Family blames nursing home for grandfather’s death, says he was abused

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — A metro Atlanta family has been mourning the loss of their grandfather for two years, but still haven’t received details on how he died.

They say the nursing home in Fayetteville he lived at is responsible for his death, but aren’t sure of the extent of the abuse he endured.

The state is now investigating the death of 90-year-old Kenneth Broady.

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Broady’s family says his death could have been avoided. His granddaughter told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln that she received a concerning phone call from the facility in 2020.

“There was admitted abuse,” Meghan Aguilera said. “They said, ‘We need to report this to you. There’s been an abuse allegation against the staff, towards your grandfather.’”

Lincoln obtained a police report that shows a Heartis employee called police after seeing another employee allegedly abuse Broady. The report states that she heard Broady scream for help while two other employees dragged him on the ground by his belt down a hallway.

Aguilera said they had to restrain him forcefully after that incident.

“They said, ‘While we were doing that, he got some bumps and bruises along the way,’” Aguilera recalled.

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Two weeks later, they received a phone call that Broady had passed away at Grady Memorial Hospital.

His death certificate shows that one of his causes of death was a broken neck.

“Finding the police report, and finding the state investigation document, that completely contradicted what we were told, was just mind blowing to all of us,” Aguilera said.

Lincoln spoke with the Senior Vice President of Integral Senior Living, who is the current director of the facility. They declined to comment and said they were not working with the facility at the time of Broady’s death.

Documents from two state investigations reveal the incident was reported to the state until three days later.

One of those reports stated that the facility did not have a proper care plan in place for Broady, which lead to inadequate staffing and monitoring for him as he was classified as a high fall risk.

“There’s great people who work in this industry. There’s great people who work there, but we happen to get the perfect storm of individuals that mismanaged everything that specific night, and it resulted in my grandfather’s death,” Aguilera said.

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The family says they have not been able to retrieve Broady’s belongings or find out if the employees involved in the abuse allegations are still employed at the facility.

The state investigation resulted in the facility being fined, but leaders would not tell Lincoln if those fines had been paid. If they have not, they could face suspensions.

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