(This report was researched and written by the Iowa Capital Dispatch) – An Iowa nursing home inadvertently locked a resident out of the facility, leaving her outside the building overnight in the rain. The Iowa Capital Dispatch says according to state inspection records, a female resident of the Harmony Marshalltown nursing home exited the facility at 8 p.m. on July 7, to sit in the home’s courtyard. The resident couldn’t get back into the facility until 6 a.m. the following day.

Inspectors allege the staff failed to do visual bed checks on the woman for 10 hours, leaving her pounding on the door of the building amid rain, thunder and lightning. The woman “began to panic, became fearful, scared and crying,” inspectors allege. Eventually, a kitchen worker heard her pounding on the door and let her inside.

The woman “experienced serious actual psychosocial harm due to being left outside overnight,” the inspectors reported. Inspectors concluded that while the courtyard door’s locking mechanism wasn’t engaged, the latch and the weight of the door effectively locked out anyone not strong enough to open it. The door “failed to open without excess force,” the inspectors concluded, which resulted in “in a serious likelihood of serious injury, impairment or death.”

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing proposed three fines against Harmony Marshalltown totaling $19,000. The fines have been held in suspension while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determines whether a federal fine is warranted.