A patient with Alzheimer’s disease curled up her toes and screamed in agony for days because nurses forgot to administer her pain killers. Her plight was one of a number of disturbing and bizarre cases identified during a federal investigation into Cooinda, a 60-bed aged care home run very badly by Queensland Health at Kippa-Ring, north of Brisbane. “Medications were dispensed by the pharmacy, however medications were observed as not given and still in an unopened packet,” says a report by the Federal Government’s Aged Care Quality Agency, marked “sensitive”. The leaked report says the neglected woman, 52, was suffering severe leg pain. She also suffered from epilepsy and cognitive impairment. However, she “appeared comfortable” after the mistake was rectified, according to the agency’s assessment team, headed by Margaret Williamson with assistance from Jill Winny and Tara Quirke. There were delays in delivering other pain medication and eye drops to elderly residents. Most perplexing was the case of the missing reading glasses, with “four or five pairs” found buried in a garden. And a search of one violent patient’s room uncovered a hoard of weapons.
