http://www.bnd.com/living/health/story/438904.html
This is horrible. The actions of the nurses reported in this article make me disgusted. The fact that no mention is made of legal action being taken against the hospital for this angers me greatly. The onyl punishment that I read of was a cut in funding. Thoughts?
By LYNN BONNER
McClatchy Newspapers
RALEIGH, N.C. --Nurses at North Carolina's mental hospital in Goldsboro walked past a patient sitting in a chair for more than 22 hours without giving him food or helping him to the bathroom before he died, according to an investigative report released Monday.
The hospital's treatment of Steven H. Sabock, 50, who was found lifeless after a day without food, is one reason federal officials told state officials last week that they may stop sending federal money to Cherry Hospital, one of the state's four psychiatric hospitals.
The hospital's security video recorded Sabock's care from April 28, when he choked on his medicine while a nurse stood by without helping him, and through his day without food until his death from a heart problem. Health care technicians, according to the report, are seen on the recording watching television through the night, playing cards, and talking on a cell phone while they were in the room with Sabock.
Technicians could not get Sabock to walk back to his bed after his time sitting, so they stood him up, pushed a chair under him and slid Sabock down the hall toward his bedroom. The video showed a cart of emergency equipment being pushed down the hall about five minutes later.
According to the investigators' report, Sabock sat in a busy part of the hospital, called the day room, through four work shifts.
Sabock, who used to live in Roanoke Rapids in northeastern North Carolina, ate nothing the day he died, and very little during the three days prior to his death on April 29, according to the report. Investigators found no evidence that "the nursing staff had evaluated the patient's nutrition. The review revealed no nutritional consult was requested and revealed no evidence the physician was notified about the inadequate nutritional intake."
Investigators also found that the staff at Cherry did not respond properly to a teenager with developmental disabilities, Ricky Luciano, who got into a struggle with a doctor over a T-shirt. On April 28, Luciano bit a doctor, Ralph Berg, and the doctor punched Luciano in the back.
The hospital has about two weeks to come up with an improvement plan for investigators and try to persuade them to keep the money flowing.
Sabock's father, Nicholas, said in an interview Monday that he went to visit his son at Cherry Hospital soon after he was admitted. He said hospital staff turned him away without letting him see his son.
"They said he was lying down and didn't feel like talking," said Sabock, who lives in Virginia. "They wouldn't let me see him. I think he died that day."
Sabock's wife, Susan, said in a separate interview that she received a letter from the state saying "they found major negligence in his care." Sabock's wife, who also lives in Virginia, said she talked to a lawyer about the matter.
Efforts to reach Cherry Hospital director Jack St. Clair to discuss the investigation were unsuccessful.
Jim Osberg, the administrator in charge of state institutions, could not be reached Monday. He said last week that the hospital knew of the problem before investigators arrived in early August and was already working to fix it. Osberg said he did not know the details of Cherry's response to the problem.
The report says the hospital did its own investigation after Sabock died and found that some of the information in Sabock's treatment record was falsified.
Investigators cited several problems with Sabock's care at Cherry.
A video from the hospital's security cameras showed Sabock choking on his medicine April 28, falling backward and hitting his head on the medication room floor. The video showed a health care technician performing "abdominal thrusts" while Sabock was on the floor. A licensed practical nurse was there but did not help.
"I stood there and freaked out," the report quoted the nurse as saying. "I have not seen the Heimlich maneuver now in over 20 years. I couldn't see well or tell if he was injured by the fall."
The report does not identify hospital staff members.
Nurses failed to check Sabock afterward, and a registered nurse did not report Sabock's choking to a supervisor and delayed reporting it to the physician assistant, according to the report.
Sabock was helped to another room after he choked, where the health care technician who administered the Heimlich took his vital signs. The report says the technician stretched a cord from the vital signs machine across the room "while she appeared to be dancing." The technician "hugged or kissed" another technician "who was sitting at a table in the dayroom playing cards."
Sabock sat in a chair in the dayroom nearly 24 hours while "varying levels of staff" walked in and out, the report says.
A doctor had ordered hospital staff to give Sabock fluids every two hours and to check his vital signs every six hours, but his records show no evidence the orders were followed.
The report says the hospital failed to meet its own standards because a technician gave Sabock his medication and because nursing staff did not make sure he was eating and failed to prevent neglect.
) and took her profession seriously.