A former Iowa licensed nurse practitioner has been sentenced to prison after failing to help a nursing home patient who died of asphyxiation.
- Becky Manning, 70, was in charge of the overnight shift at Care Initiatives, a nursing facility in West Des Moines, during one night in February 2023.
- That night, an 87-year-old patient indicated that his tracheostomy tube in his neck needed to have fluids suctioned out. Ms. Manning, who was the sole nurse on duty, refused to do so after repeated requests.
- Earlier that night, she reportedly told the director of nursing that she was unwilling or unable to suction the tracheostomy tube and the nursing director told her to “watch a video and figure it out,” according to a lawsuit filed by the man’s family.
- The man died of asphyxiation.
- In 2024, Ms. Manning’s nursing license was suspended during an investigation by the Iowa Board of Nursing
This is a case where the employer failed to properly train the employee, the nursing responsibilities were extensively over her head, and she told the employer that she was not trained for the procedure. She none the less was told to do the work. This is unfair to the nurse. This nurse was made a scapegoat for the employer’s failure to train her, failure to have competent nurses to perform the complex tasks, and not having enough staff to care for the employer’s patients. This is not fair to this nurse. Call me to discuss your scope of practice and negligence case.
