VCSO Charges Nurse-Caregiver with Neglecting Disabled Teen

Date Added: January 14, 2019 2:18 pm

Contact: Laura Williams,
Office of Publi Affairs & Media Relations

VCSO CHARGES DELAND CAREGIVER WITH NEGLECTING DISABLED TEEN

Victim Requires Constant Care, Left Alone When Nurse Abandoned Shift, Went Home

A Deltona family’s birthday celebration suddenly turned into a medical emergency Jan. 2 when a nurse-caretaker left his medically fragile teenage patient alone, resulting in the teen struggling to breathe and experiencing seizures.

Deputies were called to the Deltona home Jan. 2 at 8:21 p.m. on a report of neglect of a disabled adult The victim’s mother stated that her 18-year-old son suffers from cerebral palsy and a severe form of epilepsy, requiring constant medical care and supervision. The teen cannot care for himself and requires a ventilator to breathe.

Licensed Practical Nurse David Buchmann, 55, of DeLand, arrived for his regular shift at 6:05 p.m. After he assumed sole care for the teen, the family left for a restaurant. At 7:30 p.m., the mother was alerted on her phone by her Ring doorbell security system and she observed Bachmann walk out of her home, enter his car and drive away.

The mother was unable to reach Buchmann or his wife by phone, so her husband raced out of the restaurant and home to check on the teen. At home, the teen was found to be actively having seizures and struggling to breathe because his ventilator was not connected. In addition, the teen’ didn’t receive his dose of seizure medication, prompting him to suffer a seizure.

Deputies determined the teen had been left alone for 15 minutes. Buchmann is employed by Maxim Healthcare Services and has worked with the teen and his family for about five years.

As deputies investigated, Buchmann returned to the family’s residence. When asked why he left, Buchmann said he “started to not feel good. I have a few family members at my house and just went home.” When asked why Buchmann returned, he said, “Because I wanted to come back and see what the problem was.”

During a follow-up investigation into the incident, detectives gathered enough evidence to arrest Buchmann for Neglect of a Disabled Person. He was arrested Friday and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail.

He was released on $1,500 bail.