Fines & Sanctions

Nursing Board Disciplines Five Nurses

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The Board of Examiners for Nursing on Wednesday disciplined five nurses while dropping the charges against an Ansonia nurse because he is now serving 60 years in prison for an unrelated felony murder. The charges were dropped against Jermaine V. Richards, a former licensed practical nurse from Ansonia, because he was convicted in March of the felony murder of his ex-girlfriend, an Eastern Connecticut State University student, in 2013. Since Richards’ nursing license lapsed in 2016 and is now serving a long sentence for murdering Alyssiah Wiley, 20, of West Haven, the prosecution of administrative charges against him is unnecessary, an attorney for the state Department of Public Health told the board. In charges unrelated to the murder, Richards had been accused of being involved in a fight with a visitor in the home of one of his patients. In June 2017, the board revoked his nursing license because of the fight and after concluding that he slept while on duty at a patient’s home, but a month later, the board vacated the revocation because Richards had asked for a continuance.

Fines & Sanctions

State Fines Nursing Homes Following Injuries To Residents

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The state Department of Public Health (DPH) has fined four nursing homes for violations that resulted in injuries to residents. Marlborough Health and Rehabilitation Center was fined $3,270 after a resident suffered two leg fractures when a nurse aide failed to transport the resident properly. The resident, who had Alzheimer’s disease and other diagnoses, was screaming in pain with a swollen left leg on Nov. 27, 2017, and an X-ray at the facility showed a broken left femur. The resident was transferred to a hospital, according to DPH.

Fines & Sanctions

Six Nursing Homes Fined Following Lapses In Care

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Six Connecticut nursing homes have been cited and fined by the state Department of Public Health (DPH) for violations, including one instance in which a resident died after a series of staff errors. St. Camillus Center in Stamford was fined $6,000 after a resident died and video footage at the facility subsequently showed staff waited 10 minutes to administer CPR after finding the resident unresponsive. On Feb. 16, 2018, a resident with lung cancer was found sitting on the floor.

Nursing Board Reprimands Three APRNs For Inappropriately Prescribing Drugs

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The state Board of Examiners for Nursing on Wednesday disciplined five nurses, including three advanced practice registered nurses for inappropriately prescribing drugs to family members. The board reprimanded the license of Joan Landino, an APRN from Wallingford, because in 2015, she inappropriately prescribed a controlled substance to a family member without documenting a medical evaluation of the person, a consent order she agreed to said. In 2016, she also failed to secure her prescription pad and inappropriately prescribed stimulants and benzodiazepines, a category of drugs that includes Valium, to patients, the order said. She also prescribed controlled substances to patients without documenting a justification for the prescriptions, the order states. Landino’s license will be on probation until she completes courses in prescribing practices and documentation standards, and she is restricted from prescribing any medication for herself, family members or friends except in an emergency, the order states.

Med Board Disciplines Three Medical Practitioners

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The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday disciplined three medical practitioners, including fining a New London urologist $3,500 for inappropriate treatment of a patient’s bladder tumor. The urologist, Dr. Anthony Quinn, was also reprimanded for failing to promptly respond to the same patient’s lab result, a consent order he agreed to said. The board also placed his medical license on probation for one year. During that year, Quinn must hire a specialist to review his records for each of his patients with diagnoses of bladder tumors or bladder cancer, the order said. The state Department of Public Health’s (DPH) investigation began in 2012 when the patient complained that she had to undergo the complete removal of her bladder by another surgeon after Quinn cared for her, state records show.

Fines & Sanctions

State Reprimands Former York Correctional Nurse, Disciplines Five Others

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A former head nurse at York Correctional Institution has been reprimanded by the state Board of Examiners for Nursing for failing to properly care for an inmate who suffered a serious brain injury while in the prison medical unit in 2014. In the Niantic prison case, the board Wednesday also placed the registered nurse license of Mary Howe of Griswold on probation for three years and barred her from working in a clinical care setting for the first two years of the probation, a consent order she signed with the board said. Howe was also ordered to take courses in ethics, delegation of nursing duties, professional nursing standards, documentation and “empathy and compassion in nursing,” the order said. In signing the order, Howe did not contest the allegations against her but admitted no wrongdoing. In May 2017, a UConn Health spokesman said Howe no longer worked for the UConn Health unit that provided medical care in the prison.

Fines & Sanctions

Med Board Fines Newtown Psychiatrist, Ansonia Doctor

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The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday disciplined three doctors, including fining a Newtown psychiatrist $15,000 for submitting false insurance claims.

In 2016, the doctor, Naimetulla Syed, paid $422,641 to resolve allegations that he submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid between 2009 and 2013, state and federal officials said in a news release at the time. An investigation revealed that he used a code for psychotherapy sessions lasting 45 to 50 minutes when in most cases, he only saw the patients for five to 30 minutes, the release said. The medical board also placed Syed’s medical license on probation for a year in connection with the false claims. Syed, who also has an office in Glastonbury, must complete courses in medical documentation. The state Department of Social Services had audited 100 of Syed’s patient charts and found that each chart lacked a treatment plan, according to a consent order cover sheet. Of those, 65 charts lacked basic patient demographic information and Syed’s signature.

Fines & Sanctions

State Fines Six Nursing Homes After Residents Injured

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The state Department of Public Health (DPH) has fined six nursing homes for various violations that endangered or injured residents. Masonicare Health Center in Wallingford was fined $3,900 after a resident developed a severe pressure ulcer. On June 12, 2017, a resident who suffered incontinence and was a risk for skin breakdown was diagnosed with an unstageable deep tissue injury in the lower back. An advanced practice registered nurse determined the resident had the wrong type of mattress and recommended the use of a pressure-reducing cushion, according to DPH. Once the resident received the cushion, it was under-inflated on multiple occasions and documentation from May through August failed to show staff were monitoring its inflation, according to the citation.

Fines & Sanctions

Med Board Fines Hamden, West Haven Doctors

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The state Medical Examining Board Tuesday disciplined four doctors, including fining a Hamden doctor $3,500 for allowing medical assistants to give patients medication, including a nasal anesthetic. The board also reprimanded the physician, Craig Hecht, an ear, nose and throat doctor, after the state Department of Public Health found he failed to maintain appropriate infection controls in his Madison office, a consent order he signed with the board said. The order said he kept expired medications, failed to follow proper sterilization procedures and failed to keep appropriate sterilization records. Hecht also has offices in Hamden and Milford, but the problems were confined to his Madison office, the order said. Hecht chose not to contest the allegations while admitting no wrongdoing.

Fines & Sanctions

Nursing Board Disciplines Five Nurses

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The Board of Examiners for Nursing has disciplined five nurses, including a Manchester nurse, in connection with lapses in care of a patient in Massachusetts who died. On Feb. 21, the Connecticut board reprimanded Elinor Riberio, a licensed practical nurse from Manchester, and placed her license on probation for one year in connection with the Massachusetts case. In June 2017, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing placed Riberio’s license on probation for six months after she admitted she failed to properly care for a patient at the Heritage Hall West nursing home in Agawam, Massachusetts records from that state show. Riberio failed to monitor the patient’s respiratory status and vital signs, left the unit even though she was the only nurse working there, failed to perform chest compressions when she found the patient in cardiopulmonary arrest and failed to properly operate defibrillator and suction machines, her signed consent order with the Connecticut board said.