Between 2014 and 2018 Beach Gardens Rehab and Nursing Center in Queens, New York received 92 complaints by its residents and 19 citations by the New York Department of Health. The Department of Health inspects all nursing homes throughout the state every 9 to 15 months to ensure their compliance with all laws regulating nursing homes and the treatment of their residents. These are several of the citations the Queens nursing home received over the last few years:
1. The nursing home failed to prevent pressure ulcers or bed sores.
Beach Gardens Rehab and Nursing Center received a citation in June 2017 for failing to prevent its residents from receiving pressure ulcers. Under Section 483.25(c) of the Federal Code, all nursing homes must “ensure that a resident who enters the facility without pressure sores does not develop pressure sores…” Further, if a resident does have pressure sores then the nursing home is obligated to provide “necessary treatment to promote healing, prevent infection and prevent new sores from developing.” In this instance, the New York Health inspector randomly sampled three residents at the facility that had not entered with pressure ulcers. According to the inspector, one of these residents later developed a pressure ulcer on their left heel after the nursing home failed to use preventative measures, despite documentation that the resident posed a moderate risk for pressure ulcers.
2. The nursing home failed to keep its resident’s drug regimen free from unnecessary drugs.
Section 483.25(I) of the Federal Code requires that all nursing home residents drug regimen be free of unnecessary drugs, which includes drugs in an “excessive dose, or for an excessive duration, or without adequate monitoring, or without adequate indications for its use, or in the presence of adverse consequences which indicate the dose should be reduced or discontinued, or any combination of the reasons above.” After checking the health records of three random residents, the health inspector noted that one resident maintained the same dose of antidepressants and anti-psychotic medication for an entire year despite “no psychotic, mood, depressive or behavioral features” present since 2012. According to the health inspector, the nursing home had a legal obligation to its resident to gradually reduce the dosage of these medications, especially because there were several notable side effects.
3. The nursing home did not provide sufficient treatment for hearing and vision loss.
All nursing homes in New York are obligated to provide “proper treatment and assistive devices to maintain vision and hearing abilities.” According to the New York Health inspector, three of the four residents selected randomly were not being properly treated for their hearing or vision loss. In one instance, an Ophthalmologist recommended the resident to see an Ophthalmologist, and the nursing home neglected to set up an appointment. In another instance, the nursing home did not take a resident to a follow-up appointment. In the third example cited by the New York Health Department, a resident had never been evaluated for hearing or vision problems.
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