DOUGLAS COUNTY OFFICE
INVESTIGATION DIVISION
INTERVIEW
CR #2013-00069531

 

DATE: 0348-20 I4 START TIME: LOCATION: JEFFERSON COUNTY OFFICE

 

 

 

DETECTIVE ANGELA SPEZZANO, USN 9330
ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATOR THERESA BRADBURY

MAESTAS.

 

 

 

VIDEOTAPE: YE DVD: YES: NO:

 

ND: AUDIOTAPE: YES: 

 

 

 

 

Following is the transcript an interview with the (allowing individuals present:
S: DETECTIVE ANGELA SPEZZANO

B: INVESTIGATOR THERESA BRADBURY

M: DANNETTE MAESTAS

BEGINNING OF RECORDED INTERVIEW 08:52:30

S: Have a seat.

B: Thanks for coming in. Did you have any problems finding 

M: Um Well I've never, I've lived, I've lived here for like eleven years but I've
never really been down this street so I wasn't sure where to go.

E: I know, you know I wasn't either, I actually had to call this morning because I
firsl druve Yeah, to the like
B: It's a delentions facility?
M: Yeah, And then there's the like courthouses over there so 

i. . Yeah, there's everything over here So thanks for coming in. I know
that you were busy.

 

[Insudible 7 and speaking Io each otherwork nights. Ihad worked last night so please excuse me.

EXHIBIT

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Okay. So Dannette how long have you been an 

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M:

Um hum. Highlands was my first R-N job.

B:

Okay. Um ... now is that, that's a Bachelor's level, right?

M;

Um hum.

B:

All right. Okay. So prior to that though what did, were you an L-P-N, C-N-A or

M:

Um hum.

B:

Can you tell me about when you got those, how long, and did you ever work in

any type of setting like this before?
M:

It, I've never worked, that was my first behavioral health setting.

B:

Okay.

M:

But I worked, I had my C-N-A license, I worked long term care for like a year
and a half and 1 got that in ninety nine.

B:

Okay.

M:

And then I worked as a Ortho Tech at Saint Joe's Hospital for seven years.

And

um, but I worked as an L-P-N, oh then I worked as a unit manager long term care
as an L-P-N and then I worked at um . . . Kaiser for . . . um, a few years as an L-PN before working at Highlands.
B:

What did you do at Kaiser?

M:

As an L-P-N.

B:

Oh the, what kinds of, 'cause there is ... .

• »

t ' •

M:

Oh, yeah, so no, no

B:

like people at different levels and people do (inaudible).

M:

So I worked, I worked in the E-M-T clinic and then I worked in, um, the float
pool where 1 did all of the clinics.

B:

Okay. That's kind of good to get a lot of experience . . .

M:

Um, I did because I was in school for my R-N and when you're doing ... I had

been doing E-N-T for so long like

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 M:

And if I needed help with anything and if I needed, urn, if 1 was having an issue,
yeah.

B:

Okay.

M:

That's who, they have, um ... nursing cell phones that we would call.

B:

Okay. It looks like you worked with Tacy a lot?

M;

Um hum.

B:

Do you have any
She was fairly new.

M:

B:

Okay. So do you have any thoughts about, um, her skills or anything that she did
or your interactions with her?

M:

Um ... I didn't really know her real well. But um . . . (shrugging shoulders).

B:

Be, just be honest. That's all I'm looking for, so ...

M:

I just ... I don't know. I don't know honestly.

I don't know ... I felt like there

was a couple things missing. She was really fast at things and stuff and I . . . think
. . . I had complained to the manager about her. And so . ..
B:

Okay. And do you remember what the nature of that complaint was?

M:

1 don't.

B:

Okay.

M:

But I just remember that I had complained and then they moved me to the other
floor.

B:

Okay. And it looked like a Michelle W and a Malinda M, too as nurses, do either
one of those uh ...

M:

Malinda M is a manager. Or not a manager the, uh Nursing Supervisor.

B:

Okay.

M:

A House Supervisor.

B:

Okay. And then . . .

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 M:

No, 1 wouldn't reapply it for no reason.

B:

Okay. Could that be dangerous to a patient to reapply a patch that's come off?

M:

Well yeah, because you don't know much, like 1 said, you don't know how much
medication they have got already or how much they are getting.

B:
M:

Okay.

I don't ... I don't think it's ... especially if it's came off onto the floor or cement,
I don't know how sanitary that is.

B:

Okay.

And if it's not marked with a date, initials or with the patient information

how would, would you know who it belonged to?
M:

No.

B:

Okay.

M:

1 wouldn't.

B:

Okay. So would it be a good idea to reapply a patch that had no markings on it to
a patient?

M:

No.

