Metro

Doc & nurse from troubled Bx. nursing home busted

A doctor and nurse from a troubled Bronx nursing facility where an aide was caught on camera hitting a patient were arrested, the Post has learned.

Although the Goldcrest Care Center in Pelham Gardens portrays itself on its website as an upscale facility with Whirlpool baths and flat-screen televisions, recent arrests and a lawsuit against the center tarnish that image.

Dr. Enrico D’Angelo, 58, as well as nurse Diane Aduna, 29 were arrested last summer by the Attorney General’s office in connection with the grisly death of an elderly woman in 2010. Private ambulette driver Juan Garcia, 50, was busted as well.

The family of Theresa Massagli, 87, is suing Goldcrest after she died of complications from a broken hip due to blunt force trauma in 2010.

In August of that year, the driver Garcia was taking Massagli from dialysis back to Goldcrest when he made a sudden stop on Pelham Parkway—but hadn’t buckled her into her wheelchair, court papers state.

Massagli flew out of the wheelchair and landed on her left hip, according to a lawsuit filed by her family.

Instead of taking her to nearby Jacobi Hospital, Garcia and O’Garra, who was in the passenger front seat, took her back to Goldcrest.

“He folded her legs and put her in a wheelchair,” said Massagli’s grief-stricken son-in-law Louis DiNapoli, 53.

The facility told authorities that Massagli was examined by a duty nurse and doctor, and put to bed, according to lawsuit.

Her daughter Barbara DiNapoli, 57, told the Post that they contacted her and said her mother had a minor accident.

Feeling uneasy, she and her daughter rushed from their home in the nearby Country Club section of the Bronx to Goldcrest—and found her bloodied mother lying in bed with a broken left hip and pelvis, according to the lawsuit.

“I’m still traumatized to this day,” said Barbara. The police were called, and Massagli was taken to Westchester Square Hospital.

Her surgeon told the family that he was disgusted by the bruises all over her body, and found it difficult to operate.

Massagli lived for several excruciating weeks, and then died at Albert Einstein Hospital.

She was survived by 20 grandchildren and great-children. Before she retired, she had worked at Macy’s for decades.

D’Angelo, Aduna and Garcia were charged and arrested by the Attorney General’s office in August for failure to render care, and O’Garra was fired by Goldcrest.

DiNapoli’s lawyer Charles Mirisola said that their lack of caring cost Massagli her life.

“If they had just put a seatbelt on her, none of this would have happened,” he said. “Her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren miss her terribly.”

Although the family sued Goldcrest shortly after their mother’s death, they have never received any compensation from the facility.

The director for nursing declined to comment on the lawsuit.

They reached out to the Post after learning that aide Sandra Kerr, 55, was arrested after being videotaped pushing a patient against her bed railing, and snapping her arm back.

“When I read this in the Post about the woman, I was so devastated,” said Barbara. “I don’t want this to happen to anyone. You bring your parents to be taken care of by professionals. I never thought there was such evil in the world– so close to home.”