Falls Can Cost Nursing Homes
Investigators with the state’s Department of Public Health found several deficiencies in the way the staff at Holiday Manor Care Center, a skilled nursing facility at 20554 Roscoe Blvd., supervised a patient who was documented as at risk of falling.
The patient was admitted to the home in August 2014. She suffered from confusion, impaired vision, and unstable balance and needed help walking. The woman attempted to get out of bed alone and without supervision and fell on Sept. 8, 2014. A staff member saw her on the floor and documented it.
“Resident 1 was seen on the floor mat moaning, in a sitting position facing the door, noted with a bump on the right temporal (the side of the head behind the eyes), with the skin intact, and a bluish discoloration,” investigators noted in their report.
She died nine days later, state officials said. The resident suffered from brain hemorrhaging. The immediate cause of death was blunt force head trauma.
The $100,000 fine is part of a class “AA” citation, the most severe penalty under state law, health officials said.
Holiday Manor Care Center received a five star rating by Nursing Home Compare, a site on Medicare.gov. The site provides information about 15,000 Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes nationwide. But California’s Public Health Department offers more details, including seven complaints filed last year against Holiday Manor, six of which were substantiated. The care center also was fined $20,000 in 2015, but the decision was appealed.
A statement by attorneys representing Holiday Manor said the care center is appealing the $100,000 fine.
“We strongly disagree with the citation issued by the California Department of Public Health,” according to the statement. “Therefore, the decision has been made to appeal this citation. It is the goal of Holiday Manor Care Center to provide quality care to individuals afflicted with Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
To read the original article Canoga Park nursing home fined $100,000 by state after woman’s death, Click Here
By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News
