Pennsylvania Facility Deaths Prompt Downgrade
In a previous blog, we discussed The Village at Luther Square and the problems that were occurring at the facility. On Thursday, August 21, 2008, The Village at Luther Square's license was downgraded to provisional. Further compliance issues or more deficiencies could cause the state to levy more penalities, such as prevention of participation in Medicare or Medicaid programs or revocation of the facility license.
The latest in the series of problems at the facility occurred in early July, two days apart. On July 6, 2008, a resident tipped over in a wheelchair and suffered a ruptured blood vessel in the brain and a fractured neck. The resident died the next day. Tragically, the facility staff did not use an anti-tipping device on the wheelchair and the "nursing staff failed to assess the safety of applying a waist restraint".
On July 8, 2008, a resident fell forward from a wheelchair and struck their head on the floor. Stitches were required to close the wound and the patient suffered a closed-head injury and possible concussion. Earlier that day, the resident's physician had ordered the nursing staff to reapply a waist restraint, but the order was disobeyed.
