霍普金顿养老机构86岁住户在恒温器显示99度的房间身亡：州监管查出多项违规，死因待定
霍普金顿消息——据MassLive 10月10日率先披露、其后多家波士顿媒体跟进的报道，马萨诸塞州老龄与独立事务执行办公室（AGE）在86岁住户希拉·希齐平斯基（Sheila Szczypinski）身亡后，对霍普金顿（Hopkinton）西主街50号的金池社区养老机构（The Communities at Golden Pond）展开审查，并启动正式执法程序。
警方报告记载：希齐平斯基9月29日下午还参加了机构组织的活动与购物出行，9月30日上午被护理人员发现身亡，赶到现场的警员注意到房间异常闷热，恒温器显示99华氏度，消防人员随后开窗通风。该机构前一天刚把楼宇系统由制冷切换为供暖。她的儿子向调查人员表示，母亲容易糊涂，可能误调了房间温度；机构设施经理也提出类似说法，机构方面称供暖制冷设备运转正常并正配合调查。
AGE审查发现的问题包括：该机构缺少第三季度的消防与防走失演练记录，现场没有自动体外除颤器，养老机构证书未按规定张贴，工作人员沟通日志中也没有关于高温状况及应对措施的任何记录。米德尔塞克斯县地方检察官办公室与州首席法医办公室仍在确定死因与死亡方式，截至10月11日尚未公布结论——因此目前不能断言高温就是致死原因。
这起事件在马萨诸塞州引发对养老机构监管的持续追问，也是该州10月11日最受关注的州内新闻。涉事机构运营总监道格拉斯·诺布尔（Douglas Noble）表示，机构正与监管机构密切配合。
图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0（霍普金顿镇政厅）
Hopkinton Assisted-Living Death: Resident Found in 99-Degree Room, State Finds Violations, Cause Undetermined
HOPKINTON — Massachusetts' Executive Office of Aging and Independence (AGE) reviewed The Communities at Golden Pond in Hopkinton and initiated formal enforcement after the death of 86-year-old resident Sheila Szczypinski, according to findings first reported by MassLive on October 10 and followed by multiple Boston outlets. The facility is at 50 West Main Street in Hopkinton.
A police report says Szczypinski joined a supervised shopping trip and an afternoon activity on September 29 and was found dead the next morning by an aide. An arriving Hopkinton officer noted the room was uncomfortably hot; the thermostat read 99 degrees, and firefighters opened windows to ventilate. The building had switched from air conditioning to heat the day before. Her son told investigators she became confused easily and may have turned her own heat up by mistake; the facility's manager offered a similar theory, and the operator says its HVAC equipment was working properly and that it is cooperating with investigators.
AGE inspectors found the facility was missing its third-quarter fire and elopement drills, had no automated external defibrillator on site, had not posted its assisted-living certificate, and had no entry in its staff communication log about the heat conditions or precautions. The Middlesex District Attorney's Office and the state medical examiner are still determining the cause and manner of death; as of October 11 nothing had been released, so it cannot be concluded that heat caused the death.
The case kept assisted-living oversight at the top of Massachusetts news on October 11. Operations director Douglas Noble said the community is cooperating closely with regulators.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Hopkinton Town Hall)
图片来源：图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0（霍普金顿镇政厅）
