The Paramount at Somers 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 facility was also the subject of a 2012 fine of $14,000 in connection to alleged violations of New York Code sections concerning nursing home residents’ right to be notified of their rights, rules, services, and charges; administrative practices and procedures; and nursing home facility medical directors. The Somers nursing home’s citations resulted from a total of six inspections by state surveyors. The deficiencies they describe include the following:
1. The facility did not ensure residents were provided with an environment free of accident hazards. Under Section 483.25 of the Federal Code, nursing home facilities are required to maintain an environment as free as possible from accident hazards, with adequate supervision and assistive devices to prevent residents from sustaining accidents. An October 2018 citation found The Paramount did not provide frequent room checks and supervision of a resident who “had numerous falls in her room without injury.” The citation states that the resident’s care plan included frequent room checks as an intervention method to prevent falls, but such checks were not implemented, and the facility “did not determine if frequent checks were conducted or a potential contributory factor to the accident.”
2. The nursing home did not take adequate steps to prevent and control infection. Section 483.80 of the Federal Code stipulates that nursing home facilities must “establish and maintain an infection prevention and control program” that creates a safe and sanitary environment for residents. A February 2019 citation found that facility did not ensure staff followed proper hand hygiene so as to prevent infection. An inspector specifically observed a failure by staff to perform proper hand hygiene while feeding residents at mealtime and assisting residents with feeding. The inspector also observed a staff member change the dressing on a resident’s wound and then lift a “sterile dressing instrument package” without putting on new gloves or washing her hands after discarding the resident’s soiled wound dressing.
3. The nursing home did not provide services that met professional quality standards. Section 483.20 of the Federal Code states that nursing home facilities must provide or arrange services that “meet professional standards of quality.” A March 2016 citation found that The Paramount failed in this capacity in connection to one resident. The citation states specifically that a physician did not follow up on blood work orders, “which he ordered 5 times before the resident’s death,” and that an attending physician had not been informed by staff about “the resident’s poor fluid intake or the critical blood results.”
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.