Alice Hyde Medical Center received 29 citations for violations of public health code between 2018 and 2022, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on September 5, 2022. The Malone nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of 5 inspections by state surveyors. The violations they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not adequately prevent accidents. Section 483.25 of the Federal Code ensures nursing home residents the right to environments as free as possible of accident hazards, with adequate supervision to prevent them from sustaining accidents. A March 2022 citation found that Alice Hyde Medical Center failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes an incident in which staff failed to check whether a resident had gone outside, and in which the facility’s door alarm system did not identify which door had been opened. As such, the citation states, a resident “left the facility undetected by staff and was located outside.” The resident is described by the citation was cognitively impaired and independently mobile, but identified by the facility as at low risk for elopement. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included an updated elopement risk assessment of the resident, whose care plan was updated.
2. Alice Hyde Medical Center was also cited for accident-prevention failures in a July 2021 citation. In this instance, according to state health surveyors, facility staff did not adequately ensure a resident received necessary supervision and assistance devices to prevent accidents. They specifically failed to fasten a leg strap around a resident’s legs while transferring them with a sit-to-stand lift, according to the citation. As such, “the resident’s legs buckled,” and they were admitted to a local hospital with a redacted condition. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the re-education of all staff to ensure their competency using lifts.
3. Alice Hyde Medical Center was cited for accident-prevention deficiencies in November 2018 as well. According to this citation, the nursing home “did not ensure that all staff were educated on what keep safe meant.” As such, the citation states, the facility did not properly supervise a resident who was exhibiting unsafe behaviors, and the resident subsequently fell unwitnessed and sustained “a 2 centimeter laceration to the back of her head requiring 8 staple[s] to close.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the updating of the resident’s care plan to include one-on-one supervision “during acute episodes.”
The attorneys at the Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC work diligently to protect the rights of nursing home residents. Please contact us to discuss in the event you have a potential case involving neglect or abuse.