Pelham Parkway Nursing Care and Rehabilitation Facility received 28 citations for violations of public health laws between 2015 and 2019, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on December 7, 2019. The Bronx nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of four inspections by state surveyors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not take adequate steps to prevent medication errors. Under Section 483.45 of the Federal Code, nursing homes must ensure that residents are kept “free of any significant medication terrors.” A February 2017 citation found that the nursing home failed to ensure residents were free of significant medication errors in an instance in which a resident’s tablets were crushed and mixed into food even though, a pharmacist consultant said in an interview, the medication “is not crushable because when it is crushed, it becomes an immediate release and the total dose is delivered faster.” The citation notes that when the medication becomes an immediate release, it risks causing a drop in blood pressure.
2. The nursing home did not properly implement its policies and procedures related to flu and pneumonia vaccinations. Section 483.80 of the Federal Code stipulates that before nursing homes offer residents flu and pneumonia vaccines, they must provide the resident or the resident’s representative with “education regarding the benefits and potential side effects of the immunization.” A February 2017 citation found that the nursing home did not ensure a resident received education before receiving the pneumonia vaccine. The resident told an inspector that he received the flu vaccine but did not remember receiving the pneumonia vaccine, and that although a nurse provided him with a consent form for the flu vaccine, he did not remember receiving education concerning the pneumonia vaccine’s risks or benefits. The citation states that facility records reflected that the resident received the pneumonia vaccine, however, the inspector found no documented evidence reflecting that the resident was educated before receiving it. The citation described this deficiency as resulting in the “potential to cause more than minimal harm.”
3. The nursing home did not sufficiently protect residents from accident hazards. Section 483.25 of the Federal Code states that nursing home facilities must maintain an environment as free as possible from accident hazards and that provide adequate supervision to protect residents from accidents. A July 2017 citation found that the nursing home did not take adequate measures to supervise a resident to prevent elopement. It specifically describes an instance in which the resident, who was admitted to the resident with dementia and was found to be at risk for elopement, had his whereabouts unaccounted for for a period of two hours. Even though staff were supposed to check on the resident every 30 minutes, he was able to exit the nursing home “unnoticed through the main entrance” and without staff knowledge. In an interview, the facility’s receptionist stated that she “thought he was a family member and she unlocked the door and let him leave the facility.”
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.
