The facility manager of the state-owned Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center requested shatterproof window replacements twice before a patient hurled a chair through a glass window and jumped, according to an article on the Boston Globe website.
Massachusetts mental health officials said there was no money for the fix. Then, just before Christmas, a patient smashed an eighth-floor window and jumped to his death. The funds were approved the next day, the article said.
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services found the hospital did not provide safe care in this case.
A hospital committee had discussed the need for safety windows in patient community rooms at least five times since January 2013, according to the federal report. Even after a memo went to a deputy commissioner at the Department of Mental Health in July, explaining that a patient had recently smashed a window, the glass panes remained, the article said.
Preparing Healthcare Facilities for Wildfire Air Quality Events
UW Health Set to Open Expansion at East Madison Hospital
Central Ohio Primary Care Physicians Falls Victim to Cyberattack
The Role of Biophilic Design in Healthcare Facilities
TriStar Centennial Medical Center Invests $90M in Women, Children's Hospital Expansions