Medication Error at Auburndale Nursing Home leads to Ban on Accepting New Diabetic Patients
Posted By
on Feb 4, 2011 5:37pm PST
According to an article in the Lakeland Ledger written by Robin Williams Adams, an Auburndale Nursing Home staff member gave a diabetic patient 1000 units of insulin instead of the 10 units that were ordered. The staff apparently told the resident' physician that the resident received a much smaller overdose. The resident died several hours later from the
medication error. It is unclear whether the facilities apparent misrepresentation played a role in the resident not receiving care that could have saved the resident's life. The same facility, Auburndale Oaks Health Care Center, was also cited by the State of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) for administration problems with another diabetic patient. As a result, AHCA has barred the facility from accepting new Diabetic residents until it can prove it will not continue to make similar mistakes in the future.
As a nursing home abuse lawyer, I have seen similar cases of
medicine mistake neglect. Unfortunately, I have also seen many attempts to cover up this type of overdose. In fact, I suspect that most of the time, staff can get away with similar acts of
nursing home neglect because the residents are often old, sick and at the end of their life expectancy. With this type of resident, no one even questions their death. Fortunately in this case the wrongdoing was discovered.