Panel to review settlement offer for vet's widow

State asked to pay $250,000, conclude nursing home case

A state legislative committee today will consider a $250,000 settlement for the widow of a veteran who died in January 2013 at the Fayetteville Veterans Home.

Approval of the settlement would mark the end of the case, which was part of a yearlong saga in which the nursing home was cited four times for subpar patient care from December 2012 to November 2013.

Dolores Varner of Springdale brought the wrongful death complaint against the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs in January 2015, alleging that the Fayetteville Veterans Home, which falls under the department's purview, acted negligently and contributed to the death of William Dale Varner, 86, on Jan. 15, 2013.

Dolores Varner made the complaint with the state's Claims Commission because state agencies cannot be sued in courts of the state. The commission recommended the settlement, but it's up to the Arkansas Legislature to approve it.

Varner asked for $2.1 million in damages, but the matter was settled on conditions that the state did not have to admit wrongdoing and Varner would drop the complaint.

Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Director Matt Snead, who took over the department in February 2015, was closely involved in mediation with Varner -- a choice he made. Snead said he was satisfied with the settlement because it balanced "making it right" with Varner without significantly affecting improvements at the 108-bed facility.

"I elected for mediation, so I would have an opportunity to express condolences to Mrs. Varner -- something that had not been done in the past," Snead said. "And I felt compelled to right that wrong."

Varner's complaint stemmed from a February 2013 investigation by the Office of Long Term Care that substantiated claims that the nursing home failed to protect William Varner and other patients from neglect in January and February 2013. The Office of Long Term Care is the wing of the state Department of Human Services that regulates nursing homes.

The office's report chronicled the events leading to the death of Varner, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. An occupational therapist who regularly treated Varner noticed shortness of breath and other irregularities. The therapist told Varner's licensed practical nurse and asked her to check on him, but the nurse continued eating lunch without checking on Varner, according to the report.

The nurse checked on Varner after continued urging from the occupational therapist, but Varner was already dead. The nurse was fired afterward, but only because it was the third time she had faced discipline, an administrator noted in the report.

The Fayetteville Veterans Home also was cited for a delay in reporting the events leading to Varner's death to the Office of Long Term Care. State law requires the office to be notified by 11 a.m. the day after a potential infraction is discovered, but the nursing home waited until February 2013 to report the matter.

Varner's wife filed a similar complaint in federal court, accusing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of failing to prescribe Varner's medicine correctly when he was placed in the nursing home.

He was previously a patient at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville.

The VA settled that lawsuit for $10,000, according to probate records.

Varner's death was the second and most severe of the four cases for which the nursing home was cited three years ago.

On Dec. 8, 2012, nursing home staff members broke a patient's arm while trying to restrain him, and four employees were fired after lying to investigators.

On Oct. 20, 2013, the Office of Long Term Care cited the facility after substantiating a patient's claims that staff members failed to modify his treatment plan after his wounds were repeatedly torn and re-opened when staff members removed his bandages.

On Nov. 15, 2013, a patient wandered away from the facility and was found asleep on a nearby bench.

Nursing home administrator Sarah Robinson was ousted, and Kriss Schaffer took her place until last month when he resigned. Officials are seeking a replacement.

Since the start of 2014, the Fayetteville Veterans Home has not had a complaint-based inspection, according to medicare.gov's Nursing Home Compare, which rates nursing homes for consumers.

Nursing Home Compare upgraded the facility's rating to four out of five stars after an inspection last July. The agency considers a four-star rating to be above average.

Sarah Jones, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, said that since the string of citations in 2013, the nursing home has made a series of changes to mitigate neglect, including consistent assignments for health care staff members, staggered break schedules, continuing education for staff members, increased communications among floor staff members and the creation of quality assurance and staff coordination positions.

Snead credited the nursing home's workers for improving the facility's standard of care.

"The home has moved in the right direction even before I got there," he said. "There are some great employees there."

Metro on 05/02/2016

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