Nursing Home Agrees to Pay Fine Over Care

Camarillo Convalescent Hospital has agreed in an out-of-court settlement to pay a $5,250 fine for problems with administration and patient care, a state attorney said Thursday.

On the eve of a jury trial in Ventura County Municipal Court, officials acknowledged that there was probable cause for the state Department of Health Services to issue three citations against the facility, said John Venegas, the deputy district attorney general handling the case.

Thomas Paine Dunlap, the hospital’s attorney, said Thursday that the hospital decided not to fight the citations because it would be less expensive to pay the fine than court costs.

“We had a meritorious defense, and we would have prevailed,” he said.

The trial was scheduled to start last week.

Since January, the facility has been cited nine times and fined $30,000 for problems with care and management, more than any other nursing home in the county.

Margaret Devoir, director of the facility, could not be reached for comment.

According to Venegas, the problems leading to the settlement include:

* Water not readily available to patients. State inspectors found that many patients had no water pitchers or drinking glasses at their bedsides.

* Hospital officials were not at the facility “a sufficient number of hours to permit adequate attention . . . (to) management.”

* Various nursing deficiencies. In one case, water was not placed within reach of a blind patient. Another patient taking lithium was not given enough water. A diabetic woman was fed after her scheduled time.

Other alleged problems this year still pending:

* A 79-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease wandered away from the facility and broke his leg. His health continued to deteriorate, and he died several days later.

* Two patients developed advanced bedsores. In one case, the staff “failed to identify . . . the ulcer until it became black and necrotic.”

* The staff failed to provide insulin to a patient at the scheduled time. Although the patient did not become ill, she could have gone into a diabetic coma, state officials said. Also, the patient was moved to another room without the consent of her family.

* One patient said she had been struck in the legs by a staff member, and state investigators said they observed red marks on the woman’s legs.

Overall, there have been 38 complaints against the facility this year, although some have been declared unfounded by state health investigators, Venegas said. A citation can include several complaints.

Hospital officials have defended the facility, saying many of the citations stem from the complaints of one family whose members expect more than the convalescent hospital is able to provide. They say they do not have a problem with patient care.

Venegas, however, disagreed.

“The fact that you have 38 complaints from a number of families . . . there is something wrong,” he said.