California Nursing Home Fined in Resident Strangulation Death
We discussed the Convalescent Center and the tragic strangulation death of one of its residents at the hands of a facility employee in a previous blog.
According to a recent report issued by the California Department of Public Health, San Francisco Nursing Center, formerly known as Convalescent Center Mission Street, was assessed a "AA" citation, the most severe penalty available under California law, for failing to protect a resident from physical abuse by a member of the facility's staff and fined $100,000 after a March 2010 incident that led to the death of an elderly resident.
Reportedly, on March 22, 2010, Maximo Hong Fajardo, Jr., a newly hired CNA with no previous nursing home experience, was found holding a pillow over an 87-year-old resident's face, which led to her death. According to the recently released report, the Director of Nursing ignored warnings from facility nurses on the day of the incident that Fajardo was behaving strangely and the Administrator, Director of Nursing, and two experienced nurses "neglected to monitor, supervise, and evaluate" Fajardo and "failed to provide [the resident] the right to be free from deadly assault". Fajardo is currently in jail awaiting trial.
This is a tragic incident that should never have happened. Facility administrative staff should have thoroughly reviewed the background of Maxmio Fajardo before ever allowing him to come into contact with, much less care for, vulnerable elderly residents. According to the report issued by the California Department of Public Health, Fajardo was hired on March 9, 2010 and March 22, 2010 was his first day of work. Reportedly, on his first day of work, Fajardo, who had no experience in caring for vulnerable nursing home residents, was assigned to care for seven residents. According to the Director of Nursing, despite his lack of experience and training, "she thought he was ready for this assignment". We believe, this callous lack of due diligence and supervision on behalf of facility staff directly contributed to the resident's untimely death.
Far too often, nursing home companies hire people who are completely unqualified to care for our loved ones or fail to properly train their employees. It is not rocket science to know that a poorly trained or an unqualified individual could cause great harm to vulnerable elderly adults.
If you believe your loved one has been a victim of nursing home abuse or nursing home neglect, call our Illinois nursing home abuse lawyer at 1-888-317-2525 for a free consultation.
