In 2007, an unidentified man living at
Hillcrest Senior Living in Red Lake Falls, Minn., fell out of bed and
became wedged between his bed and the room's heat register.
By the time staff discovered him, he had sustained second-degree burns stretching from his right hip to his ankle.
The
case was one of 22 confirmed instances of neglect, abuse or financial
exploitation reported to the Minnesota Department of Health's Health
Facility Complaint Office between 2005 and 2014 in Kittson, Marshall,
Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau counties.
An investigation by the office concluded the resident's bed should have been at least 24 inches away from the heater.
"Due
to a failure of the facility to provide for the safety of residents
related to heat registers, it was determined that a serious threat to
resident health and safety existed," special investigator Marilyn
Norling wrote in a report about the incident.
Staff at Hillcrest Senior Living did not return calls for comment.
In
other confirmed cases of maltreatment published in state reports, staff
stole medication and money from patients, caused physical harm through
hitting and did not initiate CPR when patient records said it should be
performed, which resulted in the death of at least two patients.
At
a REM Northstar facility in Crookston, a client received first- and
second-degree burns on her left leg when she was left unsupervised and
spilled hot coffee on herself in October 2010.
Executive Director
Connie Menne said the company has zero tolerance for neglect and abuse
and has a number of training protocols to prevent maltreatment.
"On
at least an annual basis, each individual's supervision levels are
reviewed by the care team," she said. "These discussions are outlined in
a risk plan, and all employees are trained on these plans."
At least 40 hours of training and orientation are required of new employees, Menne said.
Keeping
updated standard practices, such as patient care procedures, is
advocated by organizations such as Care Providers of Minnesota — a
nonprofit membership organization for care facilities such as nursing
homes.
"If there are problems out there, we want to see them
resolved," said Doug Beardsley, vice president of member services for
Care Providers. "Standards of practice keep changing and require higher
and higher expectations, which is appropriate. We don't want people in
pain."
Counting complaints
More than 2,600
health facilities are licensed by the Minnesota Health Department and
fall under the jurisdiction of its Health Facility Complaint Office.
Those
facilities include nursing homes, hospitals, boarding care homes,
supervised-living facilities, home care providers, hospice programs and
residences, assisted-living providers and freestanding outpatient
surgical facilities.
Alleged incidents of maltreatment at all
Minnesota facilities generated 1,345 complaints statewide in 2013,
according to the most recent annual "Allegations of Maltreatment in
Minnesota Health Care Facilities" report submitted to the Minnesota
State Legislature.
Complaints are not as prevalent in northwestern
Minnesota as they are in more urban areas, but dozens were filed
between 2005 and 2014.
Total, 58 complaints were received during
that timeframe for facilities in the six aforementioned northwest
counties. While 22 allegations were substantiated, 36 were not confirmed
or the investigation was inconclusive.
Complaints: List of northwest Minnesota county complaints
Allegations
of maltreatment — accidents are not reportable — can be submitted to
the complaint office by residents, by someone on their behalf or by
"provider-initiated" reports, which means the care provider brings
allegations forward for investigation.
REM received six complaints
during that 10-year time period, though only one involving the client
burned by coffee was confirmed by investigators.
Even unconfirmed allegations prompt action, according to Menne.
"In
these situations, we do review the incident and — consistent with our
high standard for quality — we routinely re-train our employees and
revise our protocols as warranted," she said.
Complaints constituted only 7 percent of maltreatment incidents reported to the state.
Incidents
coming out of facility self-reports represent an overwhelming majority
of those filed with the Health Facility Complaint Office.
More
than 19,500 allegations of maltreatment came to the state through these
reports in 2013. That number represents a 527 percent increase in the
number of maltreatment allegations since 2010.
"It tells that
people aren't trying to hide something. They're not waiting for a
complaint or a family or community member," Beardsley said of the number
of self-reports. "They're saying 'Hey, we caught something or something
less than desirable happened. We are going to do our own internal
investigation, and we believe it's appropriate and required for an
external agency to look at it.'" (
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Full Article & Source:
Analysis shows dozens of complaints lodged against northwest Minnesota health facilities in past decade
Joannie Cook, as legal guardian of Gilbert Michael Melancon, filed a
lawsuit Dec. 29, 2014, in Galveston County District Court against
Harbourview Care Center Inc. and Regent Management Services,
Limited Partnership, citing lack of adequate treatment for Melancon, a
bedridden patient with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, seizure
disorder and other medical problems.
