going outside the facility to smoke and was found hanging about 20
minutes later, the report states.
A nursing home has been fined $90,000 after a state
investigation concluded that inadequate care led to a patient’s suicide.
On June 11, a 52-year-old man was found hanging from a fence in the
parking lot of the nursing home. The man had rolled his wheelchair through a laundry room and into
the lot, where he hung himself with a belt, a report by the state
Department of Public Health states.
The report says the man was supposed to be under a constant suicide
watch, but a health department spokesman said that was not
done.
The report said “suicide watch at all times” was written on the
man’s care plan, and that a licensed vocational nurse working at the
facility told investigators, “I missed it. I didn’t see it.”
The state issued a AA citation to the facility, which is the most severe penalty under law. For more, read the story.
________________________________________________________________
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.
