• 16
  • June
    2010

Police arrested a registered nurse last week, charging her with second-degree murder in relation to the death of an 84-year-old Alzheimer's patient who was under her care at Britthaven of Chapel Hill. Angela Almore is alleged to have given her patient a dose of morphine that contributed to her death from pneumonia.

In addition to the murder charge, Almore was also charged with six felony counts of abusing nursing home patients. According to authorities, several nursing home residents had recently been hospitalized after appearing lethargic. Medical tests revealed that the residents were administered morphine despite the fact that morphine had never been prescribed for any of them.

With the indictment of one of their registered nurses, the nursing home itself is now under increased scrutiny from the State Division of Health Service Regulation. Investigators will likely be looking into whether any rules were broken or whether there was any negligence in the administration of the nursing home.

In particular, they will have to look into how staff was supervised and determine if the facility followed Medicare and Medicaid-required rules regarding the storage and distribution of drugs. According to authorities, Britthaven officials notified the state regulatory agency and the police shortly after discovering that hospitalized patients were testing positives for morphine.

It is unclear at this time if the events will give rise to any civil liability or lawsuit, but the state's investigation into the effectiveness of the nursing home's supervision of staff may turn out to be critical. If there was a deviation from standards of care or regulatory rules there may be an argument to be made that the nursing home was at least partially at fault for the actions of their nursing staff. 

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