by Ten individuals were murdered in a fire at an assisted living facility in Massachusetts.State inspectors say it temporarily lost its registration earlier this month because of maltreatment of residents over ten years ago.
The Associated Press received records from the state Executive Office of Aging & Independence on Tuesday, with specifics of the reasons behind the month-long suspension redacted. However, state authorities came to the conclusion that Gabriel House did not treat residents with compassion, respect, personal dignity, or privacy because of an incident that occurred in March 2016 involving a certified nurse’s assistant who was later fired.
Until it made amends, the Fall River facility was prohibited from taking on new residents.
The absence of rules governing assisted-living facilities, which frequently provide care for persons with disabilities or poor incomes, has been brought to light by the state’s deadliest fire in over 40 years. Last Monday, Governor Maura Healey declined to comment on the effectiveness of municipal and state inspections. Healey has instead bragged that a state commission is now drafting suggestions to enhance assisted-living facilities.
against two dozen complaints against the facility over the past ten years are included in state papers made public on Tuesday; some of these complaints are concerning financial exploitation, abuse, or neglect, but the specifics have been censored. Staff members who threatened residents and denied them medication were among the other complaints, as was a resident who was trapped for hours in an elevator that was later out of commission for months.
Complaints were also made regarding environmental safety, a cook who is abusive, controlling, and compulsive, and a nurse who withholds medication.
The 2015 complaint, which is the most thorough, seems to have been written or dictated by a resident. It enumerates over a dozen problems, such as roaches, bed bugs, overmedicated inhabitants, and fistfights in public spaces.
The complaint claims that because of other patients and dishonest staff, you can’t feel comfortable there. The employees are quite nasty to the residents and don’t care about their requirements.
Gabriel House’s owner, Dennis Etzkorn, has stated that he will not speak to reporters and that his priorities are assisting the victims’ families and assisting with the fire investigation.
According to the most recent records, as of spring 2025, state officials were concerned about the persistent elevator problems. In February, a field supervisor with Massachusetts’ long-term care ombudsman pleaded with the state to look into Gabriel House’s malfunctioning elevator, claiming that each time he called to report the issue, he was given an excuse.
To the office’s assisted living certification specialist, an anonymous official wrote, “Please call this place and see if this is true; if so, we need a remedy/plan asap.”
After the elevator issues were initially reported in September 2024, Etzkorn subsequently sent a letter to the office outlining the timeframe, stating that work would start in March.
The most recent compliance inspection discovered multiple repeat infractions prior to the July 13 fire, many of which had to do with record keeping. In December 2023, the state reaffirmed the facility’s certification following the submission of a rectification plan.
Last week, investigators reported that the fire was inadvertently caused by either an electrical problem with an oxygen machine or someone smoking. Some tenants of the three-story building were crying for help and hanging out of windows due to the fire.
This report was written by Kimberlee Kruesi, an Associated Press writer in Providence, Rhode Island.
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