Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that yesterday Lynda Proietti (age 42), of Danielson, CT, was found guilty by a Providence County Superior Court jury of one count of felony patient abuse in a healthcare facility and two counts of misdemeanor patient abuse in a healthcare facility. The jury returned the guilty verdict in two and one-half hours after a week-long trial presided over by Superior Court Justice Brian P. Stern.
During the trial, the State proved that on various dates between August 1, 2015 and January 25, 2016, Proietti, who was employed as a certified nursing assistant by the Zambarano Unit of the Eleanor Slater Hospital, physically and verbally assaulted a non-verbal, non-mobile male patient. In addition, the State proved that during the same time period, Proietti verbally abused a non-verbal female patient diagnosed with Huntington's Disease.
The defendant was allowed to remain free on $5,000 surety bail until sentencing, which is scheduled for May 25, 2018.
Rhode Island State Police Detective Corporal Herbert Tilson and Detective Adrian Cybowicz led the investigation, and Special Assistant Attorney General Genevieve Allaire-Johnson of the Medicaid Fraud Control and Patient Abuse Unit prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.