Falsifying Medical Records
Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel had an article about the horrible care and fraudulent documentation at Mount Carmel Health and Rehabilitation including 35 violations of regulations for minimum care. "Records also show, however, that the 35 citations issued so far this year to Mount Carmel are close to the 40 citations issued in all of 2009 and more than the 25 issued in 2008, according to the state Department of Health Services."
Staff at the state's largest nursing home recorded on charts that a 41-year-old brain-damaged resident was in his bed watching TV when he was sitting in jail. The man spent five days in custody, Staff had continued to mark on charts that he was at the facility through the night and into the morning of May 17.
The man wandered away from Mount Carmel and was arrested for "prowling" more than four miles away. The nursing home was aware that he was a wandering risk and were ordered by phyisicians to check on him every 15 minutes. The other violations cited this year include failing to communicate with a recent amputee and failing to provide for five residents at risk of falling, including one who was hospitalized for a broken jaw after falling out of his wheelchair.
Licensed for 473 beds, Mount Carmel is the largest of the 397 nursing homes in Wisconsin, according to the Department of Health Services. In January 2009, Kindred Health Care, a Louisville, Ky., for-profit company resumed operation of Mount Carmel. After operating with a probationary license for one year, Kindred was given a full license in January of this year.
The citations issued this year include two identifying "actual harm" to residents and five for violations that constitute a "direct threat to health, safety and welfare," state records show.
Other citations
Among other things, Mount Carmel was accused of:
• Failing to provide appropriate supervision and assistive devices to five out of 10 residents identified by Mount Carmel as being at risk for falls.
Three of the five had fallen since last December, including one who suffered a broken jaw and an eye socket "blowout." A hospital that treated the woman reported the incident to the state but Mount Carmel, which was required to report the incident, did not.
• Failing to assess and treat pain, depression and other problems experienced by a 51-year-old woman.
• Sixteen of 32 residents reviewed were not treated "in a manner that maintained their dignity."
Two were kept in a small alcove near an exit; at least six were kept in an old nursing station or in a hallway for extended periods; and an incontinent resident said staff turned off his call light four times after he sounded it and had a bowel movement before any staff took him to the toilet.
The September inspection also found that after a resident complained of hip pain, Mount Carmel did not notify a physician for two hours and 15 minutes. The doctor ordered an X-ray, but the order was not relayed by a nurse for 2 1/2 hours. The X-ray revealed a broken hip.
The article had a Summary of violations Mount Carmel Health and Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield was cited for 35 state and federal violations so far this year. Among them:
March 2010: A 51-year-old resident who had her right leg amputated below the knee in December 2009 did not have staples removed as of March and no adequate assessment or treatment of the resident's "phantom pain" in the leg had been done.
Mount Carmel also was cited for failing to communicate with the resident, who did not speak English, in Spanish. Among other things, staff was not aware that the resident experienced phantom pain and that she had been dropped by staff. A registered nurse told an investigator she didn't need a Spanish interpreter because relied on documents and the resident's gestures and facial expressions.
Also in March, an investigator found that 16 of 32 residents reviewed were not treated "in a manner that maintained their dignity." Two had been transported in shower chairs with bare legs or buttocks exposed; two were kept in a small alcove near an exit; at least six were kept in an old nursing station or in a hallway for extended periods; an incontinent resident said staff turned off his call light four times after he sounded it and had a bowel movement before any staff took him to the toilet.
January 2010: A federal investigator finds that, going back to December, five out of 10 residents identified by Mount Carmel as being at risk for falls did not receive appropriate supervision and assistive devices, and that three of them fell. A 92-year-old resident who needed supervision was dropped off at a medical appointment by herself. .
Dec. 3, 2009: A resident who lacks the ability to move in bed, is found on the floor next to her bed. She suffers a broken jaw and an eye socket "blowout," according to a federal investigator. The hospital reported the injuries to the state Office of Caregiver Quality, but Mount Carmel, which is required to make a report, did not. When the investigator asked a Mount Carmel administrator on Jan. 11, five weeks after the incident, whether Mount Carmel had reported the incident to the state, the administrator said no report had been made because Mount Carmel "felt they knew how the incident occurred."
Nov. 5, 2009: Resident suffers laceration to left palm requiring sutures in a hospital emergency room. Hospital reports the injury to the state, but Mount Carmel did not. Mount Carmel could not determine how the incident occurred.
