Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital suffered 28 confirmed and 1 presumed COVID-19 deaths as of January 2, 2021, according to state records. The nursing home has also received 36 citations for violations of public health code between 2016 and 2020, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on January 2, 2020. The Bath nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of six surveys by state inspectors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not adequately protect residents from accident hazards. Section 483.25 of the Federal Code requires nursing homes to ensure that resident environments are kept “as free of accident hazards as is possible” and that staff provide residents with “adequate supervision… to prevent accidents.” An April 2019 citation found that Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital failed to ensure such. The citation states specifically that one resident was not provided with sufficient protection from accidents and subsequently suffered a fall with injury. It a section describing the incident in question, the citation states that “the resident was walking in the hall, lost her balance, and fell to the floor hitting her head and sustaining a goose egg to her left forehead.” The registered nurse who documented the fall wrote that there were no fall protections in place for the resident. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the revision of her care plan “include the presence of safety devices, ambulation changed to assist of one due to presence of illness and 15 min checks instituted.”
2. The nursing home did not adequately protect residents from abuse. Under Section 483.12 of the Federal Code, nursing home residents are guaranteed the right “to be free from abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property, and exploitation.” A May 2018 citation found that Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital did not ensure such for one resident. The citation states specifically that a Certified Nursing Assistant hit a resident on the resident’s left thigh after the resident grabbed the CNA’s hair. According to the citation, the facility’s policies forbade abuse, and the CNA had received abuse training. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the termination of the CNA.
3. An April 2017 citation also found that Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital failed to protect residents from abuse in accordance with Section 483.12 of the Federal Code. This citation states that the facility’s staff “failed to report immediately verbal and/or physical abuse to the administration or designated representation.” The citation goes on to describe a nurse who delayed reporting her observation of a resident sitting in a chair “wrapped with a roll of plastic bags, secured to the chair with his arms also wrapped.” The nurse told a Certified Nursing Assistant “that this was inappropriate and to unwrap the resident.” The citation later describes an incident in which a CNA “flicked the resident on the head,” and did not report it when it happened. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the suspension one staffer involved in the incident and the termination of the nurse who did not report the incident.
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.
