Veteran in State Home Badly Injured

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A dementia patient in a state veterans home was severely injured when he drank highly toxic drain cleaner that had been left unattended in a hallway by a maintenance worker at the facility.
According to a report from the state Health Department, the resident at the Southwest Veterans Center in Pittsburgh, drank from a bottle of Drain Rocket that had been left on a maintenance cart in the hallway of the home's dementia unit.
"The facility failed to make certain that residents were protected from an unsafe chemical," the report states. The resident was taken to the Veterans Hospital on Feb. 26 where he had to be placed in a chemically induced coma and intubated. He was still in the hospital when the March 5 health department report was written.
The chlorinated drain cleaner was highly toxic, the state surveyors reported. The patient, who had been diagnosed with non-Alzheimers dementia and depression, had been admitted to the 236-bed facility on Nov. 27, 2018 and had a long history of taking food from other patients' trays and stuffing it in his underwear and shoes.
"Resident is not able to be redirected or deterred from this behavior," the report states citing nursing home records.
"Resident becomes incredibly aggressive and agitated if staff members attempt to assist him to rid his clothing and chair of these collected items," according to report.
"Resident had several episodes of aggression towards staff," the report continues. Using surveillance footage the state surveyors were able to see the patient take the drain cleaner from the cart.
At 2:44 p.m., the report states, the patient took the bottle and drank from it. He immediately yelled for help and spat on the floor and later began to vomit.
He was taken to the Veterans Administration hospital where he was placed in a coma. According to the report the maintainence employee later acknowledged leaving the drain cleaner unsecured on his cart while he went into a patient's room.
Following the incident, employees of the nursing home made a sweep of the facility to find any other unsecured chemicals and maintenance carts were checked to make sure they were equipped with locked compartments where drain cleaner and other toxic chemicals could be secured, the report states.
In its plan of correction, the nursing home officials said a re-education program was instituted. A private firm, Affinity Health, was hired to conduct the training, according to the report.
Official of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which runs the state veterans homes, said patient confidentiality rules barred them from disclosing whether the injured veteran recovered.
Joan Nissley, an agency spokeswoman, said the corrective action plan had been fully implemented.
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