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St. Johnland Nursing Center received 35 citations for violations of public health code between 2018 and 2022, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on May 6, 2022. The Kings Park nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of nine inspections by state surveyors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:
1. The nursing home did not effectively prevent accidents. Section 483.25 of the Federal Code stipulates that nursing homes must provide residents with adequate supervision to prevent accidents. A July 2020 citation found that St. Johnland Nursing Center failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes the facility’s failure to implement “an effective system in place to monitor and supervise residents at risk for elopement and unsafe wandering behaviors.” It goes on to describe a resident with a history of elopement whom facility staff “did not supervise… as directed,” and who subsequently “was able to pass two alarmed doors to successfully elope from the facility.” The resident was later found “approximately 2.8 miles away walking down the road.” The citation describes this deficiency as posing “Immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the termination of of a registered nurse responsible for providing the resident with enhanced supervision.
2. St. Johnland Nursing Center was also cited for accident prevention failures in January 2019. According to this citation, the nursing home did not ensure a resident “was adequately supervised to prevent an avoidable incident.” The incident in question involved the resident wandering into another resident’s room, hitting her with a shoe, and “aggressively” grabbing her wheelchair, “causing her to fall to the floor.” The latter resident was transferred to a local hospital and diagnosed with an unspecified injury. A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the disciplining and education of relevant staff.
3. The nursing home did not provide adequate quality of care. Under Section 483.25 of the Federal Code, nursing homes must ensure residents “treatment and care in accordance with professional standards of practice, the comprehensive person-centered care plan, and the residents’ choices.” An April 2021 citation found that St. Johnland Nursing Center failed to ensure such. The citation specifically describes an instance in which a resident was found suffering a grand mal seizure, and the nurses who responded to the incident “paged the RN supervisor twice so an RN assessment can be performed before initiating a call to EMS,” with the RN supervisor arriving 18 minutes after the seizure began. According to the citation, the facility’s physician “was not called until EMS was onsite,” and “The resident continued to seize during transfer to hospital and subsequently died at hospital the following day.” In an interview, the facility’s Director of Nursing said that “the staff should have called the MD and if the staff were unable to reach the MD, then they should have called 911.” A plan of correction undertaken by the facility included the suspension of staff who failed to timely respond to 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.
