In May of 2021, Aminata Fofana, who worked as a licensed practical nurse at Capri Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Lewis Center, Ohio, removed a 72-year-old patient’s tracheostomy mask to clean it. According to NBC affiliate WCMH, Ms. Fofana told federal investigators she forgot to reattach the tubing after cleaning the mask. An hour later, another nurse found the patient, Paul Mowery, dead.
Ms. Fofana pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony, in January. On Feb. 27, a judge in the Delaware County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court sentenced Ms. Fofana to three years of a basic level of community control. Additionally, Ms. Fofana was ordered to maintain residence in the state, surrender her nursing license and is “prohibited from working or volunteering in any capacity with sick or elderly patients,” according to the attorney general’s office.
The patient’s wife, Luana Mowery, filed a wrongful death suit against Capri Gardens, the nursing home’s parent company, in January. A hearing in the case is set for March, according to WCMH.
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