Shannondale of Maryville: Sexual Abuse Report Buried - TN
Federal inspectors who arrived at the 803 Shannondale Way facility on September 4, 2025 found no documentation that a sexual abuse allegation involving a resident identified in inspection records as Resident 3 had ever been reported to law enforcement, to Adult Protective Services, or to the state agency. The allegation should have triggered mandatory notifications within two hours. There is no evidence any of those calls were made.
The former director of nursing, interviewed by inspectors, confirmed she would have been the one responsible for abuse investigations. She confirmed the investigations were left in her desk when she departed. She did not say when she left, and the inspection report does not say. What the report does say is that by the time inspectors arrived, the current administration had no idea what the previous administration had done, or whether it had done anything at all.
The answer, confirmed by three separate agencies on the day of the inspection, was nothing.
At 1:11 PM on September 4, inspectors reached the local police department by phone. No report for Resident 3. At 1:28 PM, an APS intake counselor said she could not locate any reports related to Resident 3. Seventeen minutes later, the APS supervisor came back with the same answer after checking both state and county records. No reports. No record that anyone from Shannondale had ever called.
The current director of nursing told inspectors she had called the police herself on September 3, the day before the inspection concluded, once it became clear the previous administration had left no trail. The police told her the same thing they told inspectors: there was no report. She also said the facility had called APS on September 3 and left a message. By the time inspectors finished their work on September 4, APS had not called back.
The current administrator, interviewed alongside the current DON on September 4, confirmed she did not know what the investigations for either Resident 3 or a second resident, Resident 8, had included. She confirmed no documentation had been retained. She said allegations of abuse were supposed to be reported to the state agency, law enforcement, and APS within two hours of the allegation being made. She confirmed she had no way of knowing whether that had happened, because there was nothing left to look at.
Nobody had.
Resident 8's situation adds a second layer to what inspectors found. Medical records show this resident was admitted to the facility with diagnoses including dementia, major depressive disorder, adjustment disorder, and delusional disorder. A care plan dated May 30, 2022 documented verbally abusive behavior and complaints of people coming into the room and stealing. The facility had put both medication-based and non-medication interventions in place for those issues.
A psychiatric nurse's note from July 13, 2023 shows the resident was evaluated for irritability, dementia, and frustration, with the facility administration requesting the consult because of what the note described as ongoing emotional instability. A quarterly assessment, the date redacted in the inspection report, placed the resident at a score of 3 on the Brief Interview for Mental Status, a score that indicates severe cognitive impairment. The resident required help from one or more staff members for basic daily activities.
The inspection report does not describe the nature of the abuse allegation involving Resident 8. What it confirms is that an allegation existed, that an investigation should have been conducted and documented, and that when inspectors asked for that documentation, there was none. The administrator and the current DON both confirmed this. They said they did not know what the investigation had included because the previous administration had left nothing behind.
The inspection report does not name the former director of nursing. It does not say when she left the facility, what prompted her departure, or whether anyone in leadership noticed the desk drawer full of unfinished investigations before federal inspectors arrived. It does not say how long the sexual abuse allegation involving Resident 3 had been sitting unreported.
What the inspection report establishes is a chain of failures that extended beyond one person leaving a job badly. Someone would have known an allegation had been made. Someone would have known a report was required within two hours. The drawer was in a building full of people, and the investigations stayed in it.
The current administrator's position, as described to inspectors, is that she inherited a situation she did not create and could not fully account for. That may be accurate. It does not change what Resident 3's allegation went through, or did not go through, in the time between when it was made and when a federal inspection finally forced the facility to pick up the phone.
Resident 3 is identified in the inspection report only by number. The nature of the sexual abuse allegation is not described in detail in the publicly available narrative. The resident's current condition, whether they are still at the facility, whether they or their family were ever notified of the investigation's status, is not addressed in the inspection report. The former DON confirmed that family notification, physician notification, state agency notification, APS notification, and police notification were all part of what an abuse investigation required. The inspection found no evidence that any of it happened.
The APS supervisor who spoke with inspectors on September 4 had checked both state and county records. The answer was the same at every level. Resident 3's name, or whatever identifying information would have accompanied a proper report, had never arrived.
The inspection was classified as a complaint survey. The deficiency was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting a small number of residents. That classification reflects the regulatory framework inspectors work within. It does not reflect what it means for a person living with severe cognitive impairment in a locked facility to report a sexual assault and have that report placed in a drawer.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Shannondale of Maryville Health Care Center from 2025-09-04 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
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 22, 2026 · Our methodology
SHANNONDALE OF MARYVILLE HEALTH CARE CENTER in MARYVILLE, TN was cited for abuse-related violations during a health inspection on September 4, 2025.
The allegation should have triggered mandatory notifications within two hours.
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.