Nursing home fined in choking death
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 7/29/2009 | Resource: MLG
Nursing home fined in choking death
“The patient called for his wife during lunch at Tustin Care Center.”
Tustin Care Center has been fined $50,000 by state health officials in the choking death of a nursing home resident.
The unidentified man died in March after choking on his lunch, according to an inspection report from the California Department of Public Health. The report says staff noticed the man had been growing weaker, but the facility still allowed him to eat regular meals on his own.
On the day of his death, the report says the man was eating soup with rice when he called for his wife, who was also a patient. The man struggled to breathe, and a nurse started the Heimlich maneuver but could not dislodge the food.
The man died later that day in a hospital. An autopsy found food completely blocking his trachea. The state report concludes that the nursing home failed to assess his ability to eat, which was a direct cause of his death.
In a call Tuesday to the nursing home, staff said the administrator was out for the day and no one else could comment.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com