Palatine Nursing Home received 29 citations for violations of public health code between 2018 and 2022, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on August 26, 2022. The Palatine Bridge nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of five inspections by state surveyors. The violations they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not adequately protect residents from sustaining accidents. Under Section 483.25 of the Federal Code, nursing homes are required to ensure residents receive an environment “as free of accident hazards as is possible” and in which employees provide “adequate supervision and assistance devices to prevent accidents.” A May 2021 citation found that Palatine Nursing Home failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes a resident identified as “at high risk for choking” whom the nursing home “did not ensure… was not kept in their room with the door closed.” It goes on to identify several instance in which the resident was left alone in their room with the door shut during meals. In an interview, the facility’s Director of Nursing said that the resident’s speech therapist had recommended the resident receive close supervision, and that letting them eat alone in their room was a choking hazard. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the education of nursing staff regarding the resident’s care plan for meals.
2. The nursing home did not undertake adequate measures to prevent infection. Section 483.80 of the Federal Code requires nursing homes to create and maintain “an infection prevention and control program” designed to stave off diseases and infections. A May 2021 citation found that Palatine Nursing Home failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes staff who did not “consistently” wear personal protective equipment before “direct contact with residents” in a unit on contact protections. It also describes a failure to prevent employees from performing hand hygiene “after assisting a resident to ambulate, after administering injectable medications, or after checking a blood glucose level, [or] before touching clean multi-resident areas.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the re-education of staff on hand hygiene.
3. The nursing home did not provide adequate pressure ulcer care. Under Section 483.25 of the Federal Code, nursing home facilities “must ensure that a resident who enters the facility without pressure sores does not develop pressure sores unless the individual’s clinical condition demonstrates that they were unavoidable.” A May 2021 citation found that Palatine Nursing Home failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes a resident identified as at risk for developing pressure ulcers for whom the facility “did not ensure interventions were developed and provided to prevent the development of pressure sores.” According to the citation, the resident later developed a pressure ulcer. In an interview, the facility’s Director of Nursing said that the resident should have had a plan in place before they developed the pressure ulcer, and that the lack of a plan “could have contributed to the pressure ulcer.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the education of all licensed nursing staff.
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.