Minnesota Nursing Home Cited in Resident Death
A Columbia Heights nursing home facility was cited by the Minnesota Department of Health after an investigation into a July 31, 2009 resident death determined that neglect on the part of the facility attributed to the resident's death.
According to a state report just released, a male admitted to Crest View Lutheran Home on July 30, 2009 for rehab was found not breathing at 5:30 a.m. on July 31, 2009. The man's body was warm, but he was not breathing and had no pulse. An LPN and her nurse supervisor were not aware of resuscitation orders for the resident, so no one tried to revive him. The resident was "full code" and resuscitation efforts should have begun immediately.
At 7:00 a.m., the man's wife and family had gathered at Crest View. The family heard sirens and suddenly the fire department rescue squad entered the man's room - two hours after he died. A day-shift supervisor called for help when she came in and discovered the situation.
The facility was cited for neglect by the state in failing to promptly try to revive and three rule violations were assessed against the facility in connection with the confusion, failure to take action, and lack of emergency training for workers.
Crest View has been one of four Minnesota nursing home facilities on the federal Special Focus Facilities list, which is a list of approximately 156 facilities nationally that have repeated or multiple serious rule violations. Crest View was placed on the list on March 2 and has been cited for 58 violations since January 2008 (the state average is nine per inspection). It will take two good inspection cycles for the facility to be removed from the list.
