Amedisys complaint alleges home health nurses delayed treating a patient’s urinary tract infection before her death

The complaint alleges that a home health agency delayed a discharged patient’s admission into care by six days. The patient already had a documented urinary tract infection and a physician’s order for antibiotics. Agency nurses recorded abnormal urine findings over repeated visits but did not document communicating them to the physician. Positive urine culture results were available by February 17, 2022, but no action was taken to treat the infection until February 22, 2022. The patient was hospitalized in septic shock on February 24, 2022, and died two days later. The filing alleges that her death resulted from the untreated infection and the sepsis that followed.

System: Amedisys, Inc.
Facility: Amedisys Home Health
Providers involved: Amedisys, Inc. / Amedisys Georgia, LLC / Tender Loving Care Health Care Services of Georgia, LLC / Dorethea Archie Booker, RN / Elizabeth Johnson, LPN
Pattern: Alleged delay in admitting and treating a home health patient’s diagnosed urinary tract infection
Harm: Alleged untreated infection progressing to sepsis, septic shock, and death

Overview

This page concerns a public complaint alleging that a home health agency delayed treating a patient’s urinary tract infection before her death.

Chronology

The complaint alleges as follows:

The patient was discharged home with home health care on February 4, 2022, with a recently diagnosed urinary tract infection. A physician ordered home health care, including antibiotics for the infection, on February 5.
The home health agency did not admit her into care until February 10, 2022, six days later.
A nurse completed the admission assessment on February 10, 2022, and recorded the infection without documenting that it was being treated.
Nurses noted abnormal urine findings at visits on February 11, 14, and 21, but did not document communicating them to the physician.
A urine culture collected February 14, 2022, was positive for six organisms. The culture results were reported February 16, and a positive urinalysis resulted February 17.
Treatment for the infection was not initiated until the evening of February 22, 2022, when a physician ordered an oral antibiotic.
The patient was hospitalized in septic shock on February 24, 2022, and died on February 26, 2022.

Alleged failures

The complaint alleges the following failures:

Amedisys nurses did not timely communicate the patient’s urinary tract infection and urinalysis results to her physician.
The agency did not timely initiate treatment for the diagnosed infection, although it had received information and treatment orders for it.
Amedisys did not provide sufficient and qualified staffing or properly train its nurses. Upon information and belief, it also hired unqualified staff and did not adequately supervise them.
The complaint pleads professional and ordinary negligence, vicarious liability, negligence per se, inadequate staffing and training, negligent hiring and supervision, and wrongful death. It attaches an expert nursing affidavit under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.

Entities and tags

Amedisys, Inc.Amedisys Georgia, LLCTender Loving Care Health Care Services of Georgia, LLCDorethea Archie Booker, RNElizabeth Johnson, LPNUrinary tract infectionSepsisSeptic shockDeKalb CountyDelayed treatmentInfectionCommunication or follow-up failureWrongful deathHome health nursingSkilled nursing careInfectious diseasePrimary care