Healthcare Compliance Perspective:
Worthless services coupled with intentionally falsified documentation lead to civil monetary penalties and often criminal charges.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has fined a nursing home $100,000 following an investigation that found nurses had both failed to properly care for a resident found dead in her bed following surgery and falsified documentation covering up the lack of care.
The CDPH agency announced the fine and Class AA citation last week against the nursing home, saying the inquiry found deficiencies were determined to have been a direct proximate cause of death of a patient or resident.
The unannounced inspection on Feb. 24 was initiated by a complaint the CDPH received that a dialysis patient was found dead in her bed the week before. The woman had been taken from the facility Feb. 16 to have an AV shunt surgically placed-a necessary procedure for dialysis treatment. She was returned to the facility that night at 10:15 p.m. However, nurses did not take her vitals throughout the night and the woman was found dead the next morning at 5:45 a.m. The investigation revealed that nurses admitted to falsifying records to indicate they had monitored the woman’s blood pressure and other vital signs, when they had not.
