A nurse stood by and did nothing as a central Minnesota nursing home resident suffered numerous violent and painful seizures in his final hours, shrugging off pleas from a loved one who was there begging the caregiver to intervene, a state death investigation released this week revealed.
A Minnesota Health Department investigation lasting six months ruled that the nurse's neglect was to blame for the anguish that 58-year-old Kenneth L. Allers endured last August for at least 11 hours at the Sterling Park Health Center in Waite Park.
The licensed practical nurse, who is not identified in the state's findings released this week, was suspended during the investigation and later fired.
Allers, who was suffering from non-alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver, died Aug. 8 from what an autopsy determined was natural causes.
His final hours were consumed with at least seven seizures, a few lasting less than a minute but one going on for 1½ minutes followed by another lasting 2 minutes, the state investigation noted.
The attacks left an unresponsive Allers biting off pieces of his tongue and inner cheek and bleeding from his mouth, but the nurse refused to alert his doctor or give him medication to ease his anguish or fight off the seizures, the state found.
It wasn't until another nurse came on duty that evening that Allers was given morphine. The seizures quickly stopped and the pain subsided, investigators reported.
"The [nurse] did not give any explanation as to why she did not contact the physician or seek additional assistance" from the higher-ranking registered nurse who was on call as his "whole body [was] shaking rapidly," the report read.
