Residents’ Absences, Injuries Result In Nursing Home Fines

The state Department of Public Health has fined six nursing homes more than $1,000 each for incidents that included residents leaving the homes unattended and falls that resulted in injuries. On July 18, Danbury Health Care Center was fined $1,300 in connection with a resident who left the home in a wheelchair and was bruised on the hand. The resident, who had dementia, was found 25 feet away. DPH found that the facility’s assessments of the risk of the resident trying to leave the facility were completed without the oversight of a registered nurse. The home was also cited in connection with a resident who was found outside smoking several times despite the home’s policy that active smokers are not admitted.

Resident’s Abusive Behavior, Nurses’ Failure To Call 911, Result In Nursing Home Fines

Eight Connecticut nursing homes have been fined by the state Department of Public Health for incidents involving lapses in care, including a failure to call 911 when a resident was dying and a case in which one resident attacked another with a butter knife. On April 29, the Norwichtown Rehabilitation and Care Center was fined $1,160 in connection with a Feb. 23 incident in which 911 was not called when a resident with severe heart and kidney problems was found without vital signs, records show. CPR was performed for five minutes before an advanced practice registered nurse ordered it stopped because the person had died, but a registered nurse mistakenly told the APRN that it had gone on for 15 minutes, records show. A doctor at the home said that a longer CPR session would not have saved the resident, but the home was faulted for not ensuring that 911 was called, records show.