A unbroken care house in suburban Des Moines, Iowa, has been fined $10,000 after a funeral house found a lady despatched to it in a physique bag was nonetheless alive.
The Iowa Division of Inspection and Appeals mentioned in a report filed Wednesday that the 66-year-old girl was declared lifeless on the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Particular Care Heart in Urbandale on Jan. 3.
The lady, whose identify has not been launched, had early onset dementia, nervousness and melancholy and had been in hospice care since Dec. 28.
She was positioned in a zipped physique bag and brought to the Ankeny Funeral Residence & Crematory, the place employees discovered that she was respiratory and known as 911, the report mentioned.
She was taken to Mercy West Lakes Hospital, the place she was respiratory however unresponsive. The lady was finally returned to hospice care, the place she died on Jan. 5 together with her household by her facet, in accordance with the report.
A Glen Oaks employees member who had labored a 12-hour shift and was on the crew caring for the girl advised investigators she first reported to a nurse practitioner early Jan. 3 that the girl was not respiratory and had no pulse.
The nurse practitioner who had cared for the girl all through the night time additionally was unable to discover a pulse and mentioned the girl was not respiratory. She continued to evaluate the girl for about 5 minutes earlier than figuring out the girl had died.
The lady was declared lifeless about 6:30 a.m., roughly 90 minutes after the employees member’s first report. A funeral house worker and a second nurse practitioner who put the girl into the physique bag and the funeral house’s automobile about an hour later additionally discovered no indicators of life, in accordance with the report.
The division of inspections and appeals discovered the care middle “failed to offer enough route to make sure applicable cares and companies had been offered” earlier than the girl was declared lifeless.
Lisa Eastman, govt director of the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Particular Care Heart, mentioned in an announcement that the middle cares deeply about its residents and stays dedicated to supporting end-of-life care.
“All of our staff are given common coaching in how finest to assist end-of-life care and the loss of life transition for our residents,” Eastman mentioned.
The Ankeny police division shouldn’t be pursuing legal fees, spokesperson Sgt. Corey Schneden advised The Des Moines Register.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reported in February 2022 that Glen Oaks had been fined $500 for failing to carry out the required background checks on staff. It discovered 5 employees had not acquired the required coaching to work in a memory-care facility.