Laurelwood Comm Living Center: Fecal Impaction MS
LAUREL, MS - A Mississippi nursing home failed to properly monitor a resident's bowel movements and implement appropriate interventions, resulting in the resident's hospitalization for severe fecal impaction, according to a federal inspection report.
Failure to Monitor Critical Health Functions
Federal inspectors at Laurelwood Community Living Center found that staff failed to follow established care protocols for monitoring bowel movements, despite having clear policies in place. The facility's own care management policy required ongoing assessments and care plan revisions as residents' conditions changed, but documentation revealed significant gaps in monitoring and intervention.
The inspection focused on Resident #25, a cognitively intact woman who had been admitted to the facility in March 2022 with a documented history of constipation. Her care plan specifically identified her as being at risk for constipation due to multiple medications, with goals stating she should have a normal bowel movement at least every three days.
Documentation review revealed alarming patterns of missing bowel movement records. In January 2025, there were no documented bowel movements for multiple consecutive periods, including January 1-3, 5, and a concerning six-day stretch from January 14-19. Additional gaps occurred on January 23, 24, and 28.
Medication Management Failures
The facility's medication administration records revealed a critical oversight in pharmaceutical management. Despite the documented absence of bowel movements, Resident #25 continued to receive Lomotil, an anti-diarrheal medication, three times daily. This medication works by slowing intestinal motility, which can worsen constipation when administered inappropriately.
Simultaneously, MiraLAX, a laxative that had been ordered on an as-needed basis specifically for constipation management, was not administered during the periods when the resident had no documented bowel movements. This represents a fundamental failure in medication management protocols.
Medical literature establishes that prolonged use of anti-diarrheal medications like Lomotil in patients with existing constipation can lead to severe complications. The medication reduces intestinal contractions, which normally help move waste through the digestive system. When combined with existing constipation risk factors, this can create a dangerous cycle leading to fecal impaction.
Severe Medical Consequences
The failure to properly monitor and intervene resulted in the resident's hospitalization from January 30 through February 4, 2025, with a primary diagnosis of fecal impaction. This condition occurs when stool becomes so hardened and compacted in the intestines that normal bowel movements cannot occur naturally.
Fecal impaction represents a serious medical emergency that can lead to multiple complications. The condition can cause severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. More seriously, it can lead to intestinal obstruction, perforation, or rectal bleeding. In this case, the resident subsequently developed hemorrhage of the anus and rectum, conditions that were added to her medical record with an onset date of February 5, 2025.
The resident's daughter confirmed the severity of the situation in a phone interview, explaining that her mother "did not have a bowel movement for a week" and required transfer to an acute hospital in another state, where she remained for nearly a week due to the severity of her bowel impaction.
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 19, 2026 · Our methodology
LAURELWOOD COMMUNITY LIVING CENTER in LAUREL, MS was cited for violations during a health inspection on April 10, 2025.
Documentation review revealed alarming patterns of missing bowel movement records.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.