PICO RIVERA, Calif. (AP) - A Pico Rivera nursing home where a patient was fatally burned has received the state's most severe penalty.
The California Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that it issued a citation and a $100,000 fine to the Riviera Healthcare Center.
Regulators say a resident confined to a wheelchair at the nursing home set himself on fire last Dec. 23 while trying to light a cigarette in an unsupervised dining room. He was burned over 40% of his body and died 18 days later.
Authorities said the home allowed the man to smoke without a safety plan and that staff failed to use a nearby fire blanket and extinguisher to put out the flames.
A call seeking comment from the nursing home wasn't immediately returned.
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