A Bremerton nursing home has recently been fined over $500,000 after one of their residents died. Last October, a man staying in the home wandered outside in the middle of the night and was found lying in the parking lot just before 2:30 a.m. by an employee. The State Department of Social and Health Services investigated the accident at the Forest Ridge Health and Rehabilitation Center and discovered that there were very few precautionary efforts taken to prevent an accident like this. In addition, they found that “botched medical care for the resident after he returned to the home, directly contributed to his death.” As a result of the investigation, “the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services penalized the Marion Avenue nursing home $552, 109,” in early December.
The Department of Social and Health Services surveyors’ report explained that “the man had some level of cognitive impairment and experienced hallucinations and delusions. He had expressed a desire to leave the facility and often sat in the lobby, looking out the front door.” A nurse working the night he died, noticed that he was sitting in the lobby looking out the doors and later “noticed the resident had disappeared. She assumed he’d gone to bed but didn’t check his room.” Hours later, a pharmacy employee found the resident lying in the parking lot, shivering in the frigid temperatures.
When the man was found, he was taken to the emergency room and returned back to the nursing home only a few hours later. It was determined that the resident was “suffering from low oxygen blood levels and was fitted with an oxygen mask.” However, the Forest Ridge Health and Rehab Center’s employees failed to adequately supply oxygen flow through the mask, in turn allowing additional carbon dioxide to remain in the resident’s blood. In addition, despite the resident breathing quickly and abnormal noises from his lungs, the employees quickly administered intravenous fluids; this led to a buildup of liquid in the resident’s lungs making it difficult to breathe. The man passed away only a few hours later as his conditions continued to worsen.
To make matters worse, problems are still arising from the nursing home. Even with the recent death, “according to a survey report filed in March, Forest Ridge failed to take steps to prevent multiple suicide attempts by a resident in December.” Forest Ridge did not report the attempts to the state and were therefore fined nearly $11,000. In the last three years, six of “Kitsap’s nine nursing homes were fined,” however, “seven of the county’s nine homes were rated ‘above average’ or ‘much above average’ in the latest Nursing Home Compare rankings. Forest Ridge, however, was rated ‘below average.’
Source: Kitsap Sun