Employees of Florida Nursing Home Face Manslaughter Charges in Deaths of Residents Related to Aftermath of Hurricane Irma
After nearly two years of investigation involving the deaths of 12 Florida nursing home residents related to Hurricane Irma in September 2017, arrest warrants have been issued. The nursing home’s administrator and the supervising nurse on duty during the storm are expected to face twelve counts of manslaughter and two other nurses are expected to face lesser charges.
Hurricane Irma left a great deal of damage in its wake when it hit Florida on September 10, 2017. The aftermath of power outages and the humidity and high temperatures presented particular challenges to this one nursing home. Although it had back-up air conditioners, they were improperly placed and were only able to blow hot air from the attic of the facility. The nursing home was also not on the Florida Power and Light Company’s high priority list that would have ensured a faster response as a healthcare provider for elderly, fragile, and ill residents like the hospital located across the street from the facility.
Investigators were concerned that the residents who were critically ill were not evacuated on a timelier basis to the hospital that was just across the street from the nursing home. Twelve residents in the nursing home died over the days and weeks after the storm, and their deaths were ruled homicides by the County’s Medical Examiner—four residents died inside the facility on September 13, four others died soon after the nursing home was finally evacuated, and the others died over the days and weeks that followed.
Attorneys for the nursing home gave a statement regarding the warrants: “We believe that when the evidence comes out it will show that the staff at the facility was dedicated to their roles as caretakers and did everything, they could under the emergency disaster circumstances after the hurricane.”
Compliance Perspective
Failure of a facility located where storms frequently cause power outages to have the emergency systems in place to provide seasonal air conditioning/heating and operate the equipment needed to provide residents’ care, and failure to ensure that the facility is listed on the power company’s high priority list for restoring power during emergency power outages, could be considered abuse and neglect and provision of substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review the facility’s Emergency Preparedness Plan to determine if it adequately addresses emergency back-up systems and ongoing maintenance checks to meet the seasonal air conditioning or heating needs and supports equipment operation for providing quality care to the residents during emergency power outages.
- Train staff on caring for residents in emergency power outage situations that can endanger the lives of elderly, frail, and ill residents related to temperatures that are too hot or too cold.
- Periodically audit the facility’s emergency systems, e.g., back-up generators, water supply, back-up air conditioners, and heating systems, to ensure that they are working properly and maintained on a regular basis.
