Troubled PA Vet Home Cited Again

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The state run nursing home for veterans where 42 residents died in a Covid 19 outbreak has been cited for failing to properly monitor a patient who had told staffers he simply wanted to die.
A report on the Southeastern Veterans Center in Spring City concluded that the facility "failed to adequately monitor one of one residents reviewed who had expressed a death wish and had a history of suicidal ideation."
The 238-bed facility in suburban Philadelphia has been the subject of prior highly critical inspection reports based on the mishandling of the deadly Spring coronavirus outbreak.
The new report, dated July 23, states that the unnamed male patient had been re-admitted to the veterans center from a local hospital suffering from dementia and coronary artery disease.
The patient had "a documented history of expressing a desire to hurt himself," the report states, adding that a staff member reported that the patient had just stated a desire to hurt himself.
A review of facility records by state surveyors showed no documentary evidence that many of the 15 minute checks on the suicidal patient which had been ordered were actually performed.
No 15 minute checks were documented from 7:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. on July 12. The same was true from 3 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.on July 13. And on July 14 and July 15 the 15 minute checks were completely undocumented on all three shifts.
The facility administrators filed a plan of correction in which they stated that the patient had been re-evaluated by an outside consultant "and new orders were received. He has no suicidal ideations with a formulated plan currently."
The plan also calls for staff re-education on the requirements for a one-to-one watch on a suicidal patient.
The state Health Department surveyors, meanwhile, have made spot checks at the five other state veterans homes and found them in compliance with state and federal requirements for the handling of Covid-19 cases.
One other facility, the Delaware Valley Veterans Center in Philadelphia, has reported 13 Covid-19 deaths.
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