B:

Okay. Um ... I think we talked a little bit, Dannette, but do you recall when you
first heard, uh, that Carson had died?

M:

Um ... 1 believe it was the night after he had passed away.

B:

Okay.

M:

When I came to work.

B:

The following night?

M:

Correct.

B:

So you worked on the twenty sixth and the twenty seventh from eleven to seven?

M:

Correct. 1 worked the night that he . . . had actually passed away but I was moved
to a different floor.

B:

Okay.

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 M:

'Cause I was moved to Adult One.

B:

You were on Unit Two on the twenty sixth and the twenty seventh?

M:

Or to, yeah I was at, yeah, Unit Two, upstairs.

B:

Okay.

M:

No. Only on the night that . . .

B:

So when you came in on the twenty seventh . . .

M:

I was told because I was on the schedule said that 1 was up there both nights.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um„.

B:

Did anybody, so did, did you get a call at home or you found out when you went
to work?

M:

I found out when I came to work.

B:

Okay. And how did you find out?

M:

Um ... 1, well 1 guess we received a call that said to come, to make sure we came
to work thirty minutes early.

B:

Okay.

M:

And so we came, I came to work thirty minutes early and um, Ray ... 1 think and
um ... oh I don't remember her name.

The ... the um ... Nursing Chief Lady

something, 1 forget her name.
B:

The C-E-O?

M:

Yeah.

B:

Lana?

M:

Lana.

B:

Lana (inaudible)?

M:

Correct. Lana was there and then, um, a couple of the Unit Managers, so my Unit

Manager Jody Jenny was there.

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 so maybe I gave my two.

M:
B:

Do you recall her ever asking to meet with you about going over an evaluation or
any issues that she might have had with you?

M:
B:

Hum um.
Okay.

Because I think on most issues she marked a couple with ones.

I think

they have a rating scale of one to five and she marked a couple. So if you don't
mind reading those that are ones and twos and tell me if you, um . . . recall her.
anybody ever having a conversation with you about any of those issues?

M:

No.

Um ... like I said ... they had me, they moved me to a different floor

because I had ... I didn't feel that Tacy was working up to par.
B:

Okay.

M:

I was concerned with um ... some of her nursing practices.

You know, she's an

older nurse and sometimes they do things differently.
B:

Okay, when you say that, what do you mean? Differently as in .. .

M:

As in give, um .... giving medications out prior to signing them out and then the
medication being discontinued.

B:

But you remember having some concerns about Tacy?

M:

Correct.

B:

Okay.

(Pause - M looking at papers)
M:

So that might be what the one for this provides orientation to new staff, blah, blah,
blah. Um, I missed one day.

B:

Okay.

M:

So if that's it, 1 mean that was in three months. But if that's excessive then . . .

B:

But you never, no one ever talked to you about it

M:
B:

No, huh uh
no nobody, you never got a warning

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 M:

I think that was one of the tilings that . . . was meant to make me feel better.

B:

Okay. Urn ... (speaking to S) ... do you have some questions?

S:

I just have two.

B:

Okay.

M:

Should I be concerned?

B:

About for you?

M:

Yeah.

S:

No.

M:

Okay.

B:

(Inaudible)

M:

I'd hate to lose my nursing license after all

these years just for working

somewhere for three months.
B:

No, you know, um . . . there are clearly people that need to be concerned.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

B:

And there are people that clearly did not do their job.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

B:

And this kid shouldn't be dead today.

M:

(Shaking head no)

B:

So that's why we're here is to, first of all

M:

(Nodding head yes)

B:

hopefully at some point ... we can't bring him back for his family but to
give them some type of end. And you know you have kids.

M:

Oh my gosh.

B:

Imagine what it's like to put them in a facility and think they're safe and they
never come out.

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 M:
B:

(Shaking head no)
And they're due to be discharged.

And so the second obviously is to hopefully

keep it from happening to anybody else, okay?
S:

Urn ... I, I, I have been, urn, at the Sheriffs Office for a long time and I had, um,
an opportunity to, over those years, where I had to tell my supervisor my concerns
over somebody else because it just wasn't going right.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

And, um, it was very hard to do.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

It, it made me lose sleep.

I mean it, it, and to this day I still think about it and

kind of feel, um, weird about it.
M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

But I'm proud of what I did and 1 did the right thing and 1 think you did the right
thing too with, um, Tacy, absolutely a hundred percent.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

But I think it's a very, it's obviously a testament to the fact the number one 1 think
you are a decent nurse and I think that, um, you know, you know what you are
doing. But I want to talk a little bit more about that, about really how you felt and
what you noticed.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

Um ... it's hard.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

Because you're . . . just like police officers, we are a band of brothers. Nurses are
a band of sister, you know, sisters and brothers, and it's hard.

