NY Health Department Fines Adult Care Facility $1,000 Over Resident’s Elopement
Nearly two years after a resident in a New York adult care center wandered outside the facility around 3.a.m. on a freezing December night, the state Department of Health fined the facility $1,000. The woman, who suffered from dementia, was wearing only a nightgown when she was found the next morning about 7:30 a.m. She was taken to the hospital semiconscious, bruised, frostbitten, and suffering from hypothermia. She survived but died the following January in another facility.
The incident was only made public after the Attorney General’s Office issued a news release announcing the arrests of four employees at the facility. The four have been charged with endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, which is a felony.
Allegedly, one of the four staff members is reported to have slept during half of his overnight shift. The three other staff are accused of either ignoring two emergency alarms or muting them while they took an hour-long break outside in a car.
The employee who allegedly slept during his shift told Health Department investigators that he was working a double shift and needed some sleep. He blamed the facility’s administration for understaffing and alleged that the other employees were not telling the truth in order to protect themselves.
The Health Department issued the following statement regarding its determination about the negligence of care provided to the resident: “The staff at the facility showed no regard for the welfare of residents by leaving the entire floor and wing of the facility without any staff for an extended period of time, by not responding to a door alarm, by not taking immediate action when a resident was identified as missing, and by not being knowledgeable of the physical features of the building and the facility’s systems. …. ”
Compliance Perspective
Failure of staff to remain awake, alert, and in the resident area while on duty or to respond to door alarms signaling that a resident may have wandered outside the building—especially at night or during extreme weather conditions—may be considered abuse and neglect and deemed provision of substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding staffing levels, risks of staff working too many double shifts, protocols for ensuring that staff respond to door alarms, and that all residents are accounted for anytime door alarms sound.
- Train staff regarding policies and procedures prohibiting sleeping during shifts, leaving residents unattended, disabling door alarms, and failing to respond appropriately to every door alarm.
- Periodically conduct unannounced audits to determine if staff are providing the care needed by residents on all shifts. Also review scheduling to determine if staff are routinely required to work double shifts because staffing levels are inadequate.
