PHILADELPHIA – A former nurse at a Philadelphia senior care facility has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor neglect of a care-dependent person and tampering with records in the 2018 death of the father of former Trump national security advisor H.R. McMaster Jr.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office announced Tuesday that 34-year-old Christann Gainey had pleaded guilty in a Monday court appearance to the charges related to the death of Herbert R. McMaster Sr. Gainey had initially been charged with additional counts of felony neglect and involuntary manslaughter, which were dropped as part of the plea agreement.The Attorney General's office said she was sentenced to six months under house arrest, with another four years of probation, according to court records. Gainey will also be barred from seeking reinstatement of her license or working in a care facility during that time.
Prosecutors contend the 84-year-old McMaster fell and struck his head in April 2018, just days after arriving at the Cathedral Village senior living facility in Philadelphia. He died hours later as the result of bleeding in his brain.
Prosecutors said Gainey, who was assigned to the facility through a staffing agency and was the Licensed Practical Nurse on duty that night, was required by facility medical policy to perform neurological and vital sign checks on McMaster periodically after the fall.
Gainey pleaded guilty to falsifying records to show she had done those checks. During preliminary hearings prosecutors played several hours of surveillance footage from the that night, showing Gainey was not near McMaster at the times she recorded the alleged neurological checks, including one that would have happened after he had died.Pennsylvania Health Department officials released a report in 2018 that also placed blame for the incident on administrators at the facility who investigators said had failed in their essential duties and responsibilities. The 141-page report said the fatal fall was McMaster Sr.'s fifth during a four-day stay at the Cathedral Village retirement community, where he was admitted for rehabilitation following a stroke.
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