Coroner rules nursing home patient’s death accidental
WAYNESBURG – Greene County Coroner Gregory Rohanna has ruled that a 94-year-old patient at the Golden Living Center in Waynesburg died of “accidental asphyxiation” on Saturday after her neck became stuck between her mattress and a bed rail.
Rohanna was called to the facility on Saturday at 6:30 a.m. to investigate the death of Irene Sansone, who had resided at the nursing home since August 2013. During his investigation, Rohanna determined that Sansone had tried to get out of her bed or accidentally moved her legs off of the bed and she slid off of the mattress onto the floor.
Rohanna said Sansone’s head became lodged between the mattress and the bed rail, and her physical condition prohibited her from being able to remove herself from the entrapment between the bed and bed rail. Rohanna ordered an autopsy and has listed the official cause of death as accidental asphyxiation due to compression.
Rohanna said although the death is ruled to be accidental, the investigation is continuing.
According to the Associated Press, the nursing home’s executive director won’t say when staff last checked on Sansone before her death, or how often staff check on patients at night. But the home issued a statement offering condolences to Sansone’s family and says it is conducting an internal investigation and will report the results to the “appropriate regulatory agencies,” the Associated Press reports.
The 111-bed for-profit home was last inspected by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on March 1 and has had 16 “minimal harm” deficiencies in 30 months, fewer than the state average, according to the Associated Press.