Grandma Kept On "Falling Out Of Wheelchair" So Her Family Installed A Camera To Film The Nurse

Aug 20, 2019 by apost team

Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of elder abuse that may be troubling for some readers.

Nursing care homes are meant to provide a safe and secure place for the elderly to live when they're unable to live alone or be supported by family members anymore. Often frail, they need the utmost care while being looked after. Sadly, though that isn't always the reality. 

Elder abuse is not uncommon in nursing homes, as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that "rates of elder abuse are high in institutions such as nursing homes and long-term care facilities." Furthermore, two out of three nursing home staff members were said to have committed abuse in the last year. Sadly, the WHO reported that elder abuse had increased during the pandemic and is expected to increase globally as the world's population ages.

One horrific incident of elder abuse occurred in 2007 and made the news later in 2013. Minnie Graham was a 98-year-old great-great-grandmother who had been living in Winters Park Nursing Home in Garland, Texas. But at one point she began to tell her grandchildren about the mistreatment she had received from certain staff members and not long after bruises showed up.

Her grandkids spoke to the staff who claimed that Graham "fell out of her wheelchair" but they didn't believe the story, so they put a clock that had a hidden camera in her room to find out what really happened. To their horror, they saw that Graham had been struck multiple times and abused verbally by various staff members. 

Although they took their story to the police, unfortunately, the case didn't go far. Let's take a look at this tale of caution.

Graham had been living at the nursing home in Garland, Texas, for a few years when she began to tell her family that there were problems there. The great-great-grandmother told members of her family that she was being mistreated by staff members at the nursing home. She said that one worker assigned to care for her was even crueler than the others.

Not long after, there were multiple bruises on her body and she had a black eye. Her family made a trip to the nursing home in search of answers. Workers at the nursing home told family members Graham "fell out of her wheelchair." They cited the fall as the reason for the sudden injuries suffered by the 98-year-old. Graham's granddaughters, however, did not buy the story.

Her family was determined to find out what had happened to her. They decided to put a clock in their grandmother's room that had a hidden camera attached to it. The family then watched the camera and waited for an answer to what was happening to Graham. They soon learned the answer to the mystery and it left them both horrified and disgusted.

It turned out that a hospice worker assigned to Graham, named Brenna Tiller, entered the 98-year-old woman's room one night and began to get both violent and aggressive with Graham. She pulled on her arm in a violent way and then dropped the old woman back onto the bed. When Graham showed resistance to the attack, she was slapped repeatedly in the face and cursed at.

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Tiller taunted the old woman and stuck her tongue out as she cursed at her. The worker then stuck a towel in the woman's mouth that she had just used to wash Graham's body with. But horrifically, Tiller was not the only staff member at the nursing home who assaulted Graham. A male worker named Iwuchukwu Ekechukwu also struck the old woman and was seen on camera pinching her.

The family did some research and learned their case was not an isolated one. But to their surprise, government organizations entrusted with overseeing the safety of nursing home residents did not offer much help. Despite taking their story to the police, the response from law enforcement was not what they expected.

The two workers were indicted for felony injury charges but only Ekechukwu was arrested at the time. Meanwhile, Tiller wasn't able to be tracked down by police. Fox News located her later on in 2013 and claimed that she was still working at a nursing home at the time, albeit a different one. However, according to Rasansky Law Firm, Tiller was later convicted for a felony and charged with five years of probation and eventually had her nursing home license revoked.

One of Graham's granddaughters, Shirley Ballard, said:

“I just don’t know how people can be so heartless and careless. There was justice, in a way – we hope that she won’t ever be able to do that again."

Sadly, Graham died about a month following the video recording of her abuse. Her granddaughters believe the mistreatment affected her will to live. 

What did you think about this story? Have any of your family members lived at a nursing home? Let us know and pass this article along to your friends and family to raise awareness of this problem.

If you or anybody you know is struggling with elder abuse, please call the National Center on Elder Abuse at 1-855-500-3537. The Center provides confidential support for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.