N.C. Patient Dies While Staff Plays Cards

Video Shows Man Choking On Medication While Nurses Stood Nearby; State Mental Hospital May Lose Federal Funding Over Incident

(CBS/ AP)  Investigators say a North Carolina mental patient died after nurses at a state mental hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours and failed to feed him or help him to the bathroom, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Security video showed Steven H. Sabock, 50, as he died in April after he choked on medication at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro and a nurse stood nearby without helping, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.

The newspaper said the death was one reason federal officials said they might cut off funds for the facility. Hospital officials have about two weeks to develop an improvement plan and try to persuade federal officials to continue providing funds.

Video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards while Sabock was in the same room. One technician hugged and kissed another staff member and appeared to be dancing.

Investigators said in a report released Monday that Sabock, who had lived in Roanoke Rapids, sat in a busy day room during four work shifts.

When technicians couldn't get him to walk to his bed, the video showed that they stood him and slid a chair under him before sliding him down the hall to his room. A few minutes later, the video showed a cart of emergency equipment being pushed down the hall.

Sabock, who used to live in Roanoke Rapids in northeastern North Carolina, ate nothing the day he died, and very little during the three days prior, according to The News & Observer in North Carolina.

Investigators found no evidence that "the nursing staff had evaluated the patient's nutrition. The review revealed no nutritional consult was requested and revealed no evidence the physician was notified about the inadequate nutritional intake," according to the investigators' report.

Sabock's father told the newspaper he wasn't allowed to see his son after he was admitted to Cherry Hospital.

"They said he was lying down and didn't feel like talking," said Nicholas Sabock, who lives in Virginia. "They wouldn't let me see him. I think he died that day."

Susan Sabock, the patient's wife, said the state sent her a letter saying there was negligence in her husband's care.

Cherry Hospital director Jack St. Clair couldn't be reached, the newspaper said.

But a state institutional administrator said last week the hospital knew about the problem before investigators arrived and was already working to correct it. Jim Osberg said he didn't know details of the hospital's response.

Federal investigators said the hospital's own investigation showed some information in Sabock's record was falsified.

Besides Sabock's case, investigators said the hospital didn't respond properly to a teenager with developmental disabilities who was punched by a doctor after he bit the physician.

[patriot12436]

I already made up my mind if i get to the point i cannot take care of myself and enjoy life, i am checking out. I will not be a burden on my family. So for now while i am able i enjoy life to the fullest. When my time comes i want to be able to look back and say i accomplished most of what i wanted and enjoyed life, who can ask for more.

[patriot12436]

I am getting ready to move to Las Vegas and a friend told me the health carer there is *********, so i am having surgery before i move. If i need in future i will plan to go elsewhere for it.

[patriot12436]

I would like to add from the other side of the coin. My father lived in state run VA nursing homne for last six years of his life. The care was outstanding. He surrenederer his ssan and the last couple of years my mother had to make payments in addition to his ssan ,but was still a lot cheaper than private nursing homes. I would like to commend the staff of the VA nursing homes located in Missouri for an outstanding job.

[mickey9661]

As a former mental health worker and having a mentally father,also,I found the state hospital where I worked deplorable. The lack of qualified staff as well as poor quality psychiatric help is just the tip of the iceberg.
If this was one of MY family members who died,I''d go to the ends of the earth to get to the truth as to what happened. I am NOT surprised that there is an attempted cover-up. I pray that this family gets the justice they deserve!

[rochest]

I am a 57 year-old woman who has had respite care services in 2 different types of nursing home. One was a not-for-profit basis institution where I received incredibly good care that was tailored to my needs and very sensitive to my person. the Personal Care staff was very respected and well compensated by the management. the other was a for-profit nursing home with this staff that was very inattentive, when asked to help move myself since I am a quadriplegic the Aid spent five minutes yelling at me for interrupting her break and then proceeded to tell me she would be backed in 15 or so minutes without moving me. the staff in the dining room often left other residents partially unfed in order to laugh and joke with their coworkers. so in my experience the present system of for-profit nursing homes also is ripe with abuse as the owners tried to maximize profits by cutting staffs and lowering salaries thereby getting low motivational workers. unless the salaries for the actual patient care workers improves I see very little hope for improvement no matter what the system private or public.

Everybody sit up and take notice. This is a state run hospital. This is what national healthcare would be like.

Posted by ajaxrose1 at 12:29 PM : Aug 20, 2008

I don''t know of anyone who is supporting nationalizing all healthcare providers. Obama certainly is not. He supports using existing insurers.

[robstrck]

cricketbeers, all you need to do is google the information. There are numerous articles out there.

[robstrck]

Try using a bit of critical thinking, friend!

Posted by haniel1

*******

I believe you are the one in need of critical thinking skills.

[cricketbeers]

Everybody sit up and take notice. This is a state run hospital. This is what national healthcare would be like. And don''''t give me any carp about how great it is in England either. I just read in an English newspaper a couple of weeks ago how their government is "working to improve" the amount of time it takes from diagnosis to actual treatment (specifically surgery) and right now that''''s about 18 months on a waiting list. If a specialist is involved it might even be longer. Wonder what their "state" mental hospitals are like. This particular one needs to be shut down and since the government isn''''t running the healthcare system (yet)it can be. Thank God. ----------------
It would be nice if you had the news link to back up this comment about 18 month waiting list. Somehow I find that INCREDIBLY hard to believe.

[gypsyearthspirit]

What happened in this hospital has absolutely nothing to do with anything except the (apparently) low standards and poor monitoring in that particular hospital. To say that this is what "socialized" medicine would be like is just ridiculous.

This happened in "un-socialized" medicine. That would seem to support an argument against the current system, don''t you think? HMMMMMmmmmm?

Try using a bit of critical thinking, friend!