Jury Finds Washington County Nursing Home Negligent
Posted on Wednesday, 14 of May , 2008 at 8:17 pm
As National Nursing Home Week is being observed statewide this week with the theme “Love Is Ageless, the state Department of Health was conducting an investigation into several complaints of negligence and wrongful death at the Eden Park Nursing Home in Glens Falls and a state Supreme Court jury ordered Washington County to pay $300,000 to the family of a woman who died as the result of a fall at the county-owned Pleasant Valley Adult Home in Argyle.
Former Fort Edward resident Esther Nolan, 75, died at the adult home in March 2003 following a fall from a toilet. The attorney representing Nolan’s family had argued that the woman’s death was caused by inadequate staffing and the improper installation of the toilet seat. Supreme Court Justice David B. Krogmann presided over the five day trial.
It is anticipated that several wrongful death suits will be filed against Eden Park as the result of two recent deaths at the facility.
The spring issue of “The Monitor”, the quarterly publication of the Long Time Care Community Coalition, features a audit report issued earlier this year by the state comptroller’s office on the nursing home complaint system of the state Department of Health.
The audit indicates that the DOH was late in investigating one our of every five complaints filed against nursing homes. From April 2005 to September 2006, auditors found tht 1,186 of about 6,700 investigations by DOH began late. Although the auditors found that DOH responded promptly to complaints where residents were in immediate danger, it failed to act quickly on other complaints.
“When a complaint is made about a nursing home, DOH has to act quickly”, comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “The department is doing its part to investigate very serious complaints in a timely manner. But it needs to get to other complaints faster. Failing to respond on time could put elderly and dependent New Yorkers at risk”.
There have been other complaints lodged against Eden Park previously with a less than lackluster investigation by DOH, informed sources say. Staff members told family members that they always know in advance when inspections are due.
The complaints that DOH investigated late were ones which, although a resident was not in immediate jeopardy, were serious. They involved resident neglect and quality of care issues such as accidental injury, inattentiveness to residents with incontinence issues, verbal and mental abuse of residents and complaints concerning drug and medication issues.
The audit found that the slow response to these complaints was due to staff deployment or shortages at DOH. In addition to the late start of investigations, the audit also found that although DOH’s rate of case closure had improved over the past five years, many complaints were not closed within the state required 180 days, causing New York State to miss opportunities to be reimbursed for investigating expenses in a timely manner by the federal government.
Also, case files in the Central New York, New York City and Long Island offices were missing necessary documentation and incorrect data was entered into the department’s complaint/investigation logging system. 5-14-08
Category: Consumers, Courts, Disabled, Elder Care, Family, Health, New York State, Warren County
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