Former nurse charged in incident with 93-year-old patient at Ingham County facility

LANSING – A former health care facility nurse has been charged after investigators concluded she shoved an elderly resident and then entered false information into a health record.

Tessy Idusuyi, 49, of East Lansing was arraigned Tuesday in 55th District Court in Mason on charges of fourth-degree battery of vulnerable adults and intentionally making false statements in a medical record, according to court documents.

The state Attorney General’s Office said the incident involved a 93-year-old resident in a wheelchair and occurred in April 2023 at the Ingham County Medical Care Facility in Okemos.

In a press release, the Attorney General’s Office said Idusuyi, identified as a former nurse, caused a fall that left the elderly resident with head and shoulder injuries. Idusuyi allegedly denied that a fall occurred and did not undergo required neurological exams, according to the Attorney General’s Office. However, she later prepared an “unusual occurrence” document stating that he had performed neurological tests that night, officials said.

No attorney was listed for Idusuyi in court records. She was released on $15,000 bail following her arraignment.

AG investigators learned of the incident through a visit to the health care facility by the Sentinel Project, the office said. The Sentinel Project is an AG initiative aimed at uncovering cases of abuse of vulnerable adults in nursing homes. The program uses specially trained investigators to make unannounced visits to the facilities.

“We rely on nurses to provide reliable and compassionate care,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in the press release. “Failure to follow basic safety procedures, coupled with attempting to avoid detection once an injury has occurred, is behavior that has consequences.”

A hearing has been scheduled for July 9 to decide whether Idusuyi should be tried on the charges.

According to the Attorney General, a doctor’s intentional entry of false information in a medical record carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison, while fourth-degree abuse of vulnerable adults carries a maximum sentence of one year.

Contact Ken Palmer at [email protected]. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared in the Lansing State Journal: Former nurse at Ingham County nursing facility charged with shoving 93-year-old resident