Tucson nursing home fined $20,000
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Apr 23 2007 at 6:54 PM
Nursing Home Negligence >>

TUCSON (AP) - A Tucson nursing home has been fined more than $20,000 for failing to give medications to 21 patients over four days last winter and for other patient-care violations.

Waverly Park Healthcare will have to pay a $20,250 fine for the violations.

It is the second fine in excess of $20,000 that Waverly Park has paid to the Arizona Department of Health Services in the last three years. In 2004, the home paid $20,500 after three patients were hospitalized because of care issues.

The most recent fine came after four of 21 patients who did not revive medications for four days were at risk for serious complications, said Sylvia Balistreri, director of the state's long-term care licensing division.

Health department surveyors also found the nursing home suspended its ‘‘restorative therapy'' program for 30 days. That meant many patients ended up in wheelchairs because they weren't being walked or getting other therapy.

The health department said the home also failed to properly care for patients' bedsores, and cited the home for causing two lower-leg fractures in an elderly resident.

The home also was cited for not supervising a resident who was not supposed to smoke without supervision.