Nursing Homes Fined For Privacy Violation, Verbal Abuse And Injuries

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Six nursing homes have been fined by the state for violating a resident’s privacy, verbally abusing a resident and for violations that resulted in residents’ injuries. Whitney Center in Hamden was fined $6,120 after a nurse aide used her personal cellphone to take a picture of a resident being transferred to a shower chair with a Hoyer lift on June 18, 2019, according to a citation issued by the state Department of Public Health (DPH). The resident and nurse aide disagreed on what happened, according to DPH.  The aide said the resident wanted the photo taken, but the resident said that was not the case. The aide deleted the photo from the cellphone.

Fines & Sanctions

Nursing Homes Fined Following Resident’s Death, Escapes, Falls

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The state Department of Public Health has fined four nursing homes, including an Enfield facility where a resident died. Parkway Pavilion Health and Rehabilitation Center in Enfield was fined $10,000 for multiple violations. On March 20, a resident was found unresponsive, sitting upright with vomit on the face. The resident was pronounced dead by emergency services personnel 15 minutes later. Records show that CPR wasn’t initiated until five minutes after staff found the resident, and 911 was called one minute after that.

Fines & Sanctions

Farmington Nursing Home Fined $9,060; Four Others Cited

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Five Connecticut nursing homes have been fined for violations that jeopardized residents’ safety. The state Department of Public Health (DPH) fined Amberwoods of Farmington $9,060 following an incident in which a resident threatened to slit another resident’s throat with a butter knife. On Feb. 6, a resident with dementia and depression entered another resident’s room with a knife and made a threatening gesture to cut the resident’s neck with a butter knife and drink the blood, according to the DPH citation. A nurse aide in the room tried to take the knife but the resident put the knife under a cushion.

Fines & Sanctions

State Fines Four Nursing Homes

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Four Connecticut nursing homes have been fined by the state Department of Public Health (DPH) for various violations that hurt or endangered residents. Orchard Grove Specialty Care Center in Uncasville was fined $3,480 after a resident with multiple sclerosis developed severe blisters following a moist-heat treatment. On April 7, the resident had a fluid-filled blister that measured 8 by 6 centimeters on the right shoulder, as well as a red rash on the left shoulder. Two days later, the resident had “multiple areas of large fluid-filled blisters” on both shoulders that were oozing, according to the citation. An investigation found the blisters were caused by a treatment administered by an occupational therapist during which moist heat was applied with hydrocollator packs.

Fines & Sanctions

Eight Nursing Homes Fined Following Lapses In Care

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State health officials cited and fined eight nursing homes for various violations that resulted in lapses in care. The Reservoir in West Hartford was fined $2,360 after staff failed to give a resident’s spouse proper written notice that the resident was being transferred to another facility. The resident was moved on July 12 and the resident’s spouse opposed the move because it was far from the spouse’s home. The move came a week after the resident had left the facility despite being identified as an elopement risk and wearing a WanderGuard sensor, the Department of Public Health (DPH) citation said. Police found the resident in a wooded area about 50 feet behind the facility.

Fines & Sanctions

Nursing Homes Fined After Resident’s Death, Care Lapses

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State health officials have fined five nursing homes at least $1,500 each in connection with residents who were abused or injured and one who died in July after being outside in sweltering heat for hours. On Aug. 10, Gardner Heights Health Care Center in Shelton was fined $3,000 in connection with a resident who died after being outside in a garden for more than three hours on July 27 in 95-degree weather, according to the state Department of Public Health (DPH) citation. The resident, who frequently sat in the garden, was in good condition at 2:30 p.m. that day but at 5 p.m., was found to be unresponsive and died about 40 minutes later, the citation said. A review of video at the home could not substantiate that the resident had been checked by staff between 2:30 and 5 p.m., the citation said.

Fines & Sanctions

Five Nursing Homes Fined For Lapses In Care

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Five nursing homes have been fined by the state for various violations that resulted in injuries to residents. The state Department of Public Health (DPH) fined Masonicare Health Center in Wallingford $1,300 after a resident fell, breaking a shinbone. In March, the resident who suffers from congestive heart failure and dementia, and requires two-person assistance when using the bathroom, fell when only one nursing assistant moved the client, according to DPH. The nursing assistant said she helped the resident without additional assistance because the resident already was trying to get up, the citation states. “Our residents’ safety is really, first and foremost, our priority,” said Melinda Schoen, Masonicare’s vice president for administration.

Fines & Sanctions

Three Nursing Homes Face Fines For Lapses Connected To Injuries

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Three nursing homes face fines for lapses in care related to residents who were injured or whose wounds were not properly treated. In one case, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) cited Candlewood Valley Health & Rehabilitation Center in New Milford for failing to provide adequate care to a resident who refused medications and wound treatment for so long that her leg wound was found to be “infested with maggots,” a state inspection report says. After the resident, who was diagnosed with dementia and depressive disorder, developed leg sores, she refused nursing care and medications, telling staff “I just want to die” and acting out aggressively. According to the DPH report, a psychiatric evaluation last August recommended that the resident be transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility. But an attending physician at Candlewood refused to sign an emergency certificate approving a psychiatric admission, saying the resident was not in imminent danger and would be harmed by being sedated and restrained, the report says.