Rochester Nursing Home Caused Resident To Overdose According To Family

A resident of Waterview Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center has been hospitalized after receiving an overdose of medication, his family said. Thomas Pridgen was transferred to the hospital with a brain condition called encephalopathy, attributed to valproic acid toxicity.

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Linda Suggs, Pridgen’s cousin, described his condition at the hospital. “Very much out of it. He wasn’t cognizant at all. He wasn’t able to hold his bowels, his urine. He was laying there almost in a fetal position,” Suggs said.

Doctors informed the family that Pridgen had an overdose of Depakote. That leads to elevated ammonia levels in a patient’s system, causing encephalopathy. “They immediately told us that he had too much of those two medications in his system and he was overdosed,” Suggs said.

The overdose reportedly occurred at Waterview Heights Nursing Home. Suggs says after seeing her cousin, her reaction was immediate. “I had to get him out. Completely out of that nursing home.”

If Pridgen was administered a toxic amount of his medication, it would not be the first time Waterview staff have been accused of administering medication incorrectly. A recent Department of Health report noted that there was “no documented evidence that 193 residents received multiple medications on multiple days from February 13-17 and 213 residents for more than a week from March 21-30.

Pridgen’s condition is slowly improving, Suggs said. “He’s just now starting to eat. He’s just now starting to take in fluids.”

Hospital doctors say they’re planning to discharge him so Pridgen’s family members are searching for a new facility for him. Suggs has a message for the New York Department of Health: “Clean it up or shut it down. If possible, shut it down.”

News10NBC reached out to The Grand, the company that owns Waterview Heights Nursing Center. A Vice-President had not provided a comment as of the writing of this article the evening of Monday, September 8th.If anyone has a complaint about a nursing home, a spokesman from the Attorney General’s Office wants to hear from them. Click here to file an online complaint. You can also contact the Long Term Care Ombudsman, an advocate for New Yorkers living in licensed adult care facilities. Click here to learn more about the program.

Source: WHEC-TV