King David Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation received 44 citations for violations of public health code between 2015 and 2019, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on January 16, 2020. The Brooklyn nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of five surveys by state inspectors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not ensure resident drug regimens were free from unnecessary drugs. Section 483.45 of the Federal Code requires nursing homes to keep “each resident’s drug regimen… free from unnecessary drugs,” including drugs used in excessive duration and/or without adequate monitoring. An April 2019 citation found that King David Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation did not monitor a resident receiving anticoagulant therapy injections for symptoms and side effects of such. The citation notes specifically that the resident informed staff he had “bruising all along [the] lower quadrant of his stomach” and that he receives bruising whenever he receives the anticoagulant injections. The citation also states that notes kept by staff who administered the medication did not contain any documentation of the resident’s skin discoloration or bruising. In an interview, the resident’s MD stated that he would begin documenting the bruises, although he said they were not a cause for major concern.
2. The nursing home did not provide residents with a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment. Section 483.10 of the Federal Code stipulates that nursing home residents have a right to a safe, clean, comfortable, and homelike environment. An April 2019 citation found that the nursing home did not ensure such, specifically observing that 6 resident rooms with “various signs of disrepair.” These signs included a room with cracked and broken wood along its entrance wall; rusted paint on an air conditioner cover; peeling and faded paint under a bathroom sink; faded paint on an air conditioner cover that was improperly affixed to the room’s wall; windows taped shut with duct tape; a fist-sized hole in a bathroom door; and a radiator that was not affixed to the wall. The citation states that these deficiencies had “potential to cause more than minimal harm.”
3. The nursing home did not maintain sufficiently low medication error rates. Section 483.45 of the Federal Code requires nursing homes to maintain medication error rates below five percent. A July 2017 citation found that King David Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation did not maintain low enough medication error rates, specifically finding that a Licensed Practical Nurse “omitted” two of a resident’s prescribed medications and “did not instill” eye drops to the resident’s “conjunctival sac,” instead administering them to the resident’s lower eyelids and patting the solution dry even though it had not come into contact with the resident’s conjunctival sac in either eye. According to the citation, the LPN stated that she believed the supply of omitted medications had been “exhausted.” A Registered Nurse Supervisor stated in an interview that the medications were not reported as missing.
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.
