Disgraceful death of dementia patient draws criticism from aged care commissioner

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A family of dementia patients have filed a lawsuit against a nursing home in Tauranga after their relative died without dignity due to a series of harrowing incidents. Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper found that Radius Care, the company that operates the nursing home, was providing suboptimal care by failing to adequately notify the man’s family of the issues and failing to maintain not enough staff.

The patient, referred to as Mr A, was 70 years old and suffered from dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, pancreatic cancer and broader cognitive impairment. He was placed in the care of Taurangas Radius Althorp in 2019. During his stay, Mr A experienced multiple incidents involving other dementia patients entering his room, resulting in altercations and physical confrontations.

In one particular incident, another resident, MM, came into the dying man’s room and yelled at him to get out of bed. The next day, Mr M came back, yelled at the unconscious man to wake up, punched a paramedic and grabbed Mr A, who was later found lying on the ground with blood on the head. He died a few hours later.

THE [emergency call button] didn’t seem to work and no one came for what seemed like an age, a family member told the commissioner.

An internal investigation by Radius revealed that on six shifts, no key care assessments were carried out to determine the level of care required by MA The care plan also did not consider territorial behavior Mr. Mrs., and the dementia unit was understaffed.

In my opinion, there were gaps in the care provided to Mr. A by several Radius Althorp staff. These were systemic issues for which Radius Althorp is responsible, Cooper said.

She recommended that Radius issue a written apology, detail efforts made since its internal investigation, and conduct a random audit of end-of-life care plans over the previous six months. Since the events, Radius Althorp has provided additional staff training and increased staff.

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