Nursing Home Patient Sustains Serious Burns After Smoking In His Bed

A nursing home patient, connected to an oxygen line, sustained serious burns to his face and after his cigarette ignited the nasal line and the bed in which he was laying. The incident took place at Summit Park Nursing Home in New York. Nurses were able to extinguish the fire before the man sustained more serious burns to other parts of his body.

Read more about this case involving smoking-related burns here.

My take on this:

Nursing homes need to create and implement smoking policies to cut-down on situations such as this. Most smoking policies forbid patients from smoking in their rooms primarily due to the difficulty supervising them and the inherent risk of falling asleep while smoking. In this case, hopefully the New York Department of Health will investigate this matter so similar smoking-related injuries can be avoided.

For laws related to New York nursing homes, look here.
Click on the links for information on nursing homes in New York , Buffalo and Rochester

Related Nursing Home Law Center Blog Entries:

Unsupervised Nursing Home Resident Dies From Burns

Maximum Fine Levied Against Nursing Home For Failing To Supervise Resident While Smoking