State fines St. Petersburg nursing home for violating resident's do-not-resuscitate order

ST. PETERSBURG — Jacaranda Manor nursing home has been fined by state regulators after workers there performed CPR and used a defibrillator on a 75-year-old man who had a "do not resuscitate'' order on file. Under state law, nursing homes must honor residents' end-of-life directives. The incident happened in February after the man stopped breathing in the dining hall and was revived. A licensed practical nurse who helped perform CPR on him told her supervisor she discovered the 2010 order, which was signed by a legal guardian and physician, after paramedics took the man to the hospital. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration last month fined Jacaranda $16,000 for the staffs' failure to verify the resident's status. As a result of the investigation, the St. Petersburg facility has retrained its staff, state records say. Records don't make clear what happened to the resident, who was placed in intensive care and had chest tubes inserted in his lungs. He suffered from nearly 20 medical conditions, including chronic airway obstruction, a kidney disorder and dementia.