Articles Posted in California Department of Public Health

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The heirs of an elderly nursing home resident have sued the nursing home for causing the death of their father Oliver Shrock. The lawsuit alleges that caregivers at Kindred Healthcare Center in Orange County ignored the family’s warnings that Shrock was at risk for falling, and failing to take appropriate fall precautions, such as using a bed alarm. On July 14, 2008, just two months after his admission into the facility, Shrock fell and struck his head. He died four days later.

The California Department of Public Health investigated the 77-year-old’s death and concluded that the resident’s death was caused by the nursing home’s negligent care. A AA citation was issued, and an $85,000 assessed.

According to the lawsuit, Shrock fell shortly after admission, and that while some fall interventions were taken, they were used sporadically. For example, a bed alarm was used on Shrock, but only occasionally. The visiting daughters would repeatedly after to remind the facility to use it. Sadly, on the day of the fall, the bed alarm was not in place. It was the day Shrock was going to go home.

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All licensed nursing homes in California are licensed and certified by the California Department of Public Health, which conducts an annual inspection of every licensed skilled nursing facility in the state. In addition, the DPH is charged with the duty to investigate complaints of neglect or abuse, and issue the results of its investigation. Here is some general information about making a complaint against a nursing home.

First, who can make a complaint? Under California law, any person can make a complaint about a nursing home; it does not just have to be the resident, family member, or responsible party. Complaints may be made anonymously.

When is a good time to make a complaint? A complaint should be made whenever one considers the treatment problems to be serious enough to report. It is usually a good idea to express your complaints to the facility first, but if you feel like you’re not being taken seriously, call DPH.

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Nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers in California often lament the state’s weak enforcement of bad nursing homes. The California Department of Public Health, due primarily to inadequate funding, rarely provides the strong oversight of California’s 1,200 or so licensed skilled nursing facilities. As a result, bad nursing homes operate with relative impunity, and those who screw up rarely suffer the consequences.

Apparently California is not alone. In Connecticut, the director of the state’s Department of Public Health said his unit is dangerously understaffed. He has only four investigators to oversee the state’s 231 certified nursing facilities, and told the Norwich Bulletin that if he had 10 more, he would have a lot more cases.

State Sen. Edith Prague has apparently had enough. She is set to re-introduce a bill that would make it easier to hold the owners of nursing homes criminally responsible for abuse and neglect of patients in their facilities. Under Prague’s bill, the state’s DPH would be required to include a notice in nursing home applications telling owners they could be held criminally liable for patient neglect by employees, including for things such as inadequate staffing. “You can’t sue the state, but the nursing home owners who cut back on staffing I feel should be held responsible,” Prague said.

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When a person has very serious concerns that a nursing home resident has been subject to abuse or neglect in the home, a complaint may be filed with the state. The California Department of Public Health (DPH) licenses and certifies all nursing homes in California, and maintains a process for investigating all complaints made against nursing homes.

The process of filing a complaint with the DPH is fairly straightforward, and the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform have summarized it nicely:

1. Who Can File a Complaint? Any person, or even an organization, can file a complaint about nursing home neglect with the DPH. While it is usually a family member, it doesn’t have to be.

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Ninety-two-year-old Robert Doscher was admitted to Valley Gardens Health Care, a for-profit nursing home, on May 18, 2007. He came from a hospital where he was being treated for a mini-stroke, and other heart issues. Upon admission to the nursing home, he needed the use of a walker, and the plan was to stabilize his health, and transfer him to an assisted living facility.

He required the use of a walker when he was admitted, and it was initially planned that he could be discharged to a board-and-care facility when his condition stabilized. The admission assessment at Valley Gardens determined that Doscher was at “high risk” for falling, and the care plan ordered the he be checked “every one to two hours.” He was also instructed not to get up without assistance, and a tab alarm was placed on his clothing to monitor his movements.

