Embattled nursing exec at Claremore veterans center quits
BY SHANNON MUCHMORE World Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
2/13/13 at 4:19 AM
The director of nursing at the Claremore Veterans Center, who was suspended after the scalding death of a resident, has resigned, officials said Tuesday.
Cindy Schnell's resignation is effective June 25, but she will use comp time and annual leave until then, according to a statement from the Oklahoman Department of Veterans Affairs.
Her last day of work was Feb. 6.
She was suspended with pay after Jay Minter, 85, died in May after being scalded in a whirlpool at the Veterans Center.
A report on Minter's death found negligence and abuse by one nurse and neglect by three other employees at the center. The state Medical Examiner's Office report lists complications of thermal injuries as his cause of death.
Officials said there were no grounds for Schnell's firing, and she was reinstated Dec. 20.
After Minter's death, which was reported in The Journal Record, the director of the Claremore Veterans Center resigned. The executive director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs resigned on the same day, citing her husband's health. A physician's assistant and a nurse's aide at the center were later fired.
Another report regarding an incident about a month before Minter's death substantiated claims of caretaker neglect in the death of Louis Arterberry, 86.
Arterberry was not taken to the hospital for 10 hours after he had a stroke at the center.
