Nursing home abuse can take many forms. One of the most deadly is prescription overdose. At the North Carolina nursing home Britthaven of Chapel Hill, one patient died of a morphine overdose and several more were hospitalized. The nurse responsible is now facing criminal charges, and the nursing home could face steep fines.

North Carolina's Nursing Home Licensure Section of the Department of Health and Human Services (NHLS) has recommended $20,000 in fines for the nursing home. Although the NHLS does not have the authority to impose the fines, their recommendations were made to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Angela Almore, a nurse in Britthaven's Alzheimer's unit, has been charged with second-degree murder and six counts of felony patient abuse for drugging patients with morphine. The nurse who was responsible for these patients' care chose to harm them in order to make them more manageable.

After patients were hospitalized and one died, the NHLS conducted an investigation of Britthaven. Their findings call for $2,500 fines for each of these violations:

  • The facility failed to ensure that patients would be protected from abuse.
  • The services provided by the nursing home did not meet professional standards.
  • Nursing home staff prescribed unnecessary medication.
  • Significant medication errors were made by nursing home staff.

It is up to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to determine what fines the nursing home will ultimately face. However, North Carolina state representative Nelson Dollar is calling for harsher penalties for nursing home abuse. He said, "Twenty thousand dollars for a senior citizen who has died seems awfully small."

Source: WRAL.com, "State calls for fines of nursing home in patient's death," Dan Bowens, 11 Aug 2010