SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Sheridan Health Care Center has been fined $10,000 (Statement of Violation) by the Illinois Department of Public Health for failure to intervene when a resident refused to eat and experienced a significant weight loss. The 270-bed skilled and intermediate care facility is located at 2534 Elim Ave. in Zion.

Responding to complaints, Department surveyors learned the resident, who refused 23 meals in one month and fasted for at least a week, died at a local hospital due to weight loss and malnutrition.

The resident's care plan documented a weight loss of about 14 percent of his body weight in 30 days and staff also noted changes in the resident's mental state, but these physical and behavioral changes were not immediately reported to his physician as required by the facility's policy. His physician, in fact, was not told of the resident's condition until he was transferred to the hospital.

The hospital emergency department doctor described the resident as "severely emaciated, severely dehydrated and severely malnourished."

A Department-ordered plan of correction required the facility to review its policies regarding changes in a resident's condition and physician notification, to evaluate each resident's nutritional status to determine if increased nutritional support is needed and to train staff on the importance of recognizing symptoms of starvation and reporting these observations to the resident's physician.

Sheridan Health Care Center has requested a hearing on the Department's action. No hearing date has been scheduled.