PRESS RELEASE
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact Carole Herman (916)481-8558
Foundation Aiding The Elderly
Sacramento, CA
CLASS
AA CITATION WITH $100,000 PENALTY ISSUED AGAINST A
SACRAMENTO NURSING HOME AFTER DEATH OF A PATIENT
SACRAMENTO, CA….The
California Department of Health Services has issued its
most serious citation, a Class AA, with an assessed
penalty of $100,000, against the Applewood Care Center
in Sacramento, CA as a result of a complaint filed by
the Foundation Aiding The Elderly (FATE) on 9/13/05.
FATE filed the complaint on behalf of a client who died
as a result of a fall at the facility while strapped in
her wheelchair. Although rarely are Class AA Citations
issued, the Department determined that the violations
presented an imminent danger or substantial probability
that death or serious harm would occur and was a direct
proximate cause of the death of the patient.
According to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, the
patient sustained a blunt force head injury, left facial
abrasions, left temporal scalp laceration, a
nondisplaced linear fracture, left temporal skull, and a
right subdural hematoma. The patient also had injuries
to her torso, abrasions on the left shoulder, a
fractured left clavicle and non-displaced fractures of
two ribs with abrasions on both knees. She also
suffered from large chronic stage 4 decubital ulcer on
her right hip.
Although the Department of Health Services took nine
months to adjudicate the allegations, Carole Herman, of
the Foundation Aiding the Elderly, was pleased with the
issuance of the Citation as the abuse of this patient
clearly warranted the Class AA citation with the maximum
fine. Herman stated “it is rare for the Department to
issue a Class AA citation. We as a society can not
allow our parents to be subjected to the continual poor
care and abuse that continues to occur in nursing home,
not only in California, but throughout the country.
The regulatory agencies empowered to protect us must do
their job in order to prevent these types of abuses and
in this case, although not timely, they did.”
In
the past, the Department has stated that insufficient
staffing and reduced budgets have not allowed the
Department to investigate suspected abuses in nursing
homes on a timely basis. However, Herman contends that
complaints should take precedence over annual licensing
renewal inspections because complaints of poor care and
abuse puts the State on immediate notice that there are
problems in the facilities and patients are at risk.
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