RI Dept. of Health Places Health Professional on Probation After “Abandoning Patients”

RI Dept. of Health Places Health Professional on Probation After “Abandoning Patients”

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) has placed a licensed professional in the state on probation - alleging fraud and patient abandonment. 

According to RIDOH, licensed nursing assistant Alexandrea Berthiaume was employed by a staffing agency and assigned to work at a nursing facility in the fall of 2023.

“On September 19, 2023, [Berthiaume] sent a photograph by text message to the staffing agency purportedly signed by ‘J. Pascal,’ a nurse at the nursing facility, to indicate that she had signed in for her shift at the facility,” wrote RIDOH. 

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“In fact, she did not enter the nursing facility on September 19, 2023, and had forged the signature of ‘J.Pascal,’ who was not working at the facility on September 19, 2023,” RIDOH continued. “She committed fraud and abandoned patients who were in need of her care.”

 

Sanction

RIDOH sanctioned Berthiaume to twelve months of active probation and is not allowed to work “in a private home or anywhere else without direct supervision.” 

Furthermore, Berthiaume’s license will be listed as “Administrative Inactive” until she provides RIDOH with documentation from a hospital or nursing facility stating that the hospital or nursing facility employs or intends to employ her as a nursing assistant. 

Any new employer is required to provide job performance progress reports quarterly to RIDOH.