Owner of assisted living facility accused of neglecting 80-year-old woman who died

Warrant says Gail Victor failed to care for woman's ulcers, hid injuries

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The owner of a South Florida assisted living facility was arrested Wednesday after she failed to adequately treat an 80-year-old woman's ulcers and tried to hide the severity of the woman's injuries, ultimately leading to her death, authorities said.

Gail Victor, 64, faces a charge of aggravated manslaughter on an elderly person by culpable negligence.

According to an arrest warrant, Victor didn't properly treat the ulcers on the woman's buttocks, hips, sacrum and heels while she was in the care of Bernadette's Assisted Living Facility.

Victor, who has owned the Hallandale Beach facility since 1995, also falsified nursing notes, failing to properly document the size and stage of the ulcers, the warrant said. Victor also concealed the extent and severity of the ulcers from others who were caring for the victim, the warrant said.

An investigator for the Florida Office of the Attorney General said the victim's condition worsened over the course of several months, and she was taken by ambulance to Aventura Hospital in September 2013.

The victim, who had been in the care of Bernadette's Assisted Living Facility since January 2013, died eight days after being hospitalized.

According to the warrant, Victor told the investigator that "she had hoped she could heal the pressure ulcers herself."

A surgeon at Aventura Hospital said the woman was "definitely neglected."

"The wounds did not grow overnight," Dr. David Grossman said in an interview with the investigator. "These wounds take many weeks to form, and there was puss (sic) coming out of them. They smelled foul. There was necrosis and gangrene."

Grossman said the wound was "one of the worst, if not the worst, I have ever seen."

Victor faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, and her license has been rescinded by the state. She appeared in court Thursday morning and was released from jail on a $20,000 bond.


About the Author:

Peter Burke returned for a second stint of duty at Local 10 News in February 2014.