Patients Should Beware Milwaukee Nursing Home Errors
Filing error results in group home resident’s death in Brooklyn Park
On behalf of Milwaukee personal injury attorney Ric Domnitz of Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. posted in Nursing Home Abuse on Thursday, June 21, 2012.
Keeping patients’ medical records properly organized in nursing homes is a simple task, but an important one. If files get mixed up, mistakes can prove fatal.
In one recent incident, a resident of a group home was not resuscitated after he started to choke, resulting in his untimely death last March. A subsequent investigation of the tragedy revealed that staff members did not try to attempt to perform CPR on him because they were under the impression that there was a do-not-resuscitate order applicable to him.
While an ambulance was summoned to assist him, he was not placed in it. Staff reportedly told emergency personnel not to do CPR on him because of the DNR order. The management of the facility is being faulted by investigators, since the procedure for filing documents was apparently the reason for the confusion. Employees were looking at the DNR order for another patient.
All DNR orders for all patients were apparently placed in the same file at the home. Since the incident, the home has altered its procedures to establish separate files for each patient, with their DNR orders and other information concerning them to be consulted in an emergency.
The patient had been a resident of the nursing home for approximately two years. He suffered from advanced kidney failure as well as hypertension, requiring skilled care, according to reports.
Elderly and disabled residents of nursing homes are dependent on the quality of care they receive to maintain their health. It’s vitally important to avoid mistakes that could risk the lives of patients. If you need legal representation for a nursing home mistake, contact a Milwaukee personal injury attorney with Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. for a free consultation.
Source: Star Tribune, “Brooklyn Park group home is faulted in choking death,” Paul Walsh, June 13, 2012