CNN Profiles - Melanie Hicken - Senior Writer, CNN Investigates - CNN

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Sick, dying and raped in America's nursing homes
The unthinkable is happening at facilities across the country: Vulnerable senior citizens are being raped and sexually abused by the very people paid to care for them.

Six women. Three nursing homes. And the man accused of rape and abuse.
Luis Gomez appeared to many to be the perfect nursing aide. But now a different image has emerged.

No one believed he would rape nursing home residents. Now he is going to prison
By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN
At first, no one believed them when they said the charming, well-liked aide in the nursing home where they lived had raped them.

My mother was raped at 88
A daughter's story about how her mother was raped at age 88 -- but never defeated.

The little red pill being pushed on the elderly
By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken; Data analysis by Sergio Hernandez, CNN Investigates
The maker of a little red pill intended to treat a rare condition is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year as it aggressively targets frail and elderly nursing home residents for whom the drug may be unnecessary or even unsafe, a CNN investigation has found.

How CNN reported on Nuedexta
By Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken and Sergio Hernandez, CNN Investigates
CNN has released an investigation exposing the inappropriate and potentially fraudulent use of a popular nursing home drug called Nuedexta. Read it here.

City of Los Angeles opens investigation into drugmaker following CNN report
By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN Investigates
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has launched an investigation into California-based drugmaker Avanir Pharmaceuticals, the subject of a CNN report into its aggressive targeting of nursing home residents with a drug called Nuedexta that may be unnecessary or unsafe for this population.

Drugmaker's ties to nonprofits pose 'conflict of interest'
By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN Investigates
A leading advocacy group for Alzheimer's patients has stopped accepting funding from a Southern California drugmaker following a CNN investigation into the company that sparked a government probe.

Drugmaker paid doctors with problem records to promote its pill
By Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, CNN Investigates
One physician had his prescription pad taken away after he repeatedly failed tests assessing his competency.

Why was my mother prescribed a little red pill?
A daughter's attempt to find out why her elderly mother was prescribed a medication called Nuedexta.

Who is behind one of the biggest scams in history?
It's one of the world's longest-running cons. Hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from some of the world's most vulnerable people, who all thought they had found a savior in the mysterious Maria Duval.