritage Springs of:
• Maximizing profits by mismanaging or reducing staffing levels below what is necessary to provide adequate care for residents.
• Knowingly disregarding patient acuity levels while making staffing decisions.
• Ignoring complaints by residents' families and staff about the inappropriate demeanor and lack of training for staff.
• Depriving Longenberger of the safe environment to which she was entitled.
The suit seeks more than $50,000 in damages against all defendants for negligence, battery against just Cox and the juvenile, and breach of fiduciary duty against the Heritage defendants, PennLive reported.