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Facility progress notes showed: R1 maintained stable body weight for a period. They were 181 lbs. on 11/06/2019, 180 lbs. on 12/31/2019, 182 lbs. on 02/27/2020, and 189.6 lbs. on 03/30/2020. Thereafter, Licensee’s staff stopped routinely weighing R1. On 11/08/2020, an outside hospice agency independently weighed R1 at 143 lbs., as documented in its own admissions assessment. On 11/10/2020, R1’s family member alerted facility management to R1’s weight loss, and not the other way around. Management interview and facility progress notes did not show that facility staff were earlier cognizant of R1’s significant weight loss, or that Licensee’s staff reported it to either R1’s responsible person or R1’s primary care physician. According to R1’s LIC602 Physician’s Report and care plan, and corroborated by staff and outside source interviews, R1 continuously relied on staff for help with bathing and dressing during the complaint allegation time-period.
Per interview of facility management, Licensee ordinarily aimed to weigh each resident monthly, but this practice was stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic due to concerns about cross-contamination via shared medical equipment. According to the published COVID-19 guidance (active during the complaint period) from San Diego County’s public health agency and Provider Information Notices (PINs) from CCLD, Licensees were not advised to stop measuring residents’ weights. Rather, PINs provided Licensees guidance on how to disinfect shared instruments/equipment, such that they could continue to be used safely. Regulation 87466 required Licensee to “ensure that residents are regularly observed for changes,” to include “unusual weight gains and losses.” The COVID-19 pandemic did not waive this this requirement.
According to facility and hospital records: On 11/07/2020, facility staff sent R1 to a hospital emergency room due to lethargy and an episode of vomiting blood. While there, R1 was newly diagnosed with hyperglycemia. Hospital physicians identified that R1’s blood glucose levels were “widely uncontrolled” and that R1 was likely diabetic. [Prior to this hospital trip, R1’s LIC602 and facility care plan did not mention them being diabetic or pre-diabetic. Also, interviews showed that facility staff and R1’s responsible person (RP) were unaware of R1’s body failing to regulate blood sugars.] According to their official Death Certificate, R1 passed away on 11/14/2020 due to “Senile Degeneration of the Brain, Not Elsewhere Classified.” R1’s diabetes, weight loss, and nutrition were not listed as contributing factors to their death.
[CONTINUED ON LIC 9099-C, 2 of 2] |