(Des Moines, Iowa) – Several state-licensed care facilities have been cited recently for resident abuse, injuries or neglect, with one home cited for a resident’s death due to dehydration. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, in the case involving a death, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing cited the Aase Haugen Home in Decorah for failing to provide residents with the required nursing services. State inspectors reported the home failed to promptly identify an acute change in a male resident’s condition and then failed to intervene and provide the necessary care. The inspectors allege that in mid-October 2024, the man showed signs of increased blood pressure, an elevated pulse and a fever, and then become largely unresponsive without the staff completing an assessment of his condition.

On Oct. 22, the man was seen by a psychiatric provider via video conferencing. The provider noticed the man was “was slumped over and not responding to her questions,” inspectors later reported, and so she immediately halted the consultation and told the nurse at the Aase Haugen Home the man appeared to be in urgent need of a medical evaluation. The resident was rushed to a hospital emergency room where the emergency room staff allegedly wrote in their reports the man appeared to be suffering from sepsis, which can be a life-threatening infection, and that the man was “profoundly dehydrated” and verbally non-responsive. The man was admitted to the hospital with what the staff described as “a seven-liter water deficit.”

The Aase Haugen Home in Decorah. (Photo via Google Earth)

He died on Nov. 7, 2024, with the immediate cause of death listed as dehydration due to, or as a consequence of, sepsis. DIAL proposed a state fine of $9,750 but held that fine in suspension so that federal regulators could determine whether a federal penalty is warranted. In February 2024, the Aase Haugen Home was fined $7,000 by the state after a resident fell to the floor, striking her head and breaking her hip, while being helped to the bathroom by a worker. The resident was taken to a hospital and died four weeks later.

Five months later, in July 2024, the home was cited again for safety violations after a resident fell from a mechanical lift at the home, resulting in physical injuries, “intense pain” and a gradual loss of consciousness. The state proposed a fine of $4,500, which was tripled to $13,500 due to the repeat nature of the safety violation, and then held in suspension.

Federal records indicate the last time the federal government fined Aase Haugen home was in July 2023 when a civil penalty of $59,839 was imposed. That fine was tied to a citation for failure to intervene when a resident showed signs of high blood sugar and then died en route to a hospital.

Some of the other Iowa care facilities recently cited include:

Aspire, Perry – The nursing home was fined $500 for failing to ensure that background checks were completed on workers before they had contact with residents.

Woodward Resource Center, Woodward – The state-run facility for disabled individuals was fined $500 for failure to report suspected resident abuse.

One Vision-Pine House, Fort Dodge –The care facility was fined $500 for failing to report suspected abuse. The fine was then tripled to $1,500 due the repeat nature of the violation.

Colonial Manor, Perry – The nursing home was fined $2,750 after the assistant director of nursing admitted attempting to cover up the fact that a male resident had fallen and broken his hip.

Read more about the aforementioned incidents HERE.