On May 21st, only three days after he was admitted to the nursing home, Doscher fell and struck his head on the floor. He was found by staff on the floor. According to the investigation, there was no evidence that Valley Gardens was checking on Doscher every one to two hours, nor did they place him near the nursing station, as had also been recommended upon admission.

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A nursing home called Valley Gardens Health Care and Rehabilitation in Stockton, California has received an “AA” citation from the California Department of Public Health due the neglect of one of its residents. The AA citation is the most severe penalty that can be levied by the state, and is issued only when a patient’s death has occurred in a way that can directly attributed to the conduct of the facility. A $90,000.00 fine was also issued.

According to news reports, which are currently scant on facts, the facility failed to ensure a resident was adequately supervised, resulting in a serious fall, which caused the resident to die.

The California Department of Public Health has the statutory authority license and certify all of California’s nursing homes. Part of its authority is to inspect the homes annually, and respond to consumer complaints. If investigations into substandard care are substantiated, the CDPH has the authority to issue citation, and impose fines. Typically, the fine depends on the significance and severity of the substantiated violation.

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In a strongly worded report, the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes recommended major reforms to the California long-term care ombudsman program. The responsibility of the Ombudsman program is to investigate and resolve complaints made by individual residents in nursing homes.

According to the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), nursing home and assisted living facility residents in California at an increasing risk of elder abuse because ombudsman funding has been severely cut and the state ombudsman office has established unreasonable restrictions on ombudsman reporting of abuse.

The state report, entitled California’s Elder Abuse Investigators: Ombudsman Shackled by Conflicting Laws and Duties, revealed that ombudsman complaint referrals to the nursing home licensing agency dropped by a stunning 44 percent in the last year after the Governor Schwarzenegger slashed funding to the fledgling ombudsman program. Assisted living facilities have been affected as well. During the same period, complaints by ombudsman to California’s Community Care Licensing regarding assisted living and residential care facilities also dropped by more than 40 percent.

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Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside was fined $25,000 by the California Department of Public Health for “failure to ensure the health and safety of a patient” who fell out of bed and fractured her hip. The hospital has modified its policies as a result.

According to reports, a 91-year-old woman who was admitted to Tri-City on December 7, 2008 because of a stroke, and paralysis on her right side, fell out of bed two days later and fractured her hip. She was taken to surgery for repair of the hip, and died the following day in the ICU.

The state investigation revealed that upon admission to the hospital the woman was rated as a high risk for falls; a rating that would require a series of interventions such as bed alarms, padding on the floor around the bed, etc. The investigation revealed that “there was no evidence in the medical record to support that these interventions were in place at the time (the patient) fell.

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A Tracy, California nursing home received a $100,000 fine and a AA citation, the state’s most severe, after it was determined that the death of a 78-year-old resident was due to nursing home malpractice. The nursing home staff failed to monitor the woman’s medication and failed to send her to the hospital when her brain started to bleed.

According to the report, the resident had recently received an increase in medication to prevent clots. With the medication came a potential for internal bleeding. Shortly after increase in dosage, the woman began to slur her words and complained of a headache. She kept saying, “My head, my head…” But nothing was done.

Several hours later the resident was semi-conscious, waking only to vomit. The family complained to the home that something was not right, but failed to take the matter seriously. The woman was eventually transferred to the acute-care hospital, but it was too late. She died in the emergency room.

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A bill that will increase fines from $6,000 to $10,000 for individuals found guilty of placing an elderly person (over age 65) or a dependent adult in a situation where death or great bodily harm is likely has been signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The bill, which will take effect January 1, 2010, will also increase penalties for those placing seniors in dangerous situations that are not likely to cause death or great bodily harm.

The new law was supported by Sen. Jenny Oropeza, who acknowledged that “Elder abuse for far too long has been a hidden, pervasive and deadly crime where out of 5 million recent cases, a shocking 84 percent went unreported.” Under the new law, she said, “California’s senior citizens and their families will rest easier knowing that my new law will help protect them from abuse.”

Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram

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