RESERVE, La. (WGNO) – A LaPlace nurse was arrested for allegedly falsifying reports about the death of a patient at a veterans home in Reserve.
According to the state Inspector General’s Office, Cheryl Poirrier was working as a nurse at the Southeast Louisiana War Veterans Home in Reserve. In January 2015, one of the patients reportedly fell in his room and complained of back and head pain.
Poirrier, the on-duty nurse, reportedly sent him back to bed. He died during the night.
When patients have unobserved falls, nurses are required to check their neurological signs several times over a 72-hour period.
Poirrier is accused of filling out paperwork that claimed she performed four “neuro checks” on the patient, but investigators said she never did the neuro checks and lied on the paperwork.
She was booked into the St. John Parish Jail on four counts of filing false public records and one count of malfeasance in office.