No Training Will Prevent Situations Involving Stupidity From Occurring At Some Nursing Homes
Recognizing that staff may lack training in certain areas essential to patient care, many nursing homes have begun to implement training programs at their facilities to help teach proper protocols-- and hopefully improve patient care. While the training can be quite effective in terms of improving the satisfaction of patients and prevention of medical errors, no amount of training will suffice in order to prevent situations involving harm to patients stemming from a basic lack of common sense or carelessness. I began thinking about how many common errors involving injuries to patients in nursing homes derive not from improper medical...
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California Nursing Home's Failure To Provide Fall-Prevention Safeguards Results In A Substantial Fine
Too little, too late-- best summarizes Pilgrim Haven Health Facility of Los Angeles, reaction to fall-prevention measures suggested by a patient's physician and the facility itself. The omissions appear to be responsible for the fall-related death of an 85-year-old man and have initiated a substantial fine by the California Department of Health. In the course of investigating the death of the elderly patient, authorities determined that Pilgrim Health made numerous errors with respect to its medical treatment of a patient with a history of falling. After an initial fall in October, 2009, fall precautions were order by the man's physician...
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Feeding Tube Mishap Results In Patient Death & Large Nursing Home Fine
An improperly inserted nasal feeding tube was the cause of an 84-year-old's death in a California Nursing Home according to an investigation completed by the California Department of Health. Investigators from the department determined that the nursing home patient died from aspiration pneumonia after insertion of a feeding tube because the nasal feeding tube was incorrectly inserting into his lungs rather than his stomach. As a result of this nursing error, a $100,000 fine was imposed against Hancock Park Rehabilitation primarily due to the staff's failure to check to follow protocols related to assuring proper feeding tube placement. "By...
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Nursing Home Fails To Report Suspected Sex Abuse To Authorities
Bourbonnais Terrace Nursing Home was recently fined $20,000 by the Illinois Department of Public Health for failing to timely report two episodes of alleged sex abuse. An annual nursing home inspection conducted by state inspectors revealed that Bourbonnais Terrace waited three months to report the incidents involving abuse of patients at their facility to authorities. The state inspection also revealed that the alleged perpetrator has a history of mental illness and was also convicted of murder in 1990. When making their report, nursing home officials failed to disclose the perpetrators criminal history. State and federal laws require nursing facilities...
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Choking Death Just Latest Problem At California Nursing Home
Tustin Care Center, located in Orange County, California, was fined $50,000 by the California Department of Public Health for the choking death of one resident in March 2009. The California Department of Public Health concluded that the facility’s failure to assess the resident’s ability to eat was a direct cause of his death. According to the government’s Medicare website, the Tustin Care Center received four out of five stars, which is an above average rating. In the past year, the nursing home had nine health deficiencies, which is three less than the average health deficiencies in California, and one more...
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'Dignity Training' Ordered For Staff In New York Nursing Home After They Humiliate Residents Who Need Assistance With Toileting
Perhaps one of the most de-humanizing aspects of nursing home life is the reliance on others for toileting needs. Especially in the case of bed-bound residents, notifying a staff member every-time one needs to use the toilet, means being reliant on others for basic bodily functions. When the staff fails to timely assist with toileting needs, the results can be not only embarrassing but downright dangerous. If left in their own waste, residents are at an increased risk of pressure ulcers (also referred to as bed sores, decubitus ulcers or pressure sores) and infection. This failure to timely tend to...
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California Nursing Homes Hit With Hefty Fines
California has one of the strictest and most severe policies when it comes to dispensing fines to nursing homes who provide poor or dangerous care. Say what you like about regulation of nursing homes, the reality is that fines really do help improve care and living conditions for nursing home residents. The state imposed substantial fines against two Orange County nursing homes for providing inadequate resident care. $100,000 Fine A $100,000 fine was handed to Alamitos West Health Care Center for allowing an 82-year-old resident to die from dehydration and acute kidney failure. Less than a month after her...
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$50,000 Penalty Sought Against Nursing Home Where Resident Fell To Her Death
The North Carolina Nursing Home, where an Alzheimer's patient recently fell to her death after she literally wheeled herself through multiple sets of unlocked doors will likely face a fine of $50,000 -- the maximum penalty. As we recently discussed, on December 18th, 87-year-old Annie Bell Scarboro went unnoticed by staff at the Five Oaks Manor in Concord, and wandered through several doors and kitchen area and onto an unlit and unguarded loading dock where she fell four feet to her death. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services suggests the nursing home be fined $10,000 per day...
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