Portsmouth Health and Rehab: Nurse Threatened Resident - VA
The incident happened on March 23, 2025, at Portsmouth Health and Rehab, a long-term care and rehabilitation facility at 900 London Boulevard. Federal inspectors documented it six months later, during a complaint inspection completed September 19, 2025.
The resident, identified in inspection records only as R53, told inspectors what started it. LPN14, the nurse assigned to his medication pass that evening, entered his room and woke him up by knocking on the door. He asked her to come closer so he could take the medication cup from her. Instead, she shoved the medications in his face. As she was leaving, he thought he heard her say something about him under her breath.
He got mad.
R53 got into his wheelchair, rolled out into the hallway, and confronted LPN14 at the medication cart. He was yelling at her. At some point, he picked up a wet floor sign off the floor. LPN14 then picked up a water pitcher from the medication cart and threatened to crack him over the head with it.
That is what both of them said happened.
LPN14 told inspectors her version on September 18, the day before the inspection closed. She said R53 tried to attack her with the wet floor sign and cursed at her after she'd administered his medications. "She picked up the water pitcher off the medication cart and said she would crack him in the head if he didn't get away from her." She wrote a statement at the request of another nurse, LPN1, then left the building that night, verbally quit, and has not returned.
The administrator confirmed LPN14 admitted to the threat. "LPN14 admitted that she threatened to hit R53 with the water pitcher when he threatened to hit her with the wet floor sign," the administrator told inspectors on September 17. The facility suspended LPN14 during the investigation and terminated her on March 25, two days after the confrontation.
LPN1, the nurse who witnessed the standoff, described what she saw: LPN14 standing at the medication cart with a water pitcher in her hand, R53 in his wheelchair in front of her, screaming, with a wet floor sign in his. LPN1 walked R53 back to his room and stayed with him until he didn't want to be disturbed.
What happened in the hallway between a nurse holding a pitcher and a resident holding a sign was a standoff that lasted long enough for another staff member to intervene, long enough for both parties to understand what the other was threatening, and long enough that it became the kind of incident nursing homes are required to investigate, report, and document for federal regulators.
R53 spoke to inspectors on September 15, nearly six months after the night it happened. He confirmed the sequence: the medications shoved in his face, the muttering as she left, his decision to follow her into the hallway, picking up the sign, and then LPN14 raising the water pitcher and threatening to hit him with it. He said LPN1 took him to his room and he reported the incident to her. He said he did not see LPN14 again that evening, and hasn't seen her since.
He also said he felt safe in the facility. Staff had checked on him for weeks after the incident. He received a visit from a psychologist for his emotional well-being and follow-up from the Social Services Director. The Director of Nursing and nurse management, according to inspection records, ensured his safety and that his needs were met in the days that followed. The facility completed abuse in-service training with all staff on March 25 and 26, during the investigation.
Federal inspectors cited the facility under F0600, the tag covering abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The level of harm was recorded as minimal harm or potential for actual harm. The number of residents affected was listed as few.
That classification, minimal harm, is a regulatory designation. It does not describe what it was like to be a man in a wheelchair in a nursing home hallway, watching a nurse raise a water pitcher over you.
R53 did not ask to be woken up by a knock on his door that night. He did not ask for medications shoved in his face or for whatever the nurse said under her breath as she walked out. What he did next, rolling into the hallway and picking up a sign, was not passive. The inspection record is clear that the confrontation was mutual, that both parties made threats, and that both parties were documented as having done so by the other and by a witness.
But LPN14 was the licensed professional. She was there to administer care. A water pitcher raised at a resident in a wheelchair is not a defensive reflex. It is a choice made by someone who understood, or should have understood, what it meant to threaten a person in her care.
She wrote her statement, left the building, and quit verbally. The facility terminated her anyway, two days later.
The inspection was a complaint inspection, meaning someone filed a report that triggered federal scrutiny. The records do not identify who filed the complaint or when. The inspection closed September 19, 2025. By that point, LPN14 had been gone for nearly six months.
R53 told inspectors he felt safe. He said staff had checked on him for weeks. He said he hadn't seen LPN14 since the night it happened, and that was the part that seemed to matter most to him.
He still lives there.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Portsmouth Health and Rehab from 2025-09-19 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 28, 2026 · Our methodology
PORTSMOUTH HEALTH AND REHAB in PORTSMOUTH, VA was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 19, 2025.
The incident happened on March 23, 2025, at Portsmouth Health and Rehab, a long-term care and rehabilitation facility at 900 London Boulevard.
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.