Posted on 11/01/2003 8:49:35 AM PST by ValerieUSA
The state levied nearly $13,000 in fines against two Spokane nursing homes this week, after investigators found lapses in medical care, verbal abuse from nurses and neglect of patients.
At Sunshine Gardens Nursing Home, a man died Sept. 16, three days after he first complained of chest pain. The nursing home did not send the man to the hospital despite his well-documented history of cardiac problems, according to a state report. Nor did it properly administer medication to manage his pain.
The state assessed a $3,000 fine to Sunshine Gardens, an 84-bed home at 10410 E. Ninth Ave., for failing to provide timely medical care.
In a separate investigation, the state slapped a $9,600 fine on Mission Good Samaritan, a 67-bed home at 12715 E. Mission Ave.
There, a woman lay in bed for 28 days in ‘‘unrelenting” pain before the staff discovered she had a broken hip, a state investigator reported.
The 67-bed home is licensed and operated by The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, a non-profit based in Sioux Falls, S.D. The state temporarily prohibited the home from accepting new clients this fall and has repeatedly penalized the home.
Both nursing homes continue to operate and are back in compliance after updating their policies, said Shirlee Steiner, regional administrator of the state's Residential Care Services.
‘‘We've gone in and done a full review,” Steiner said. ‘‘They've fixed it.”
A representative from Sunshine Gardens said the home would appeal the decision, insisting it had operated properly. A Good Samaritan official said several staffers had been removed from the home and policies regarding patient treatment had been clarified.
Steiner said the investigations just happened to coincide after complaints were lodged against the homes.
Shelagh Tilton of Wenatchee, Wash., said she complained to the state after her father-in-law spent four days at Mission Good Samaritan this summer. Tilton said she was appalled at conditions at the home, where her father-in-law was sent to recover from a toe infection.
‘‘It was atrocious,” Tilton said. ‘‘People were crying out in pain. The staff ignored them. It was just warehousing.”
An Aug. 28 report by the state found Mission Good Samaritan failed to protect its residents from verbal abuse and intimidation from staffers, or to ensure they received timely medical care.
Jim Droppers, executive director of Good Samaritan in Spokane, said the nursing home has replaced staff members and clarified policies in response to the complaints.
He could not say why the woman with the broken hip -- whose name and age were not released -- went undiagnosed for nearly a month.
The state report catalogued a host of problems at the home. A woman with pneumonia received no respiratory monitoring for two days. Residents reported verbal abuse and intimidation. One patient said a nurse told her she was ‘‘sick and tired of taking care of me,” according to the report.
Droppers could not address the specifics of the report but said the home is ‘‘a safe place for residents to be.”
The investigation at Sunshine Gardens focused on one incident -- the death of a man with a history of cardiac problems.
On Sept. 13, the man, whose name and age were not released by the state, asked to see a doctor because of chest pain. Over the course of three days, he complained of pain, vomited and was unable to eat. He told staff ‘‘he thought he was going to die.”
The state report said the man did not receive medication to ease his chest pain.
The nursing home sent a fax to the man's doctor on the afternoon of Sept. 16, stating the resident wanted to see the doctor. But the home did not call the office or say the man needed to go to the emergency room, a staffer at the doctor's office told the state.
The doctor arranged to see the man the following day.
The nursing home did not send the man to the hospital, despite his requests on Sept. 16. When a staff member found him at 11:10 p.m., the man was dead.
Nathan Dikes, CEO of Sunshine Health Facility Inc. said the nursing home will appeal the fine. He said the home faxed the note to the doctor's office and followed its directions.
‘‘Their recommendation was that we take him (to the doctor's office) the next morning,” Dikes said.
Dikes, a podiatrist, said the man appeared to be alert and active in the days before his death.
‘‘I disagree with the state's assessment,” he said. ‘‘I believe we did provide the best care we could.”
Perhaps they think, like HINO, that if the patients are denied treatment, they will just die. Still you would think the staff would find their jobs more satisfying (and peaceful) if they would administer pain medications. Who would want to work in an environment like that? The inconsistencies are just plain weird.
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