St. Cabrini Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry, New York received 45 citations for violations of public health law between 2015 and 2019, according to state records accessed on November 2, 2019. The citations were issued by the New York State Department of Health, the public entity responsible for enforcing nursing home safety standards, and resulted from six inspections by state surveyors. The violations described by the Department of Health include the following:
1. The nursing home did not ensure the competency of nursing staff. A citation issued in April 2019 described St. Cabrini Nursing Home’s failure to ensure a Certified Nursing Assistant “demonstrated competency in dealing with a confrontational/difficult situation involving the CNA and one resident reviewed for abuse.” Section 483.35 of the Federal Code requires that nursing staff have “appropriate competencies and skills sets to provide nursing and related services to assure resident safety and attain or maintain the highest practicable… well-being of each resident.” In this instance, however, authorities found that the CNA did not properly “communicate or respond” to the conduct of the resident in question, so as to keep circumstances from escalating. The Department of Health’s findings go on to describe a confrontation between two roommates that led to the CNA pushing the resident’s face, which the CNA denied. The CNA was suspended following this incident and later told authorities that “she could have spoken to the resident using different words to be less confrontational.”
2. The nursing home did not ensure residents were free from abuse and neglect. Under Section 483.12 of the Federal Code, nursing homes are required to guarantee their residents’ “right to be free from abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property, and exploitation.” An October 2018 citation describes St. Cabrini Nursing Home’s failure to ensure the provision of a “safe and abuse-free environment” for three residents of five reviewed during an inspection. It specifically describes two incidents in which one resident grabbed two others by the neck, “causing redness,” and in which that resident pushed another “with her walker against the wall.” The inspector found “no documented evidence” that the nursing home had established measures to prevent such abuses from occurring again in the future.
3. The nursing home did not provide treatment and services adequate to prevent and heal pressure ulcers. Section 483.25 requires nursing home facilities to ensure that residents receive care and services to prevent the development of pressure ulcers, and to provide residents with pressure ulcers necessary treatment and services to promote healing and prevent infection or new ulcers. An August 2017 survey found that St. Cabrini’s Nursing Home did not provide proper care and treatment for one of three residents reviewed for pressure ulcers. An inspector found specifically that the facility did not consistently apply bilateral heel boots to promote healing and/or prevent the development of additional pressure ulcers on that resident’s heels. The resident in question was “high risk for developing pressure ulcers” and already had three ulcers upon admission to the facility, according to the inspector’s findings; although that resident’s heels were wrapped with bandages, the inspector found, their heel boots were next to the television rather than on their heels.
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.
