This week’s news contains two bad reports on nursing home care in our neighboring state of North Carolina. First, the Charlotte Observer reported that the conditions at Carolina Medical Center – Union Smith Nursing Center in Monroe, NC constituted “immediate jeopardy to resident health and safety.” State officials conducted an investigation of the facility after a 90 year old resident died after slipping between her bed mattress and bed rail. This blog has previously discussed the dangers of bed rails.
The second bit of bad news comes from the Wilmington Star newspaper. The paper reported that a veterans hospital in western North Carolina (Asheville) was told to stop admitting nursing home patients in 2004 after federal investigators found serious care problems, including a patient who died after an untrained worker removed fluid from his abdomen.
Read the story from the Charlotte Observer.
Read the story from the Wilmington Star.