According to federal
officials, a North Carolina
mental patient passed away after the nurses at a hospital left him in a chair
for a period of 22 hours and didn’t feed him or help him go to the bathroom.
The News & Observer of Raleigh
reported that a security video from April 29, the day the death took place,
showed 50-year-old Steven H. Sabock dying in a dayroom at Cherry
Hospital in Goldsboro after he chocked on his medication.
The video also showed that nurses were not far away from Sabock while he was in
need of help. Staff members from the medical facility were playing cards and watching
television in the same room the patient was. One employee was kissing and
hugging another one and seemed to be dancing.
Investigators in this case said that, the day he passed
away, the patient wasn’t given any food. What’s more, no hospital staff even
checked on him.
Federal officials couldn’t reach the hospital’s director,
the abovementioned newspaper said.
The regionally daily newspaper also reported that the death
was one of the causes the officials said they might stop funding the medical unit.
Cherry Hospital executives have an estimated
two weeks at their disposal to create a plan and try to convince federal
officials to carry on supporting the facility.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina State has sent a team to assist the
hospital draw up improved procedures to make sure patients benefit from
suitable care.
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