Healthcare Compliance Alert:
Compliance and Ethics Committees must verify that exterminators meet contractual requirements. False claims may result from knowingly submitting invoices for services and care that are substandard or worthless. Furthermore, Medicare abuse includes practices that do not meet professionally recognized standards and may expose providers to criminal and civil liabilities.
A 96-year-old Pennsylvania woman died as a result of developing sepsis after being bitten multiple times by bed bugs. The elderly woman had been in the care of a 73-year-old woman for more than 10 years. The caregiver has been charged with “neglecting the care of a dependent person and involuntary manslaughter.” She is expected to plead guilty to the charge later this year.
The caregiver had been operating a personal care home, but closed her facility and moved the deceased woman and several other persons into her own home which was badly infested with bed bugs.
The deceased woman was initially admitted to the hospital after members of her family noticed that she had a rash over most of her body. As a result of the bed bug bites, she developed sores and a bacterial skin infection. The woman was returned to the caretaker’s home from the hospital, and died a few days later of pneumonia.
Instead of hiring a professional exterminator, authorities investigating the case found that the woman had been trying to treat the bed bug infestation on her own. The reason she gave for doing so was that she could not afford a professional exterminator. Bed bugs were found on the deceased woman’s bed during the investigation, and bed buds were also in the bed of the accused caregiver’s 48-year-old developmentally disabled sister who is in the care of the caregiver.
The caregiver remains free on bail of $50,000.
