Nursing Home Received Citation Because Resident Lost 87 Pounds in Less than Three Weeks
A newspaper is reporting that a US nursing home that was recently slapped with federal and state sanctions was caring for a patient who lost over 87 pounds in 19 days. The Herald-Ledger obtained this information under the Open Records Act.
As noted in an earlier post on this Chicago nursing home abuse blog site, the US government has threatened to revoke the Winchester Centre for Health and Rehabilitation’s Medicare and Medicaid funding. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also warns that the nursing home could be fined a maximum of $6,050 a day if certain issues aren’t remedied. The nursing home has been given more than one Type A citation for alleged nursing home abuse and neglect.
A type A citation was issued in August 2008 after it was discovered that one of the nursing home resident’s dropped from 197 pounds to 109.4 pounds in less than three weeks. Staffers also reportedly failed to properly monitor the patient or notify a doctor that the patient’s condition was deteriorating. The patient became unresponsive. A doctor at the hospital where the patient was eventually admitted told investigators that no one should lose weight that quickly.
Another Type A citation was issued earlier this month after another patient was given the wrong dosage of anti-seizure medication for nearly six weeks during the months of November and December. Rather than orally giving the patient 450 milligrams a day of extended-release capsules, the resident was administered 400 milligrams through a feeding tube. The medication error wasn’t noticed until the patient had a seizure. The nursing home reportedly lacked a system for making sure that staffers were properly administering medications to patients.
Other problems at the Winchester Centre for Health and Rehabilitation, based on investigations and state inspections since August, include failure to tell doctors about patients’ deteriorating conditions, failure to follow up on doctors’ orders for seriously ill patients, unsanitary conditions, disrepair, and improper food storage.
Nursing home patient lost 87 pounds in 19 days, Kentucky.com, January 23, 2009
Winchester nursing home to lose funding, Kentucky.com, January 14, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Steve Malman would like to offer you a free consultation to discuss your Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect case.
