A Sacramento nursing home is responsible for the death of a patient with swallowing difficulties who choked on a piece of meat during a lunchtime outing with staff members, state regulators have concluded.
Mary Yip, 86, who suffered from dementia and disability from stroke, died a day after the choking incident in January 2012. At the time, she was accompanied by staff members and other patients of the Asian Community Center nursing home.
The nonprofit Foundation Aiding the Elderly, or FATE, filed a complaint against the facility at the request of Yip's family. The California Department of Public Health substantiated the agency's complaint and hit the nursing home with its most severe penalty, a Class AA citation, and an $80,000 fine.
In a report released Wednesday, investigators said staff members served an unnamed patient, whom FATE founder Carole Herman identified as Yip, noodles with chunks of meat during the outing.
They failed to supervise her while she ate, despite a physician's directive that she was unable to chew and should eat only soft foods, regulators said
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