The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a North Carolina nursing home facility to pay more than $140,000.00 in penalties for violating medicare regulations and placing its residents in what the Court called “immediate jeopardy”.
The case began after the North Carolina State Survey Agency conducted two routine inspections of a Universal Healthcare facility to ensure that the facility was complying with Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Both inspections revealed that the facility’s care was deficient.
In one instance, the facility ran out of pain medication needed for daily treatment for a resident who suffered from headaches, forcing the resident to go late into the afternoon until his medication was administered. The medication issued had been an integral part of the patient’s treatment plan for over five years.
Even more shocking, Universal Healthcare failed to note significant changes in another patient’s physical state, further failing to report any change to the patient’s physician or family.
In this instance, staff members administered Valium to an agitated patient, who suffered from dementia.
While the nurses on duty noted that the patient slept for the rest of the day, they failed to monitor the patient’s vital signs. Nurses found the patient unresponsive over 10 hours later and the patient died at an area hospital that night.
Placing a loved one in a nursing home is an emotional situation that can put a tremendous amount of stress upon a family. Discovering that a loved one has been harmed or neglected is even worse.
While Universal had been ordered to pay fines as a result of their deficiencies, it does not change the fact that patients were needlessly put at risk. Hopefully, the penalty issued will be sufficient to ensure adequate patient care.
The nursing home attorneys at the Strom Law Firm, L.L.C. fight to protect the rights of patients and family members injured in nursing homes or patient care facilities. Our attorneys include a former United States Attorney, a former public defender, a former Assistant Attorney General and Richland County Assistant Solicitor, as well as a tax lawyer familiar with IRS criminal investigations. The Strom Law Firm aggressively patient rights in all State and Federal Courts in South Carolina as well as the Federal Courts in Georgia. Our lawyers proudly edit the Columbia, South Carolina Injury Board as well as the Strom Law Blog as a pro bono effort to provide the public valuable information. Our lawyers are licensed in: South Carolina, New York, and Georgia
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