On August 23, 2024, the Oregon Department of Justice announced that a Registered Nurse (RN) had pleaded guilty to felony Criminal Mistreatment in the First Degree. The RN, who was employed at an assisted living facility in Klamath Falls, Oregon, will forfeit her Oregon RN license as part of the plea agreement. She was sentenced to three years of supervised probation, 150 hours of community service, and is also prohibited from working as a paid caregiver.
The Oregon Department of Justice Medicaid Fraud Unit (MFU), together with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office and Klamath County Adult Protective Services, conducted an investigation into allegations of neglect. The investigation revealed that the RN had neglected to provide necessary care to three residents, resulting in serious harm due to inadequate assessments and a failure to deliver essential follow-up medical treatment.
The RN admitted to neglecting an elderly and vulnerable resident in January 2022 by not completing a critical nursing assessment, failing to communicate with on-site staff, and not properly documenting her actions and the results. The resident was found deceased in his bed the morning after these failures.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Nurses are expected to exhibit honesty, accuracy, and integrity in the provision of care, including performing nursing assessments, reporting changes in condition, acknowledging errors in practice and reporting them promptly, accurately charting and reporting, implementing care as ordered, complying with all laws and rules affecting the practice of nursing, and complying with the minimum standards of nursing.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures for following standards of care, nursing assessments, and proper documentation.
- Train appropriate staff on your policies and procedures for following standards of care, accurate documentation, and meeting regulatory requirements.
- Periodically audit medical records to ensure that documentation is complete, meets standards for content and timeliness, and that entries have not been falsified or erroneously reported in any way.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
