November 3, 1999
TWO SOUTHERN ILLINOIS NURSING HOMES FINED
SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined two southwestern Illinois nursing homes:
Castlehaven Care Center was fined $15,000 for two incidents regarding resident care: one involving physical and verbal abuse ($10,000) (Statement of Violation) and the other for inadequate supervision to prevent elopement ($5,000) (Statement of Violation).
Department investigators learned a staff member physically abused a 72-year-old resident several times and another staffer verbally abused the same resident. According to interviews with Castlehaven staff, a staff member struck the resident with an open hand and a closed fist several times, hit him on the head with a soup bowl, threw a ball at him, wrestled him to the ground, and pushed him into a room and shut the door. The resident suffered contusions and scratches. The facility staff who witnessed the altercations did not intervene and did not immediately report the incidents to the administrator. After the abuse, another staff member cursed the resident, taunted him about getting beat up and threatened him with harm. Both staffers members were later fired.
In another instance, a resident wandered unnoticed from Castlehaven Care Center in his stocking feet and was only determined to be missing after police picked up the man at a residence more than 500 feet from the facility. Department investigators discovered a door alarm had sounded but, when staff checked, they believed a resident standing nearby had set off the alarm. An initial survey of residents turned up no one missing but, after police called a second time, staff realized the man was gone.
Columbia Convalescent Center was fined $10,000 (Statement of Violation) for failure to provide care in a manner to prevent injuries and for not immediately informing a resident’s physician of an injury. Responding to a complaint, Department surveyors learned a 96-year-old resident had fallen over while sitting on her bed and hit her head on the footboard. The staff member who was present helping the resident dress did not report the incident to anyone and, when asked about it, denied knowing how the resident’s face had been bruised and why her eye was swollen.
Approximately four hours passed before staff attempted to contact the woman’s physician. Her doctor ordered the woman transferred to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a hemorrhage to the left eye and a loss of vision. The physician told Department surveyors prompt examination and treatment would have resulted in a better outcome.
In addition to the eye injury, the resident also had two skin tears on her arm. The injury was caused by the prongs of a ring the staffer was wearing that caught on the woman’s skin. The staffer cleaned the wounds and noted the injury in the resident’s chart.
Castlehaven Care Center and Columbia Convalescent Center have requested hearings on the Department’s actions. No hearing dates have been set.
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Illinois Department
of Public Health 535 West Jefferson Street Springfield, Illinois 62761 Phone 217-782-4977 Fax 217-782-3987 TTY 800-547-0466 Questions or Comments |