A 94-year-old man was boiled to death in a hospital whirlpool bath after staff failed to make a ‘$250 repair’ and left him in the 134 degree water for 47 minutes.
Four nurses at the state-run Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta, located in Preston County, West Virginia have been sacked following the incident in January.
Legal director of Disability Rights West Virginia, Mike Folio, who investigated the death, told West Virginia Watch: ‘Even if he screamed out in pain, he couldn’t be heard. His skin melted off.’
The man, who died from the blistering heated water, was non-verbal.
Folio claims hospital staff were aware of a broken thermostat a month before the death but made no effort to fix it. He told MetroNews: ‘This gentleman lost his life because someone didn’t step up and make a $250 repair.’
The man, who has not been named, had dementia and required round-the-clock care but was left unattended in the bath for nearly an hour.
A man died at the state-run Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta, located in Preston County, in early January
Mike Folio investigated the man’s death and said it was the most ‘egregious’ case he had ever seen
The man was a long-term patient at state-run care home Hopemont Hospital.
He was placed into the bath by staff and left there for 47 minutes, in waters which reached up to 134 degrees Fahrenheit, well over the standard maximum 100 degree temperature.
Folio said: ‘Imagine someone who is elderly, nonverbal and has dementia left unattended in scalding hot water.
‘Even if he screamed out in pain, he couldn’t be heard because he was nonverbal.’
After his death, West Virginia Department of Health Facilities said they had experienced an ‘equipment malfunction’.
A spokesperson said: ‘A thermostat on a water tank servicing one residential unit failed resulting in unsafe water temperatures. Subsequently, one resident of the facility was treated for burns.’
They added: ‘As a precautionary measure, patients are being taken to other units for bathing purposes while staff repair the issue. This is an isolated incident and no other patients are at risk.’
But Folio claims that the man’s death was preventable as staff had known about the broken thermostat for a month.
He told KDKA-TV: ‘Roughly 30 days prior to this episode, one of the RNs at Hopemont sent an internal email advising staff about concerns of hot water and specifically said that there is a fear that patients may get burned.’
Despite knowing there was a risk, he said they made no effort to make the ‘$250 repair’.
Four nurses at the hospital were sacked after his death – three of them were contract nurses
Folio claims that the man’s death was preventable as staff had known about the broken thermostat for a month
Since the death, four nurses – including three contract employees – have been sacked.
Folio said: ‘This is truly the most egregious case I’ve seen.’
Annie Moore, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Health Facilities, told West Virginia Watch: ‘Hopemont Hospital administration and DHF have taken steps to prevent future occurrences including providing staff training on monitoring water temperatures prior to and during resident bathing and making repairs and upgrades to the facility’s hot water system.
A spokesman for the Preston County Sheriff’s Department told the outlet their investigation is ongoing and they couldn’t release information.
Matthew Keefer, DHF deputy commissioner told West Virginia Watch: ‘Keeping residents safe is our number one priority.
‘Any time a resident is injured in our care, we must exhaust every resource and investigate fully to ensure it does not happen again.’
