DPH Fines Nursing Homes For Lapses In Care; Two Cases Involved Deaths

Six nursing homes have been cited by the state Department of Public Health (DPH) for lapses in care, including two cases in which residents died. DPH fined Hancock Hall in Danbury $10,000 in August in connection with three incidents, including the case of a resident who died in June from complications due to a head injury caused by a fall out of a lift, the state citation said. Four days before the death, the resident was kicking and punching two nurse’s aides who were moving the person in the lift, the citation said. A clip on the lift pad came undone and the resident slipped out of the sling and onto the floor and sustained a head injury. A review found that the aides should have stopped the lift and notified a nurse when the person became combative.

Waterbury Nursing Home Ordered To Hire Nurse Consultant, Fined $5,000

A Waterbury nursing home has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and hire a nursing consultant after state health inspections uncovered numerous violations at the facility, including resident neglect and unsanitary conditions. Terms of the agreement, reached between Rosegarden Health & Rehabilitation Center and the state Department of Public Health, are revealed in a July 9 consent order recently released by DPH. Thirty violations were uncovered at the center during a series of unannounced DPH inspections of the facility that occurred between Nov. 25 and Dec. 10, 2013.

Four Nursing Homes Fined, One For Wrongly Administering Opiates

Four nursing homes have been fined more than $1,000 each in connection with several incidents that included a resident drug overdose and two residents suffering broken bones. Cambridge Manor of Fairfield was fined $1,380 on July 31, in connection with two incidents at the home, according to a citation by the state Department of Public Health.  In the first incident, on July 3, a resident was admitted to a hospital as unresponsive and suffering an overdose of opiates, the citation states. A DPH investigation determined that the resident had been given morphine and thyroid medicine by mistake, according to the citation. William Gerrish, DPH’s spokesman, said the resident recovered and returned to Cambridge Manor. In the second incident, on July 12, a resident with anxiety and dementia was left unattended in a wheelchair in the lobby, the citation said.