California Nursing Home Accused of Abuse and Neglect after Resident with Alzheimer’s Dies
Excessive use of anti-psychotic drugs to confine and control residents’ aggressive behavior and wandering, and failure to treat pressure ulcers or notify the physician of their presence, may result in charges of substandard quality of care with submission of false claims.
Compliance Perspective – Alzheimer’s
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator and Director of Nursing will review policies and procedures guiding the appropriate use of anti-psychotic drugs and the reporting and treating of pressure ulcers.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Director of Nursing will ensure that staff are trained on caring for residents displaying aggressive and wandering behaviors due to dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease by implementing alternative measures before using anti-psychotic medications, and to conduct gradual dose reduction trials periodically. Nursing staff will also be trained to report and document the treatment of pressure ulcers, and to keep physicians informed of their status.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer should personally conduct an audit of residents with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease to determine if anti-psychotic drugs are being over-used to control their behavior, if alternative measures are in place, and if gradual dose reduction has been attempted. An audit should also be conducted to determine if any residents have unreported or untreated pressure ulcers, and if physicians are kept informed.
After an elderly resident with extreme Alzheimer’s disease died in a California nursing home where he had lived from August 2014 – February 28, 2018, his family has filed a lawsuit. The suit alleges that the facility failed to provide the necessary care the resident needed, which hastened his death. The family claims that the resident was sedated with powerful anti-psychotic drugs, and that staff ignored pressure ulcers and did not attempt to alleviate his pain.
The family contends that the nursing home was aware of the severity of the resident’s medical condition when it admitted him and agreed to provide the care he needed.
According to the lawsuit, the resident’s Alzheimer’s disease and other diagnoses made him unable to communicate coherently and caused him to have combative behaviors and the tendency to wander. The suit alleges that the facility used the anti-psychotic medications to sedate him and control his combative behavior and tendency to roam about unassisted.
The family believes the resident’s inadequate care resulted from understaffing and untrained staff who were not prepared to provide the care he required or to address his changing condition.
The lawsuit contends that the resident’s family requested that the nursing home discontinue the antipsychotic medications, but their request was ignored. They also allege that after the resident became bed bound, he developed a pressure ulcer on his heel that was ignored, and that staff failed to inform the resident’s physician of its presence. The untreated wound became infected. The family asserts that the failure to report violated California state law requiring the facility to notify the resident’s physician.
