Warning to all Direct Care Personnel who work with disabled. I was involved in an incident where a mentally retarded client was out of control and attempting to hurt himself by banging his head against furniture and walls in the house and as a preventitive measure, I placed my hand on the back of his head to prevent headbutting. My coworker who had a grudge against me reported the incident with a twist stating that she witnessed me viciously punch and kick a 90 lb. Retarded client for 15 mins. Then drag him down the hall by his neck. Note that the allegation was made 2 months after the incident supposedly took place. This incident was supposed to have happened on a Thursday and on Friday, the client went home with his family for the weekend and absolutely no report of any "abuse" or "bruises" were complained of. Although the State Investigator stated to me that he "believed the allegations to be uncredible" and that he did not feel I abused the client, based on my admission that I prevented the client from harming himself, I was charged with abuse (applying a restrain). My warning to all those working in the Direct Care Field is that the same thing could happen to you if a client is violent. Also be aware that you can be charged if you let a client harm himself and do nothing to stop him. I allege that the Dept of Mental Retardation discriminated against me in the handling of this case.
The employee that filed the false complaint was upset because I had complained of her smoking "marijuana" on the job and supplying it to her "2 witnesses" to this brutalization of this client.
By the way, I won the lawsuit I filed against this employer who "fired" me over this false allegation and the State still will not remove this abuse allegation from my record. I have contacted lawyers under the belief that this is an easy case to provide because I already proved the employers to be liars, but no attorney will touch my case for under $10,000! And i did nothing wrong! I STRONGLY URGE ANYONE IN THIS FIELD TO CONSIDER CHANGING OCCUPATIONS.
The terrible outcome of this accusation is that I witnessed a mentally-challenged person falling down a set of steps after she slipped from the grasp of her healthcare worker and although my first instinct was to grasp the female client as she was falling past me, I did not want to be accused of assault and instead the client fell breaking her neck in the fall. The state of massachusetts has made it clear to me that if you put your hands on anyone disabled even for their safety, you will be charged with abuse!
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