State of California Threatens to Shut Down Elder Care Facility After 75-Year-Old Woman Went Missing and Died

Accepting residents without the ability to provide the level of care they need indicates a systemic substandard quality of care problem and may result in the submission of false claims

Compliance Perspective – Resident Death

Policies/Perspectives: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator will review the policies and procedures to ensure they are adequate for caring for and monitoring residents with diminished mental capacity.

Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Director of Nursing will ensure that staff are trained to provide the level of care and monitoring necessary for residents with diminished mental capacity.

Auditing: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Administrator should personally conduct an audit of the procedures in place for preventing residents with diminished mental capability from leaving the facility unaccompanied.

The State of California’s Community Care Licensing Division has threatened to shut down a city-operated elder care facility after a woman with dementia and who states she was hearing voices was allowed to sign herself out of the facility. She was later found dead in a nearby hospital power plant.

The investigation into the facility indicated that the woman’s physician had recommended five months earlier that she be transferred to a skilled nursing facility because of her dementia; however, that recommendation was ignored.

The licensing authority placed the elder care center on notice after finding eight serious violations during the last five years. The center was advised about actions it needed to take in order to prevent decertification of their administrator or the revoking of the facility’s license. One of the conditions set by the licensing authority was a ban on accepting patients with dementia. The facility was also required to increase staff training and resident health monitoring. The center will be required to undergo rigorous and frequent inspections for two years.

The city’s Public Health Department issued a statement indicating that the center has “accepted the state’s compliance plan and believes these changes improve the high level of care that is provided to residents at the facility.”