Nurse accused of manslaughter in patient's death
1/3/02
By JOSHUA MOLINA
SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A nurse at Cottage Hospital was arrested Wednesday night in connection with a botched medical procedure that resulted in the death of an 81-year-old Ventura man.
Kevin Alan Rowland, 38, was booked on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the death of Kenneth Mattern, authorities said. At the time of his arrest, the nurse was in custody at County Jail on suspicion of grand theft of prescription drugs from the hospital.
Mr. Mattern died on Christmas Eve, a day after his car was hit by a car driven by an 89-year-old man on Highway 101 near Haskell's Beach in Goleta. Mr. Mattern, who was heading to Pleasanton to spend Christmas with friends, was taken to Cottage Hospital, where he was treated for a broken left hand and chest trauma, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol.
During treatment, Mr. Mattern was supposed to be given a liquid vitamin and mineral supplement by mouth, said Lt. Nick Katzenstein, spokesman for the Santa Barbara Police Department.
Instead, while under Mr. Rowland's care, the medication was administered through a feeding tube inserted into one of Mr. Mattern's veins, according to the police department.
An autopsy later revealed that Mr. Mattern died from an embolism in his lungs, not as a result of injuries suffered in the collision, said Lt. Katzenstein.
Officials at Cottage determined that the death may have been caused by an error and alerted the coroner's office, who turned the investigation over to the Police Department.
Friend and neighbor Barbara Wise described Mr. Mattern as a nice, healthy man who swam 45 minutes a day at the mobile home park where he lived.
She remembered how he would sometimes call at 6 p.m. and tell her not to eat dessert because he was going to bring something over. Or, sometimes in the summer, he would bring watermelon over to share with her.
"He was a very giving, intelligent man," she said.
As part of the police investigation into the death, authorities learned that Cottage Hospital was already conducting an internal investigation of Mr. Rowland stemming from the disappearance of some narcotics that were under his control, Lt. Katzenstein said.
Authorities arrested the nurse at Santa Barbara Municipal Airport on Dec. 28 as he was preparing to board a flight to his permanent home in Platte City, Mo., Lt. Katzenstein said.
"We believe that he was using (the drugs) for his personal use," Lt. Katzenstein said. "We don't have evidence that he was under the influence of the drugs at the time he administered these drugs to the victim."
Lt. Katzenstein said that Mr. Rowland may have been fired from Cottage Hospital prior to his arrest at the airport.
Hospital officials did not comment on the suspect's work status, but Ron Werft, Cottage Health System president and CEO, said Wednesday the hospital is cooperating with the police in the investigation.
"We at Cottage are all terribly devastated by this incident," he said. "We have and we continue to express our deepest sorrow to the family and loved ones of Mr. Mattern."
Mr. Rowland was employed by Fastaff, a traveling nurse agency in Denver and worked at Cottage since October. Traveling nurse agencies contract with hospitals to provide nursing staff on a temporary basis. Traveling nurses typically work for a few months at one hospital and then move on to another assignment.
Cottage, like many hospitals in California, relies on traveling nurses to help cope with the statewide nursing shortage.
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