Inset and background: The Kingsley Specialty Care nursing home in Kingsley, Iowa (Google Maps).
An Iowa nursing home faced penalties after a nurse failed to provide a patient with the care she needed, resulting in the patient's death, according to state officials.
The Kingsley Specialty Care nursing home in Kingsley, Iowa, was hit with a $10,500 fine after the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing said it failed to provide CPR for a patient with breathing problems. According to state records obtained by local news outlet Iowa Capital Dispatch, the patient, an unnamed woman whose age was not provided, reportedly told the facility's staff on May 9 that she was having breathing problems and wanted to be taken to a hospital.
The registered nurse who responded later told inspectors that when she went to assemble an oxygen delivery device, she "couldn't find all the working parts." While she went to the facility's basement to get the parts she needed, the patient's condition deteriorated until she became unresponsive.
A nurse's aide who was in the patient's room with her tried "several times" to call the nurse back, but she "didn't respond." The aide eventually had to "yell for her."
The nurse eventually returned, but neither staffer knew if the patient had a do-not-resuscitate order in place. After a trip to the nurse's station, and while the patient was still unresponsive, the nurse and the aide confirmed that she was a "full-code" patient and that CPR should be performed.
They returned to the patient, and the aide performed chest compressions. Another aide called 911. The nurse took the patient's pulse and said she "was gone." The nurse allegedly never performed any lifesaving measures.
When inspectors questioned the aide, she told them that she had expected the nurse to take charge. Instead, she said the nurse "kind of acted like she was in shock." The nurse told inspectors that she was "flustered" and did not think to retrieve the crash cart to take immediate action.
Emergency medical technicians arrived 10 minutes after the 911 call. When they got to the patient's room, they saw an employee they believed to be a nurse standing at the foot of the bed. They asked why no one was giving the patient CPR, and the employee said she was "giving her some air."
The EMTs told inspectors that there was no equipment in the room that was normally used for respiratory support, such as an Ambu bag, bottled oxygen, or a crash cart.
According to the report, the patient was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The facility was cited for not providing basic CPR to a patient. The $10,500 state fine also covered a separate violation in connection with a nurse who reportedly took a patient's medication.
Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing normally suspends state fines until a federal agency decides if it wants to impose a penalty of its own.
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