After several reports of abuse, HI long-term care facilities goes unsanctioned

“In a state where nursing homes are rarely sanctioned, federal regulators did not penalize one of Hawaii’s premium institutions for its failure to protect defenseless elderly women from a sexually abusive caregiver. They also didn’t sanction a nursing home even after a nurse’s failure to follow physician orders resulted in the puncturing of a man’s abdominal organ, requiring surgery. The nurse inserted a feeding tube larger than what the doctor ordered. Those were among the cases Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Rob Perez cited to illustrate that Hawaii nursing homes often go unpenalized even when deficient care leads to resident harm. Over the past six years, the state had the second-lowest sanction rate in the country.”

“There’s a complete breakdown of oversight,” said Charlene Harrington, emeritus professor of sociology and nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. “There’s something really wrong.”