But you saw

something, just like I did in my . . . my coworker.
M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

But I did the right thing and I know exactly why 1 did it, 1 know what 1 saw and 1
remember it and that was years ago.

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 M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

So tell me what you saw and what you were really concerned about.

M:

Um

... just like

I said,

like giving medications that

were urn

...

giving

medications and signing them, like giving them without signing them out and
then, or giving them and signing them out through yellowed out, because when a
medication's been discharged you yellow it out and you write discontinued and
she's still sign it.

Just doing like continuously doing little like forgetful things.

Um ... I was concerned about . . . um, what we call blanket charting where you
just chart the same statement over and over and over and over.

Um ... I ... just

remember that I was just concerned about um ... I don't know, just ... mainly just
concerned about her ... if . . . if she was actually doing what she was saying she
doing.

Um ... and so I ... went to ... the, first I went through the evening

supervisor, or the night supervisor and then I went to Jody Jenny. And then um
... I did say something to, I believe, Ray, and I was moved to another floor.
S:

Why do you feel like when you went, when you first went to ... the evening
supervisor . . . um, why do you feel like then you had to go to Jody Jenny?

M:

Um . . . that's what their recommendation was.

S:

Okay.

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

So you didn't, you didn't really feel like you were getting

M:

No

S:

the attention you needed from the first supervisor.

M:

Correct.

S:

So, and did they, did this person do you remember who it was?

M:

1 want to say maybe I talked to Cindy.

S;

Do you know her last name?

M:

I don't, I'm sorry. We have first names with last initials.

S:

Yeah.

B:

Yes, I've seen schedules.

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 (All speaking at once)

M:

Um ...

B:

We're familiar with that,

M:

Um, but she was, she was, she's been there one of the longest. She's the night . . .
older lady.

She was, she was actually, at first she was, 1 thought she was mean,

but she was actually very supportive and very helpful.

And would come down

and help me when 1 had five admissions and was freaked out. So she was actually

very helpful. But she felt that, um, it was, that I should talk to Jody Jenny.
S:

Okay.

M:

And then I think that people possibly thought that because, um ... she was the ...
Tacy was the person that they hired in the position that I was supposed to be

moved to.

So I think that they think that maybe they thought that 1 was picking

on her because she got (Gesturing quotation marks) my position.
S:

Okay.

M:

But um ... it was just basic nursing things. I felt like I can't even think of it right

now.

Like just basics, like vital signs and um ... not wanting, like me showing

her or doing things and not wanting to hear.

Like they wanted me to train her but

she didn't want to hear what I had to say. Um, and, and I know I'm a lot younger
and plus I had only been, she had only been a nurse a lot longer than me. I'd only
been an R-N . . . for a few months and so 1 understand that that was hard for her.
So I had some concerns about those things.

I had concerns that ... I thought like

maybe she needed a little bit longer at training.
S:

Okay. And then when you went and told Jody Jenny ... what did Jody Jenny say
to you about that?

M:

I don't recall her saying ... much.

She was just like (nodding head yes) okay,

okay.
S:

And then ... and then did she tell you to go and talk to Ray or did you do that on
your own?

M:

No 1 went to, I, I had to talk to Ray about something else,

Um ... I don't

remember what he called me for. 1 don't know. He called me to talk to me about
something else and so 1 had mentioned it.
S:

Okay. And what did he say?

M:

Nothing.

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 S:
M:

Okay.

I just . . . and then I came back the next weekend or the next . . . and I was on a
different floor.

S:

So . . . from the day that you told Ray
They didn't tell me that I was going to be moved to a different floor. I

M:

just came in and it was on the schedule for the weekend.

S:

So you told Ray and then the very next shift that you worked you were moved?

M:

Um hum.

S:

And I'm sorry, I might have missed this part but ... when you say that this ...

when things are yellowed out they're discontinued?
M:

Um hum.

S:

Your concerns with Tacy was that she giving those medications even though you

felt she should have seen that they were discontinued?
M:

Correct. And also, um . . . because it's yellowed out and it's, it's . . . there's like . . .
you can't, you can't miss it.

Like it says discontinued through the medication.

And it still was, she still signed it out and it was, I believe it was an Ativan or
something. It was on a patient that wasn't supposed to be getting it or anymore.
S:

And did you see that more than one time?

Did you think that it was more than

one time mistake or were you concerned that this was . . .
M:

I felt like 1 was concerned more than just once or else I wouldn't have . . .

S:

Okay.

M:

I don't think I'd ... I don't feel like I would have.

S:

Did you say anything to her then?

