Nursing Homes Fined For Medication Errors, Fall-Related Injuries

Four nursing homes have been fined by the state in connection with medication errors or residents who fell, broke bones or wandered outside alone. On March 15, Leeway Inc. of New Haven was fined $3,000 in connection with a resident who was hospitalized on Feb. 23 with low levels of phosphate and potassium after a medication error. The resident was not given seven doses of potassium chloride despite a doctor’s order, the state Department of Health citation said. A registered nurse said later that she was tired and missed the order, the citation said.

Six Nursing Homes Fined Following Resident’s Death, Lapses In Care

Six nursing homes have been fined in connection with one resident who was physically abused, one who broke a leg and one who was hospitalized with severe dehydration and later died. In two state Department of Public Health [DPH] citations on Dec. 7, Touchpoints at Farmington was fined a total of $2,810 in connection with a resident who was hospitalized in May 2015 in intensive care with severe dehydration and then transferred to hospice care. Maura Downes, DPH’s spokeswoman, said the resident died more than two weeks after the incident, but DPH officials were not able to “substantiate causation between the incident and the resident’s death.”

The home was fined $1,580 in connection with the resident’s decline in fluid intake over eight days in May 2015. The home’s records failed to show that a doctor had been notified about the resident’s fluid intake, the citation said.

Seven Nursing Homes Fined For Injuries

Seven nursing homes have been fined at least $1,200 in connection with residents who were verbally abused or who suffered cuts or broken bones. The state Department of Public Health (DPH) fined Madison House in Madison a total of $3,640 in separate citations on Feb. 5 and March 3. It was fined $1,940 in connection with a nurse’s aide who was verbally abusive to a resident on Aug. 8.