Nurse At Otsego County Nursing Home

Attorney General Spitzer today announced that Melissa Rubin, a licensed practical nurse formerly employed at The Meadows Skilled Nursing Facility in Cooperstown, has pleaded guilty to a felony charge for having lied about her criminal background on her job application. Rubin also admitted stealing personal items belonging to a resident.

Rubin, 34, of 392 Chestnut Street in Oneonta, appeared yesterday before Otsego County Supreme Court Justice Michael V. Coccoma and pleaded guilty to Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree and Petit Larceny. Rubin also agreed to surrender her nursing license.

Sentencing was set for July 14th, at which time Rubin faces up to four years in prison.

According to the felony complaint filed against her at the time of her arrest in March, Rubin, in filling out an Otsego County employment application for a nursing position at The Meadows facility on July 2, 2001, failed to note that she had previously been terminated from jobs for reasons that include theft of property at a facility, issues relating to patient care deficiencies, poor attendance, and unsatisfactory work performance. Rubin also failed to note that she had a pending misdemeanor charge in Broome County, arising out of allegations of theft of monies from a nursing home where she was previously employed. Rubin was convicted of Petit Larceny in that case in November 2001.

Rubin was also charged with stealing clothing and other items belonging to staff and residents at the Meadows between May 2002 and July 2002.

Since 2000, Attorney General Spitzer has proposed legislation that would protect nursing home patients and the home-bound elderly by allowing nursing home operators and home care agencies to conduct state-financed criminal background checks on prospective employees whose jobs require direct care and supervision of patients.

"Every day, patients in nursing homes put their lives and trust in the hands of nurses and other professional health care staff," said Spitzer. "It is essential that nursing homes be able to screen new employees by obtaining criminal history checks. Such screening would effectively weed out the worst offenders from the system, and vastly improve the safety and security of our most vulnerable citizens."

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Michael C. Clarke, of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit's Albany Regional Office. Assisting in the investigation was Special Investigator Antoine J. Karam.