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VA GIVES TIMETABLE ON CARE PROBLEMS AT
ASHEVILLE
FACILITY -- Hospice patients not accepted for
eight months after 2004 investigation.
Asheville VA
Background here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf033007-7.htm
Story here...
http://charlotte.com/217/story/68325.html
Story below:
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VA gives timetable on care problems
Hospice patients not accepted for 8 months
after '04 investigation
STELLA M. HOPKINS
shopkins@charlotteobserver.com
The Asheville veterans hospital didn't fully resume accepting nursing
home patients for about eight months after suspending admissions in 2004
when VA investigators found serious care problems.
The hospital's 120-bed nursing home unit began allowing limited
admissions on Dec. 28, 2004. That was 11 days after Veterans Affairs
officials told it to stop taking patients because of problems, including
a patient's death.
Throughout 2005, admissions resumed. But the hospital didn't accept new
hospice patients until August, a VA spokeswoman said Thursday after
researching Observer questions from Wednesday.
Pain relief is a key part of hospice care. Investigators said nursing
home workers didn't give seriously ill patients enough pain medication
and didn't know how to care for the dying.
"No one was fired because no one was deemed incompetent, and there was
no malicious intent," VA spokeswoman Adrien Creecy-Starks said. There
was disciplinary action, but she didn't provide details, citing employee
privacy rights. The medical director for the nursing home care unit also
was reassigned "to other duties," she said. "VA reviews all unfortunate
incidents ... in hopes of avoiding repeat situations."
Investigators closed the case in December 2005. Results of a follow-up
inspection last October were favorable, she said.
This is the second N.C. veterans hospital at which the Observer has
found problems with patient care. Congressional hearings are planned for
mid-April on care problems at the Salisbury veterans hospital.
Investigators at the Asheville hospital had focused on four patients.
Three didn't receive enough pain medication, and one died after an
untrained worker drained fluid from his abdomen. The employee who did
the procedure, a physician assistant, was not "appropriately
supervised," the report said.
The draining procedures are now performed by doctors, and nurses have
had training on caring for the patients, Creecy-Starks said. Other steps
taken include:
• Establishing a pain management team to better treat patients with
severe chronic pain.
• Training staff in "end of life care."
• Creating a team to help veterans and understand treatment options for
dying patients.
• Adding employees.
Stella M. Hopkins: 704-358-5173
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Larry Scott --
