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Man shoots wife and himself in Texas nursing home

Healthcare Security Weekly, May 4, 2004

An 84-year-old man shot his wife and himself in a Texas nursing home last week, according to the Associated Press.


Nursing home workers didn't realize when Nellie Booker arrived to visit his wife at the CLC Woodridge Nursing Home that he carried a small handgun and a suicide note in his wallet. His wife Jessie had lived in the facility for almost a year.

After spending an hour in his wife's room, workers discovered the couple's bodies, both with gunshot wounds to the head.

A note folded in Booker's wallet detailed his anguish over a battle with leukemia and his wife's paralysis from a stroke, calling it a "dual nightmare."

The Texas Department of Human Services, which oversees licensing for nursing homes, is investigating whether the 126-bed nursing home followed proper procedures or could have prevented the tragedy, spokeswoman Rosemary Patterson says.

Since 1998, inspectors found problems at the nursing home but none that caused residents harm or immediate jeopardy.

After the latest inspection in September, inspectors found 15 deficiencies, including that the facility did not treat residents properly to prevent or heal bed sores; did not store, cook, and give out food in a safe and clean way; and did not make sure that the nursing home was free of dangers that cause accidents.

The nursing home's administrator, Brian Stephens, declined to comment about the shootings, the Bookers, or the home's operations.

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