QUINCY, Mass., Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A nursing assistant has been charged with hitting and beating four elderly women with Alzheimer's disease at a Boston-area assisted living facility.
Kara Murphy, 23, of Quincy was being held under home confinement, the Boston Herald reported. She was charged Friday with seven counts of assaulting the elderly.
Murphy worked at the Atrium at Faxon Woods in Quincy, a privately owned assisted living facility. A colleague reported Murphy to police, investigators said.
The co-worker described a rampage last Saturday in which Murphy allegedly attacked one woman by grabbing her head to get her to a toilet when she began defecating. Murphy then allegedly bounced on the lap of a 96-year-old woman confined to a wheelchair.
Murphy, who has been fired from her job and was arrested Thursday, faces a long prison term if convicted.
Her aunt, Loretta Palmacci, told the Herald Murphy might have been assaulted by one of the residents.
"She's been a very kind and caring person," Palmacci said. "I don't know what happened. Sometimes she would come home very tense. You can imagine all the different things that go on with Alzheimer's (patients)."
