California regulators have cited the residential facility where a 75-year-old woman lived before she was found dead in the stairwell of Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital's locked power plant building in May, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
Staff at Zuckerberg Hospital found the body of the woman, later identified as Ruby Anderson, in the stairwell. She was not a patient of the hospital. Ms. Anderson, who reportedly suffered from dementia, was a resident of the nearby Behavioral Health Center's Residential Care Facility for the Elderly on Zuckerberg Hospital's campus.
An investigation into Ms. Anderson's death led the California Department of Social Services to cite the residential care facility for failing to provide "appropriate care and supervision."
The investigation found that the facility failed to report the deteriorating cognitive abilities of Ms. Anderson, and as a result she was not re-evaluated by her physician and left the building without proper oversight.
The department is forcing the care facility to implement new protocols to ensure a similar incident doesn't occur. If it fails to implement proper procedures, it will face a fine.
"We appreciate the review by the state and are working with the [California Care Licensing Division] to develop a response and plan of correction to make improvements in observation, supervision and documentation to ensure safe and appropriate services for all residents of the Behavioral Health Center’s Residential Care Facility for the Elderly," said Roland Pickens, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health's San Francisco Health Network.
The Department of Public Health runs the care facility and the hospital.