Omaha's Immanuel Medical Center was placed on probationary status by the Nebraska Department of Health and received a $10,000 fine for failing to protect a suicidal patient who, after being admitted, hung himself. According to the Omaha World Herald, John Bighia, 41. was taken by ambulance to the Omaha hospital's emergency room on May 11, 2010, at 8:08 pm after he cut his wrists at work. He was admitted to the psych ward at 10:12 pm, and was found dead in his room at 10:40 pm.
Immanuel was cited for "multiple failures" including:
- failure to protect Bighia's right to safe care which resulted in . . .death
- failure to inspect his room before putting him in it, thus leaving open an interior door from which Bighia suspended a sheet and hanged himself
- failure to monitor him every 10 minutes, although a staffer falsified records indicating such monitoring had occurred
- failed to inform the state within 24 hours of his death
In their report, the Department of Health also stated that after completing staff re-education sessions after the incident, psych ward staff failed to monitor another suicidal patient and then falsified records to show that they had monitored him. This time the patient didn't harm himself. To read more . . .
