By Jennifer Kraus
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SPRINGFIELD, Tennessee (WTVF) — Last week we told you about the man in Robertson County who wound up on the side of a busy road, all day in his wheelchair, with all of his belongings. He’d been a patient at the Waters of Springfield nursing home. After he was sent to the hospital for tests, the nursing home refused to take him back, apparently violating state rules.
And at that same nursing home last week, emergency crews were called after another resident got out a back door in his wheelchair and rolled into a large ditch in front of the facility. The elderly man was taken to the hospital with injuries.
And before all of that, a patient’s sudden death at the Waters earlier this year raises questions as well. That man’s daughter said she doesn’t understand why the Waters of Springfield is still even open.
Olivia Kritsch said, “I cannot describe the way I felt when I first heard the 911 call.”
The 911 dispatcher can be heard asking, “Is he awake and breathing?’
The caller replies, “No.”
“He’s not breathing?” the dispatcher asks again, confirming the patient’s status.
Again, the caller says, “No.”
That 911 call was made early February 5th of this year.
And the man who was neither awake nor breathing was Jay Kritsch. He had been at the Waters of Springfield nursing home for only a couple of weeks, receiving physical therapy. His daughter said he was doing so well, he was about to be released and sent home. But then Kritsch died after falling in his bathroom at the facility.
Olivia Kritsch said from the beginning she felt like what the nursing home was telling her just didn’t add up.
So she began requesting records including that 911 call, made by a nurse at the facility.
“It’s unbelievable. I still feel like I’m in shock,” Kritsch explained.
In that call, the nurse states, “We got somebody in there doing compressions.”
You can hear the dispatcher ask if CPR was being performed.
“So you have CPR in progress?”
“Yes.”
The nurse replies yes, even though she later admits she is nowhere near Kritsch and his bathroom.
“Is there any way you can hang up with me, go to the room where they’re doing CPR, and then call back in?”
“Okay.”
And after the dispatcher tells the nurse to call back when she is actually in the room with Kritsch, we learn… that Kritsch had passed away.
The nurse says simply, “He’s gone.”
The dispatcher then asks, “I’m sorry?” trying to understand the last statement.
The nurse replies, “He’s definitely gone.”
The dispatcher continues, “Is he cold to the touch?”
The nurse then answers, “He is cold to the touch. He’s blue in the face.”
Medical records show Kritsch wanted all lifesaving measures including CPR.
But the state’s investigation into his death found the Waters of Springfield never performed CPR, even though the nurse claimed they had when she called 911.
The nurse can be heard telling the dispatcher at one point, “They stopped CPR once they got him off the toilet. He’s gone.”
In fact the two nursing assistants who we hear supposedly stopped CPR were not certified to do it.
Olivia Kritsch explained, “So the two people left in the room with Dad were not certified and the one that left the room was certified.”
“What do you think about that?” we asked.
“I don’t understand how that happens,” Kritsch said.
And there is more.
According to the state investigation, Kritsch’s roommate pressed his call button between 5:30 and 5:45 that morning after Kritsch went to the bathroom and didn’t come back out.
Facility video footage shows no one responded though until 6:07. State investigators reported that several employees then can be seen going in and out of the room for the next ten minutes.
But no one called 911 until 6:17.
“I just can’t let that go. You [the Waters of Springfield] did not provide the care that you were obligated to provide my father and it’s not okay,” Olivia Kritsch stated.
Regulators fined the Waters of Springfield $26,000 and declared immediate jeopardy, the most severe level of concern following an incident at a nursing home. It meant the facility could not admit any new patients. But not long after, it was back to business as usual.
The administrator of the Waters declined our request for an interview and refused to answer any questions, but said in a statement, “The safety, dignity, and well-being of our residents remain our priority… We remain focused on providing a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for all residents and continuing our day-to-day commitment to quality care.”
“And now you’re committed to quality care? It feels like a slap in the face,” Kritsch responded.
She continued, “There were multiple failures in my dad’s care and I hope that other families can avoid experiencing what we’ve experienced.”
The nursing home told us in its statement, “Individuals associated with the 911 call are no longer employed by the facility.” The woman who was director of nursing at the time, over all of those involved in this incident however is still at the Waters, but I’m told she is now in a different position. And, I’ve just learned that state inspectors showed up again at the Waters Monday. We will be looking for their report and let you know what, if anything, they found.
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