Posted on 07/08/2005 4:55:28 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Officials from the Pennsylvania Health Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare are conducting an investigation in the psychiatric unit of Community Medical Center following the death of a patient there.
Although they declined to give details of their investigation at CMC, officials confirmed they were looking into the unit because of a complaint they received June 28.
Barbara Cook of Scranton said she made that complaint based on her knowledge of a mental health patient who died in the psychiatric unit while her son was receiving treatment there.
Frank Salini, who was 54, had been taken by Pennsylvania state police to the CMC-owned Scranton Counseling Center on Adams Avenue the night of June 19 for psychiatric help, Tpr. P.J. McGurrin said. He was then transferred to CMC’s seventh-floor mental health unit.
He died there June 22, said Joseph Swoboda, Lackawanna County chief deputy coroner.
It is not clear what caused Mr. Salini’s death.
No autopsy was performed because Mr. Salini’s doctor signed the death certificate and a hospital administrator said there was no cause for concern, Mr. Swoboda said.
Barbara Cook’s son, Tom Cook, however, said he overheard hospital staff discussing that Mr. Salini had died from an overdose of medicine given to sedate him.
The night before he died, Mr. Salini had an uncooperative outburst, was physically restrained by several staff members and placed into a seclusion room, said Mr. Cook, who was in the unit for bipolar disorder treatment at the time.
“They restrained him, put him in his room (alone), and the next morning was when he died,” said Mr. Cook, who was staying in a nearby room.
“I walked right past his room,” said Lynn Wescott, another patient in the unit at the time. “I saw a whole bunch of people come in. They brought in a crash cart and everything.”
Mr. Cook, who said he has hospitalized previously, said it is common practice in the unit for such “uncooperative” patients to be sedated, placed into isolation rooms overnight and not receive a medical checkup until the morning.
CMC had no comment on the incident, spokeswoman Jane Gaul said, citing federal laws protecting patient privacy.
Edward F. Heffron, Ed.D., executive director of the Scranton Counseling Center, which manages the CMC pychiatric unit, declined to comment for the same reason.
There is no set time line for the investigation, but such inquiries normally take a matter of weeks, representatives of the state investigators said. A report will be made public when the investigation concludes.
“If he was over-drugged, they would have a chart on what was given to him at the hospital, and the investigators would be looking at that,” said Mr. Swoboda, the coroner.
Whoa. No, you do not sedate a patient and leave him all alone in isolation without constant checks around the clock. This does not look good. However, I am willing to give the hospital a chance to explain.
Calling Atty Edwards!!! Channeling of the dead need on 4 south!
"I wanna be sedated" -- The Ramones
Sorry, first thing that came to mind.
A guy I work with was given 25 TIMES the dosage of Dilaudid, a pain reliever - then the doctors wondered why he was sleeping for 3 days.
They signed him into hospice and were basically going to let him die - except his wife kept prodding the doctors to actually do their job rather than let him die. That was what saved him.
I am also aware of cases where a nursing home patient's death was mis-reported on a death certificate, and another case where 10 times the amount of insulin was administered to a woman, which put her into a diabetic coma.
Do you think incidents like this only occur in PA?
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