Elder abuse: Wildwood Canyon Villa staff feed narcotics to helpless resident

• elder abuse
• April 6, 2013
• By: Linda Kincaid
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Wildwood LVN Candi Hull

Credits:

Wildwood Canyon Villa

 

Investigations continue to find alarming elder abuse and egregious violations of California licensing regulations at Wildwood Canyon Villa, a San Bernardino County residential care facility for the elderly (RCFE). Documents obtained pursuant to subpoena show that resident Jean Swope was given the narcotic opioid drug oxycodone several times a day without physician instructions.
RCFEs are not medical facilities. The intent of these “assisted living” facilities is to provide residents with assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs). RCFE staff can lawfully “assist with self-administration” of medication. But they cross the line when they administer drugs to a resident that cannot determine her need for a medication.
Wildwood Canyon Villa crossed that line many times. They often crossed that line multiple times in a single day.

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Location: Wildwood Canyon Villa Assisted Living and Memory Care Community

34.017119; -117.064598

California licensing regulations give specific criteria for a facility to assist a resident with self-administration of medication. 22 CCR 87465 (d) states:

If the resident is unable to determine his/her own need for a prescription or nonprescription PRN medication, and is unable to communicate his/her symptoms clearly, facility staff designated by the licensee, shall be permitted to assist the resident with self-administration provided all of the following requirements are met:
(1) Facility staff shall contact the resident's physician prior to each dose, describe the resident's symptoms, and receive direction to assist the resident in self-administration of that dose of medication.
(2) The date and time of each contact with the physician, and the physician's directions, shall be documented and maintained in the resident's facility record.

Nurse’s Medication Notes for Jean Swope document that Wildwood staff administered the narcotic opioid Percocet (oxycodone plus acetaminophen) forty times in just ten days from September 20 – 29, 2011.
Wildwood LVN Candi Hull testified that Wildwood sometimes obtained instructions from a physician for administration of medication. Sometime they did not obtain instructions. On no occasion did Wildwood maintain the required written documentation of instructions from Swope’s physician.
Med Aide April Pledger, a young caregiver with no high school diploma or medical training, testified that Wildwood Med Aides sometimes check with an LVN prior to administering medications. Sometimes Med Aides administer medication with no oversight whatsoever.
Pledger testified that Med Aides crush medication with a pill crusher, mix with pudding, and then, “We feed it to them.”

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