A Tucson nursing home has agreed to pay a state fine after an investigation found several civil violations, including nearly a month’s delay in getting a resident treatment for a skin problem that turned into a serious pressure sore.State investigators found a total of 16 violations of state and federal rules and regulations governing long-term care at Devon Gables, 6150 E. Grant Road.Among other things, the state says Devon Gables staff did not immediately consult a physician about a resident’s dark and reddened skin, which was rubbing against a wheelchair pedal. The resident ended up developing an infection that was serious enough to require hospitalization.The Arizona Department of Health Services, which licenses nursing homes fines facilities a maximum of $500 per day for violations.Other incidents cited in the state’s report: The staff gave a narcotic drug to a resident who was documented as being allergic to narcotics.Also, Olympia, Wash., resident Maureen Lutz says she filed a complaint against the facility in mid-May, after her 81-year-old mother was a resident there for several months following knee surgery in January. Lutz said the staff at the facility incorrectly told her family that her mother was suffering signs of dementia. She ended up moving her mother to a different facility, where she is recovering and expected to return to living on her own, driving her own car and doing water aerobics — all things she’d been doing before her surgery.Adapted from ARIZONA DAILY STAR – Published: 07.19.2009

July 20, 2009