Fitchburg Healthcare: CNA Cursed at Resident - MA
The incident happened on July 14, 2025, sometime in the early evening. A nurse heard the outburst and reported it to the Director of Nursing, who then called the facility's administrator, who was still in the building, and asked him to respond.
The administrator said the Director of Nursing reached him between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. that evening. He said he began an investigation immediately.
What he found when he sat down with the nursing assistant was a partial admission. She told him she had said she was "sick of this [NAME] and [NAME] shit" to the resident. When the administrator asked her directly whether she had called the resident something derogatory, specifically whether she had used the word "dumbass," she acknowledged saying something along those lines. She said she could not remember exactly how she had used the word.
The nursing assistant was placed on leave that same night and was later terminated.
Federal inspectors who reviewed the case cited the facility under F0557, which covers the right of residents to be treated with dignity and respect. The citation was tagged at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting a small number of residents.
What the inspection report does not describe is what Resident #1 was doing when the outburst happened, or what that resident's condition was. The report does not describe how Resident #1 responded to being cursed at and called a name by a person who was supposed to be providing care. That detail, whatever it was, did not make it into the record.
What is in the record is the nursing assistant's own account, given directly to her employer. She did not deny the profanity. She did not deny the name-calling in any meaningful way. She said she could not remember exactly how the word was used, which is a different thing from saying it was not said.
The administrator's response was swift by any measure. He was still in the building when the Director of Nursing called. He interviewed the nursing assistant himself. He put her on leave that night. She was eventually fired. The facility's internal handling of the incident is not what drew the federal citation. The citation reflects the event itself, the fact that a resident in a bathroom was on the receiving end of profanity and a slur from a staff member whose job was to help them.
Nursing home residents receiving personal care are, by definition, in a position of dependency. A hallway bathroom is not a place where a resident can walk away from a staff member who is losing her temper. It is not a place where anyone else is likely to intervene. The nurse who heard the yelling was close enough to make out the specific words. That proximity, and the volume of the outburst, is part of what the record establishes.
The inspection was triggered by a complaint, not a routine survey. Someone reported what happened, and federal inspectors came to look into it. The nursing assistant is gone. The investigation is closed. Resident #1 remains at the facility.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Fitchburg Healthcare from 2025-09-17 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 18, 2026 · Our methodology
FITCHBURG HEALTHCARE in FITCHBURG, MA was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 17, 2025.
The incident happened on July 14, 2025, sometime in the early evening.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.