SANTA MONICA—The family of an 83-year-old woman, who lives at a Santa Monica nursing home, is taking legal action after being notified that she passed away. Their mother was mistaken for another resident at the facility.
The son-in-law of Isabel Valencia, Michael Fanous, stated that, “They made a mistake. I looked at the deceased person; it’s not my mom, and my mom is sitting in the bed close to the deceased person…I was furious, when I got there I was very upset.”
The nursing home, which is updating its name to Sunset Park Healthcare, admitted that they made a mistake.
“It’s unfortunate human error. It was an isolated incident, and the facility obviously feels very badly for the family,” the statement reads. “These are electronic medical records … What happened is, the nurse pulled the chart for the wrong patient.”
Due to the nurse’s error, the two patients ended up receiving the wrong medication for several days. Fanous stated that the medication mix-up could have led to the other patient’s death.
Valencia’s family moved her to a different facility and The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is investigating the matter.
