California mother who shot disabled daughter had complained about her nursing home care

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

In the six years that her daughter lived at Oakland Springs Health Care Center, Diana Harden (pictured) had lodged at least two complaints against the facility, alleging that Yvette Harden was verbally abused by staff members and was not given proper care and equipment.

Oakland Springs had become a home of last resort for Yvette Harden (pictured), 43, who was paralyzed and suffered a serious brain injury in a car accident 15 years ago. She'd bounced from one nursing home to another, and lived with her mother for a while.

On Sunday night, Diana Harden, 64, went to Oakland Springs to see her daughter. She brought a gun, and shot and killed Yvette Harden and then killed herself. The day before, she'd sent a letter to a KGO-TV news reporter outlining the reasons for her actions. She stated allegations of abuse, which included charges that staff members had called her daughter a "fat pig" and subjected her to cold showers where she was washed "like a car."

Neighbors at the Livermore mobile home park where Harden lived said that while she often talked about her daughter, she never complained about the nursing home, and they were stunned at what she'd done. But they said Harden had become increasingly worried for her daughter's well being and long-term care, especially as her own health declined.

Harden "mentioned twice that her daughter didn't want to put up with it anymore. But you don't expect this," said Paul Rosa, who lived next door to Harden. "She was very kind, a wonderful person. I think it just became too much."

After the car accident in 1994, Yvette Harden was in a wheelchair, and she suffered brain damage that affected her ability to reason and control herself. Harden struggled to find a place that would accept her daughter - many nursing homes take only the elderly, and refuse difficult patients.

Finally, Oakland Springs, then called Clinton Village Convalescent Hospital, agreed to take Yvette Harden. But she wasn't happy there, according to state records. Harden's neighbors said she never said anything about her daughter being treated badly, but she repeatedly said her daughter was unhappy.

"She'd tell me that she wanted her daughter to not give up. But every time she'd visit, her daughter would say she wants to die," said Nitaya Roberts, who lives across the street from Harden.

Last year, Harden filed a complaint with the state alleging that the staff had taken away her daughter's motorized wheelchair and given her a manual one that didn't fit and didn't allow her to get around easily. An investigation by the state public health department backed up the complaint, which led to recommendations for changes to improve care.

In a second complaint, Harden said her daughter was threatened with eviction from Oakland Springs for breaking a door with her motorized wheelchair. The eviction notice was revoked after state investigators looked into the complaint.

Administrators from Oakland Springs did not return phone calls seeking comment.

In the past five years, 152 complaints have been filed against Oakland Springs, half of which were substantiated by the state after investigation. Among the complaints were allegations of residents getting preventable bed sores; the staff not providing clean bedding and clothes; and residents waiting days or weeks to get medical care. But there have been no fines levied against the center in that time period.

The state public health department is investigating Oakland Springs after Sunday's shootings, as well as looking into the alleged abuses outlined in Diana Harden's letter.

Oakland Springs "has an unusual amount of complaints," said Charlene Harrington, a UCSF School of Nursing professor who studies California nursing homes. "But there are very few quality homes in California. You can see how somebody would feel trapped."

In her letter, Harden wrote five pages about the care her daughter had received and the frustration of finding a home for a disabled adult. She ended it saying that her daughter had been "begging" to die for two years.

"I can't let her go on like this," Harden wrote. "My health is failing and I don't want to leave her alone."