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Kathleen Ann Kaiser Struggled to breathe
By Spencer Hunt and Debra Jasper
The Cincinnati Enquirer
An hour after she ate lunch in her Cincinnati
nursing home, Kathleen Ann Kaiser started vomiting. Fluid came out of
her nose, and she struggled to breathe.
Workers called three times before a
company-employed nurse came to the North Bend Road home operated by
ViaQuest Inc.
Although Ms. Kaiser, 44, sounded like she "was
trying to talk under water," an ambulance wasn't called for 2 1Ú2 hours
after she first fell ill, a state Health Department report says.
Ms. Kaiser spent four days on a respirator and died
on Dec. 13, 1999.
The Health Department threatened to decertify the
24-bed home in May 2000, citing it for poor staff training and health
care and for not reporting if anyone watched over the weak and bedridden
Ms. Kaiser while she ate.
The department dropped its threat after ViaQuest
trained workers in emergency procedures and hired another nurse to
oversee all medical duties and services.
A report by the Hamilton County mental retardation
board, given to the Enquirer by ViaQuest, shows that Ms. Kaiser had
frequently been hospitalized for breathing fluids into her lungs over
the past 15 to 16 years.
Sara Selbe, a ViaQuest director, says the staff did
watch over Ms. Kaiser, even though it wasn't documented. The death,
while traumatic, was not totally unexpected with a resident who had a
long history of digestive problems, Ms. Selbe says.
"Those things will happen," she says.
Ms. Selbe also notes that the county's
investigation was closed without any mention of problems.
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