While people here who have a loved one in a nursing home often take great care to ensure the facility is a good fit for their family member, not every nursing home upholds its duty of care to residents. The following recent incidents of nursing home neglect and abuse demonstrate the sobering reality that sometimes staff members at nursing homes commit acts that harm residents or put residents in danger.
An East Haven nursing home was fined $1,080 by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) following an incident in which a resident who suffered from dementia became agitated while two aides and a nurse were attempting to place the resident in a wheelchair. Following that, one of the aides tried to keep the resident in the wheelchair by tying the resident around the waist to the chair using a sheet.
A Windham nursing home was fined $6,000 by DPH after a nurse used a sanitizing wipe to cleanse a glucometer used to test a person’s blood sugar. Per the manufacturer’s instructions, a different kind of wipe should be used to clean the glucometers. The director of nursing services at the facility was unaware that the nurses were using the wrong kind of wipe.
Finally, a Tolland nursing home was fined $3,720 by DPH following an incident in which a resident suffered a fall while receiving incontinence care. The resident was lying in a bed when an aide rolled the resident onto the resident’s side. This caused the resident’s feet to go over the side of the bed and the resident — who was a fall risk — fell off the bed. It is not clear how many staff members were supposed to assist when moving that resident in a bed.
Incidents of nursing home neglect and abuse can cause significant harm or even lead to a resident’s death. They should not go unnoticed or unreported. While the state may take action by fining nursing homes that violate regulations, the nursing home residents or their loved ones may also want to determine what their legal options are following an injury-causing or fatal incident.
