Death Of Nursing Home Patient Attributed To Fall From Mechanical Lift
The oversight of a basic safeguard has been attributed to the death of an 84-year-old nursing home patient who fell from a mechanical lift being used by staff to move her. An investigation into the incident by the Minnesota Department of Health concluded that two CNA's at the facility identified as Devine Providence Health Canter failed to properly utilize the straps on the lift intended to keep patients safely in place. While the elderly patient was being moved, she fell head-first from several feet. After receiving medical attention, the woman's condition continued to deteriorate and she died several weeks later....
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Minnesota Nursing Home Blamed for Resident's Choking Death
A recently-released Minnesota State Health Department report revealed new information about a questionable choking death in a Mahnomen nursing home. According to the report, 82-year-old Keith H. Johnson was a resident of the Mahnomen Health Center, when he was served a deadly meal of solid foods on Dec. 13, 2010. The decision to serve solid foods clearly violated Johnson’s doctor’s orders, which said he was only to eat pureed meals. Johnson, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, had a documented history of eating too fast and choking.Shortly after being served a sandwich, Johnson began to cough When two attempts at the...
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Staff Need To Protect Disabled Nursing Home Patients As They Transport Them In Wheelchairs
No one seems to give much thought to transporting a nursing home patient in a wheelchair throughout the facility or outside on the facilities grounds. Just push the patient in the chair to where they need to go? Right? Well, like most tasks, there really is quite a bit more to it than is originally apparent. In order for patients to be safely transported in wheelchairs staff need to take precautions to make sure that the patient arrives where they need to be in a safe manner. Though not a well-publicized topic, injuries resulting from faulty wheelchairs and staff negligence...
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Nursing Home Patient Dies After Receiving 'Toxic' Medication Overdose
Poor communication appears to be to blame for the death of a woman at a Minnesota nursing home who was administered a dose of medication ten times higher than prescribed by her doctor. According to news reports concerning this incident, a transcription error is likely to blame for the patient receiving 80-milliequivalent doses of potassium over an eight day period while she was a patient at Bethany Home of Alexandria. A state investigation determined that the improper potassium dose was to blame for her cardiac arrest. Making this tragedy even more concerning is the fact that the exceedingly high...
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Short-Term Nursing Home Admission Proves Too Much For Elder Advocate
Twenty-four hours was enough for Deb Holtz at a Minnesota nursing home. The 55-year-old cut short her admission to Langton Place after what she felt were repeated insults to her privacy by staff at the facility. Like many nursing home patients, Holtz was intending on receiving short-term rehabilitation following a shoulder replacement. What makes Holtz different than your average nursing home patient is that she runs Minnesota's Ombudsman program for Long-Term Care. What Holtz experienced during her recent nursing home stay was chronicled by the Star Tribune in a recent article, "Nursing home stay an eye-opened for advocate for...
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Medication Errors To Blame For Death Of Nursing Home Patient
Some of the most tragic cases of nursing home negligence involve medication errors. Not just because the error results in a severe injury or death of a patient, but because the errors were indeed so needless. Somewhere along the line from the time the doctors order was written to the time the medication was dispensed--- or perhaps not-- we frequently see errors made with respect to how medications are handled in nursing homes. Even innocent errors made by nursing home staff can wreck havoc on fragile patients who require strict adherence to their doctors medication orders. For some reason, there...
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Nursing Home Aide Fired After She Forgets To Secure Paralyzed Patient In Wheelchair
A basic omission by a CNA at a Minnesota nursing home (Benedictine Health Center) is responsible for various injuries and the subsequent death of a physically disabled patient. According to news reports, the CNA failed to secure the patient into a mechanical lift used to transfer the physically disabled patient from her bed to the bathroom. An investigation into the incident was conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health that determined that the aide’s negligent conduct was to blame for the fall-related injuries. The injuries from the fall resulted in a rapid physical decline in the patient and she died...
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Nursing Home Blamed For Resident Choking To Death On Raw Cukes
On May 29, 2010, a resident of Bethesda Heritage Center ,a nursing home in Minnesota, died after choking on raw cucumbers that the facility never have should even served to her. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) cited the facility for neglect. The elderly female choking victim had been admitted to the facility two years earlier with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), swallowing difficulties, and anxiety. Her diet banned raw vegetables and any other food that was not well cooked because of swallowing problems. Despite this seemingly clear restriction, staff members fed her raw cucumbers in cream...
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Stupidity Plain & Simple To Blame For Series Of Portable Heater Burns To Nursing Home Patients
Perhaps one of the more frustrating aspects of my job as a nursing home lawyer is the fact that so many nursing home employees forget to bring their common sense to work. Though there seems to be a never ending array of federal and and state nursing home regulations, the regulations really mean nothing if employees forget to use common sense and good judgment. Though some nursing home abuse and neglect cases stem from extremely complex medical complications, a substantial number of injuries to nursing home patients occur simply due to the fact that some one made a stupid mistake....
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'Significant Medication Errors' Discovered In Nursing Home Following Investigation Related To Patient Injury & Death
Following a medication-error related death and other medication-related problems that resulted in patient injuries, Minnesota Department of Heath investigators concluded that Fair Oaks Lodge in Wadena, MN was guilty of neglect and other federally mandated nursing home standards. The 'major medication errors' occurred within 16 days of one another. According to the State's investigative report: A medication aide mistakenly gave an Alzheimer's patient drugs for her central nervous system, the heart and anti-psychotic medication all of which resulted in an immediate drop of her blood pressure. Despite being rushed to the emergency room, the elderly woman died three days later....
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