Neglect leads to choking death
The San Jose Mercury News had an article about an $80,000 fine against Homewood Care Center for failing "to provide the necessary services to prevent harm when staff failed to promptly respond to a life-threatening situation involving" a resident. The facility was given a "AA" citation, the most severe penalty under state law, after a state investigation determined that a nurse's failure to perform the Heimlich maneuver on a patient resulted in his death.
According to the article, the man's medical record indicated that he was admitted to the facility with diagnoses including Alzheimer's and dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing. The man was assessed as a high risk for aspiration (the entry of secretions into the trachea and lungs) due to difficulty of swallowing. The facility was clearly on notice that the resident may choke.
At 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 24, 2009, a certified nurse assistant was feeding the man his dinner of puréed food when he began coughing. The man gasped for air and became distressed. Although staff members knew the man was choking on food, no immediate attempt was made to perform abdominal thrusts to clear his airway.
The facility also failed to promptly call 911. Though staff told investigators they called emergency dispatchers at 5:30 p.m., records indicate the call was received at 5:49 p.m., an unreasonable delay of about 19 minutes. The man was already dead when paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead at 6:09 p.m.
Until January, Homewood Care Center was owned by Jack Easterday, who in 2007 was convicted of 107 felony counts of willful failure to pay employment taxes owed to the government. Easterday withheld more than $9.6 million in payroll taxes from employees' checks from 1998 to 2005. He was sentenced to 21/2 years in federal prison and $8.71 million in restitution. Easterday was the sole shareholder of Westline Medical Management, which owns Homewood and seven other nursing homes in the state.