Disturbing findings were made during a recent survey conducted at Golden Living Center-Union City. In the survey, completed on September 24, 2014, significant deficiencies in care at the facility were noted. In the survey, it was stated that the facility “neglected to provide emergency resuscitation” for one of the residents at the facility. According to the survey, the employees then failed to timely report the incident to the administrator and the administrator failed to properly report the incident to the state agency charged with monitoring nursing home care.
The patient that the facility was charged with protecting was “full code,” meaning that life saving measures should have been taken by the staff if he or she was found unresponsive. Instead, state surveyors found that the staff failed to check the code status for the patient and did not provide CPR as the policy at the facility would have demanded. In interviews conducted by the surveyor, the nurses who had attended to the patient stated that they had assumed the patient was DNR or “do not resuscitate” and did not even attempt to resuscitate the resident.
It is tragic to think that a facility charged with protecting the most vulnerable can neglect their responsibilities when they are needed most. While many patients in nursing homes are approaching the end of life, they deserve the dignity of life saving measures as much as any healthy and active person.
The patient described in this survey is no exception to the rule. We have seen many incidents similar to this where a facility has neglected to provide care to a patient because they believe their health to be so bad that it is simply not worth the effort. More troubling is the fact that this incident was not reported by the facility to the state agencies that oversee long term healthcare facilities in Tennessee. While this particular incident was uncovered by a surveyor, incidents such as this are not always uncovered. If incidents such as this go unreported, there may be no consequence to the facility. We believe these sorts of acts are unacceptable, and we have made it our mission to hold those who neglect or abuse the elderly responsible for their actions.
If your loved one has been neglected or abused in a nursing home or you believe that they were not given appropriate living-saving measures, please do not hesitate to call Jehl Law Group today! It is important that a nursing home is held accountable when they fail in their responsibility to care for their residents.