Seven Nursing Homes Fined Following Medication Errors, Injuries

Seven nursing homes have been fined by the state Department of Public Health in connection with medication errors and incidents that led residents to be burned or break a leg. In two separate citations on July 24, Sharon Health Care Center was fined $1,580 and $1,050 in connection with several violations of state regulations. On Oct. 30, 2013, a resident at the home was burned on the leg by a hot pack during a ride to a doctor’s office. The director of rehabilitation told state officials that in retrospect, it showed poor judgment for the rehab department to give the resident a hot pack for the half-hour ride, DPH records show.

Four Nursing Homes Cited, One After Resident Dies

Four nursing homes have been fined by the state Department of Public Health in connection with incidents in which one resident died, another was verbally abused and several female residents were touched inappropriately by a resident. On March 13, 2014, Ledge Crest Health Care Center in the Kensington section of Berlin was fined $780 in connection with a March 2013 incident involving the resident who died. Records show the resident had chronic constipation and was supposed to be monitored for abdominal discomfort and vomiting. Despite the vomiting and low blood pressure on March 4, 2013, a nurse’s note failed to say whether a doctor had been notified about the change in the resident’s condition and failed to show whether additional blood pressure checks had been done, DPH records said. State records report that six hours later, the resident was admitted to a hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding and sepsis, a life-threatening inflammation prompted by an infection.