James P. Carey Press

Case against Albert Lea nursing home aides moved

StarTribune.com - 06/16/2010

Two young women accused of physically and sexually humiliating nursing home residents in Albert Lea, Minn., two years ago are no longer being sued in Minnesota by the survivors of one of their accusers because the woman has since died, according to the attorney for the plaintiffs.

Criminal cases against Brianna Broitzman, 20, and Ashton Larson, 20, are unaffected, and trials are scheduled for this summer.

Beverly Butts, 84, died on May 15 from ailments not associated with the alleged abuse, and her case against the Good Samaritan nursing home and Broitzman and Larson was moved by the plaintiffs to federal court in South Dakota, the state where the home's headquarters is. Minnesota law doesn't allow survivors in a personal-injury claim to continue litigation after the victim dies, while South Dakota does. Now that the case has left Minnesota, the two women are no longer defendants in that case.

The nursing home was the focus of state investigations and widespread publicity about the abuse in early 2008. Six aides were charged, Broitzman and Larson as adults and four as juveniles, accused of abusing seven residents with dementia.