CHARLOTTE(AP) ó A North Carolina nursing home could face $50,000 in fines after a resident with Alzheimer’s disease fell from a loading dock and died.
The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that state health officials have recommended the maximum penalty for Five Oaks Manor in Concord for failing to protect 87-year-old Annie Bell Scarboro.
Officials said Scarboro went unnoticed as she wandered through several doors, a kitchen and onto an unlit loading dock Dec. 18. She fell about four feet.
The state Department of Health and Human Services suggests the nursing home be fined $10,000 a day for the five days between Scarboro’s fall and when repairs were completed. Repairs included an alarm system and fence around the dock.
A final decision will come from the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com