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Patient dies after staff restrains him

Healthcare Security Weekly, December 10, 2007

A restraint technique by medical and security staff at a Portland, OR hospital contributed to the suffocation death of a 50-year-old man, a state report concluded.

A report by the Oregon Department of Human Services said the patient died last August after being held face down on the floor at the Legacy Emmanuel Hospital and Health Center, reported the Portland Tribune. The report, which followed a complaint by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), said the 450-pound man was restrained by hospital staff who pressed him onto the floor, face down, with his arms under him, the newspaper reported. Staff failed to monitor the man's life signs during the restraint, the report said, and held him there for at least 10 minutes before discovering he had stopped breathing.

Hospital workers tried to revive the patient, but he never regained consciousness. Since the results of the complaint investigation, the hospital has lost its Joint Commission accreditation, according to a news report. New hospital restraint regulations adopted last year now require hospitals to report all deaths related to restraints to CMS.

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