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Nursing home put woman with dementia into Uber by herself, family says

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — A family wants answers after they said a nursing home put their mother, who has dementia and Alzheimer's, into an Uber by herself.

The family has made two complaints to the state and other families told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes they have filed complaints, too.

"It didn’t feel right. That’s just not the way you treat people," the woman's daughter-in-law, Angie Conner, said.

The Connor family did not want to put their 78-year-old mother in a nursing home, but when her Alzheimer's and dementia got worse last year, they felt like they had no choice.

"We had to make the decision that somebody had to take care of her 24/7," daugther Becky Mills told Fernandes.

The family placed her in the Riverside Nursing Home in Covington in February. Six months later, they said they noticed her oxygen tank wasn't working properly and that officials were scheduling unnecessary appointments without the family's approval.

"Because they bill Medicaid and Medicare. It's just like, no, you're not going to have a test done just to make money off it," Mills said.

So they made a complaint to state officials.

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Then on Tuesday, the family learned the nursing home sent their mother to her appointment in an Uber by herself when the medical transport didn't show up. The doctor's office called the family.

"I couldn’t believe it. Because of her situation with dementia, she was frightened. She didn’t know where she was at," Conner said.

Fernandes called the Riverside Nursing Home for two days but no one ever called her back. Fernandes went to the office on Thursday.

Another family who didn't want to talk on camera said they have had trouble too.

"It's not every nurse and it's not every CNA. But it's in there. There’s a lot of residents in there – if you can get to them they can tell you some things," the woman said.

Channel 2 Action News has placed an open records request to find out how many complaints the nursing home has received.