Man in wheelchair evicted during smoke break

The family of a man in a wheelchair claims a Lower Valley nursing facility unfairly evicted him by locking him outside when he went for a smoke break Thursday afternoon.

James Paternoster, 61, signed out and went to smoke a cigarette as he has regularly done in his two years living at Oasis Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 9001 N. Loop, he said.

“I tried to go in (after smoking) and they forcefully locked me out and closed the gate,” Paternoster said. “They don’t care one bit about me being out here.”

While he was outside, center staff took out his television, clothes and other belongings and stacked them in a parking lot, he said.

“I’ve lived here for two years,” Paternoster said, sitting outside in shorts and a T-shirt. “Everything’s been great until a new administrator arrived. We got off on the wrong foot. This is my house. I live here. I know all these people who live here.”

Paternoster’s family is in a legal squabble with the center and claimed the eviction was an underhanded move since a hearing with state regulators is scheduled for Wednesday.

A person who answered the phone at Oasis said the center would not comment, citing patient privacy laws.

Paternoster has brain and spinal injuries and requires medication and specialized care, said his lawyer, Stephanie Townsend Allala.

“Clearly, it’s wrong for a facility to wait for somebody to step out of a facility for a moment and to lock them out and throw their belongings out,” Townsend Allala said.

“We have laws and ethical guidelines for the compassionate treatment of every person with a disability in this community,” she said.

El Paso police were called as Paternoster waited outside as the sun began to set. Officers told the Paternoster family that the case was a civil matter between the family and the facility.

The family said that James Paternoster needed medication that he did not receive because he was locked out.

“It’s just a really terrible situation,” said his sister, Laurie Paternoster, an El Paso community leader. “I can’t take care of him because of his medical issues. I feel horrible.”

The family was scrambling to find a new doctor and facility to take in James Paternoster, who was eventually taken by ambulance and admitted to Del Sol Medical Center on Thursday night.

Townsend Allala said that Laurie Paternoster has power of attorney over her brother and that he would not have been able to legally sign documents to move out of the center if he signed such documents.

“It’s a tragedy that one person would have to suffer so much just because someone at the facility decided they don’t want to have him there anymore,” Townsend Allala said. “I’m shocked and saddened and very disappointed a person would be treated worse than an animal, as if he has no rights, as if he has no feelings.”

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.