Health aide charged with assaulting 90-year-old stroke victim in New Jersey
PARK RIDGE, Bergen County -- A New York home health aide has been charged with assaulting a 90-year-old stroke victim at an assisted living facility in New Jersey.
The state attorney general's office says the alleged assault was captured on a hidden camera loaned to the family as part of the "Safe Care Cam" program to prevent elder abuse.
Now, 50-year-old Mitsou Gottheim, of Nanuet, is charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent person and simple assault. Court personnel didn't have the name of an attorney for her Wednesday.
Police in Park Ridge said the video allegedly shows the suspect slapping the elderly woman's hand and roughly pushing her head back onto the pillow several times.
The woman is bedridden and unable to communicate because of the stroke.
Gottheim, who was hired by the woman's family, is registered with the New York Department of Health as a certified home health aide, but he is not certified by the New Jersey Board of Nursing to provide those services in that state.
The New Jersey Board of Nursing also is investigating.
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