2 residents killed after wandering away from facility

Here is an article about a tragic case where a nursing home failed to supervise residents who ended up walking away from the facility and was killed in a car accident.  For the second time in six weeks, a resident of the Dover Woods health care facility has been struck and killed by a car. 

Township officials expressed frustration at their inability to come to an agreement over safety measures for the facility's residents with its owners, the Erez Health Care Realty Company LLC of Lakewood.

A meeting had been scheduled for mid-January, but it was canceled it because the company wanted its corporate defense lawyer to appear. No new date has been scheduled.   The facility doers not seem concerned that two of their residents have died as a result of their failure to properly supervise their residents as they are required and paid to do.

In December, police were called to Dover Woods for more than 37 incidents ranging from residents wandering along the highways picking up cigarette butts to the harassment of customers at a nearby shopping center.   The Police Department has responded to the facility 27 times this year.

Poor conditions at another nursing home revealed

Poor conditions at a Tn nursing home prompted the state to prohibit the facility from admitting new patients.   The state suspended any new patients from being admitted to the Cornelia House.

A State Health Department review paints a different picture, detailing a successful escape this past April, in which a patient with dementia walked out a smoking door and was found down the street. 

Cornelia House is banned from admitting new residents because staff just can't keep patients from wandering outside. The state said residents there are in "immediate jeopardy."

"There are specific things that are supposed to be done to prevent patients from running away, and those haven't been done. So, all of these deficiencies have to do with operational issues," said Andrea Turner, TN Department of Health.

State inspectors also cite inadequate resident care plans, and failure by the staff to keep patients with feeding tubes from choking.   The state issued penalties in February of 2003, March of 2004, February of 2005, and August of 2006.

See article here.

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