Veterans Home cited for three more violations

The state Health Department has cited the troubled Minneapolis Veterans Home for three more violations.

The case involved a diabetic resident who was given the wrong dose of insulin for nine days. Investigators said the woman was not harmed by the error.

The home was also cited for conducting a flawed investigation of the wrong dosage and failing to report the medical mistake made in October to the state.

The incident was a month before continuing problems at the Minneapolis Veterans Home prompted Gov. Tim Pawlenty to transfer the entire five-home system to the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I'm extremely concerned about this," said Veterans Affairs Commissioner Clark Dyrud. "This is exactly the kind of problem we've been seeing in the past. It shows that we still have some work to do. This just shouldn't be happening."

Last year the facility was cited for three medical errors in the treatment of three veterans who later died. There was no investigation to determine if the errors directly caused the deaths.

Chip Cox, assistant to the deputy commissioner for veterans health, said that despite the latest report, conditions were improving at the facility.

"We're always concerned about a report like this. We're getting better. We're closer to getting our systems on the baseline we want, but we're not quite there yet," Cox said.

Cox was the acting top staff official supervising the five veterans homes for more than a year. Last week, Gilbert Acevedo began work as deputy commissioner in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Inspectors since 2005 have found more than 60 rule infractions at the home during two annual inspections and another 15 violations while investigating complaints about care.

The Health Department has hired an outside firm to monitor care at the home under a $125,000-a-year contract.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

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