Residents at one nursing home were forced to wait to use the
bathroom, sometimes so long that they relieved themselves in their beds
or on the floor, because of a shortage of workers, according to a state
Health Department report that resulted in a $20,800 federal fine.
In September 2008, six residents of the nursing home recounted for
Health Department interviewers how they felt humiliated when no one
answered their call bells for help getting to the toilet.
“We definitely had that deficiency in
that period of time,” said the nursing home spokesman.
Inspectors learned about problems
encountered by one resident who had lived at the nursing home for only
a month and needed the assistance of two staff members and a mechanical
lift to get out of bed.
“She stated that sometimes staff would
become angry with her for calling out when they were so busy and tell
her she would have to wait,” the inspector reported after speaking with
the resident and her daughter. “She also stated that when she was
waiting for help she would be in pain from the urgency of needing to
void. The resident said that on several occasions she had wet herself
while waiting for the staff and that she was mortified and embarrassed
that she wet her bed.”
The state inspectors said they observed
another resident who was unclothed from the waist down as he tried to
use a bed pan. The resident later said he was yelling out for someone
to close the door to his room, the report said. For more, read the story.
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Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is
dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing
home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke,
Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia.