M:

I did say something to Tacy and, um, they, that's why like ... um ... 1 was kind of
... I kind of got the impression . . . that um . . . when I said something that I was
kind of being harsh on her . . . um ... by all ... by all .. . all involved that 1 talked

to. It was kind of like you know ... you need to give her time, she is still learning
or ... you need to be, it more, I felt like it was ... it was my, they, I mean like it
was my approach . . . versus really a problem ... with ... her. Do you

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 S:

So she was giving a discontinued medicine and it was your fault.

M:

Um .

S:

I understand what they're saying. 1, 1, 1, 1 understand

M:

(Nodding head yes)

S:

how you're feeling.

1 mean that's a serious violation.

So whether you

say, hey idiot or if you say hey I think you made a mistake ... either one ... it
needs to be stopped.
M:

Yeah.

S:

And so I mean I understand.

M:

1, 1 think it was more being that I would be like hey . . . can we do it this way ... or
we and . . . um . . . (shrugging shoulders)

B:

Do you feel like they were minimizing what was going on with her?

M:

Um hum.

S:

And then the blanket charting ... same thing?

M:

Um hum.

S:

I, just so I understand so you're saying the same tiring just to get it on the paper?

M:

Um hum.

S:

You know, sleeping well rested, sleeping well rested, sleeping well rested or
whatever it is.

M:

Um hum.

S:

Just not really paying attention to ... the changes or the stuff that's really going
on.

M:

Um hum.

S:

All right. And forgetful?

M:

I felt like she was.

S:

Okay. Meaning . . . like can you give an example?

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 M:

It's been so long.

I just feel like she was like spacey like ... like 1 would say

something, even something simple about like our paperwork or what kind of
paperwork we use or something and ... and then I would have to say it again and
the same thing the next night or something. I just . . .
S:

Did they ever explain to you why you were moved to the other shift?

M:

No. Urn, yeah.

It said ... the schedule said do not move her. And I asked, how

come I am being moved upstairs when this is my floor? 'Cause they put a P-R-N
nurse in my spot. And . . . um . . . the evening supervisor ... I don't recall who said

it.

No maybe I think it was Cindy the night time supervisor was like, I don't

know, Ray called me in and said that you are to work there no matter what. I said
okay.
B:

Do you remember when that was, I'm sorry?

M:

The night that I came in. That was the night that he passed away.

B:

Oh, okay.

M:

I was told I was to work on the other floor because um ... and ...

B:

So starting on the twenty seventh?

M:

Correct. Whatever ... whatever night it was that he passed away. Um ... I came
in, I had ... I had um ... 1 had made my complaint and I think I was, I don't, I feel
like I even was like upset, crying, I don't remember.

It was a very stressful time,

the whole ... the whole time there was a very stressful time. And I feel like I was
upset or something, I was in ... and then I came in and ... I was on a different
floor. And it was for the whole weekend. And then ... the next day when I came
in, they were like no, you're going, you're going back to one. I was like okay.
S:

Do you remember telling anybody your concerns about the fact that people were
saying some nasty things about Carson's death?

The fact that it really hurt your

feelings that they were saying that he was a drug addict.

M:

Um hum.

S:

Do you remember talking to somebody about that?

M:

Um hum.

S:

Who did you talk to?

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 M:

Um ... I want to say . . . I think I may have talked to Michelle, the P-R-N nurse. I
don't know.

S:

But you remember talking about it.

M:

1 ... 1 feel like 1 did tell somebody about it that it just ... maybe I even talked to
the . . . floor, that nurse Beth. No, I don't know if I ever seen her again. Maybe. I
don't know. But I felt I did 'cause . . .

S:

Of course. It bothered you, right?

M:

Um hum.

S:

And um, last question is um . . . from the time you were there, the three months . . .
even the time that you did your, um . . . what's it called?

M:

Clinical?

S:

Clinical. Thank you. Um, did you ever send anybody out for medical ... outside
the facility?

M:

While I was in clinicals, no. Um, while we, I didn't specifically do it, but yes we
had a couple of patients go out for different issues.

S:

Couple, meaning two?

M:

Um ... I ... I know ... one went out for ... more than, more than ... more than
two, maybe three. I don't know, more than, I don't know exactly how many.

S:

Less than five but more than two?

M:

Yes.

S:

Okay. What did they go for?

M:

Um ... I believe one had ... maybe bowel stuff.
urinary ... 1 remember one went out.

I don't remember.

Um ...

She had urinary something going on ...

some sort of, maybe sepsis or something, some sort of a urinary.

And then we

had, uh, we had one go out, she never should have, like she was pretty . . . sick
when she came to us.

And ... I think we sent her brief ... I think we sent her

pretty quickly back.

S:

Is it your understanding that Highlands Ranch Behavioral is, um ... used for
detox?

M:

No.

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