Nursing Home Fined $90,000 in Boy’s Death

A skilled nursing home at the Tustin Hospital and Medical Center has been fined $90,000 and given the state’s most severe citation in the death of a 7-year-old boy there in June, state officials said Monday.

The boy, who had been admitted 18 months earlier with a traumatic brain injury, was undergoing a breathing treatment through an incision in his upper chest. The therapist left for about 10 minutes, said Ken August, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Services. When he returned, the breathing apparatus was disconnected and the patient was dead.