Connecticut Nursing Home Fined $6,000 When Resident Fed Hamburger Not on Special Diet
Failure to ensure that the food provided to residents meets their individual needs may be considered substandard quality of care and result in the submission of false claims
Compliance Perspective – Special Diet’s
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Food Services Manager will review policies and procedures involving the provision of food in the form needed to meet the needs of each individual resident.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Director of Nursing and the Food Services Manager will ensure that staff are trained to respond in a timely manner to concerns about food presented on a tray that is not allowed according to a resident’s special diet.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer should personally conduct an audit by checking the food restrictions of residents on special diets with actual food being served.
The Connecticut State Department of Health recently fined a nursing home $6,000 after a resident with Multiple Sclerosis, who was at risk for aspiration and on a special diet, was fed a hamburger and choked. The Heimlich maneuver was necessary to clear the resident’s airway.
The hamburger was delivered from the Dietary Department on the resident’s food tray. Although the nurse aide knew it was the wrong constancy for the resident’s special diet, the aide still gave it to the resident without question because it was on the food tray. According to the state’s report, the cook preparing the meal claimed that it was prepared according to a dietary aide’s specifications. However, the cook failed to cross-check the resident’s meal ticket, and the nurse aide failed to report the error to the charge nurse. Despite knowing it was not an acceptable food for the resident, the nurse aide did not offer the resident an alternate meal.
After the incident, the facility re-educated all staff members involved with meal service about the precautions needed to prevent a resident from aspirating. Audits were put into place to ensure that meal tickets and trays were checked and accurate.
