Press Release  Home Health Aide Charged With Assault and Battery Against Elderly Patient

SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield home health aide, who was licensed as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), has been indicted in connection with a home surveillance video showing her abusing an elderly patient, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Rodette Robinson, 53, of Springfield, was indicted Thursday by a Hampden County grand jury on two charges of Assault and Battery on an Elder by a Caretaker. Robinson is set to be arraigned in Hampden Superior Court at a later date.

In November 2021, the family of a 91-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in Wilbraham reported to Robinson’s employer, a home health agency, that Robinson physically abused the patient in an incident captured on the family’s video surveillance system. Specifically, Robinson shook the patient from a recliner and aggressively dragged her into the bathroom causing noticeable bruising on the patient’s left arm and side. Shortly thereafter, the home health agency terminated Robinson’s employment and reported her to the Nurse Aide Registry and the Department of Public Health (DPH). A subsequent investigation by DPH resulted in a suspension of Robinson’s license and a referral to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Division.

All of these charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This matter is being investigated and handled by Managing Attorney Gregory Matthews, Senior Trial Attorney Elisha Willis, and Healthcare Fraud Investigators Caitlin Albert and Ashley Marquez, all of the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division, and Senior Victim Witness Advocate Megan Murphy of the AG’s Victim Services Division. The investigation was assisted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Wilbraham Police Department, and Elara Caring home health agency in Newton.

The AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division is a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, annually certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute health care providers who defraud the Medicaid program (MassHealth). The Medicaid Fraud Division also has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute complaints of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of residents in long-term care facilities and of Medicaid patients in any health care setting.

The AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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