Stone Cottage Care Center: Respiratory Care Failure - IA
The respiratory care citation fell under the Quality of Life and Care category, a broad regulatory grouping that covers some of the most fundamental obligations a nursing home carries toward the people living inside it. Inspectors classified the violation at Scope and Severity Level D, meaning it was isolated in nature and caused no documented actual harm. But regulators determined the potential for more than minimal harm was real.
That distinction matters. A Level D finding does not mean nothing went wrong. It means inspectors found a gap, a failure in the way care was being delivered or managed, and judged that residents could have been hurt by it. With respiratory care, the stakes of that gap are not abstract. Oxygen equipment that malfunctions, goes unmonitored, or is applied incorrectly can deteriorate quickly into a medical emergency. The inspection record does not specify which residents were affected, how many, or what exactly inspectors observed when they flagged the deficiency. What it records is that the care was not safe and appropriate, and that the finding was serious enough to cite.
Stone Cottage Care Center is a nursing facility in Sigourney, a small city in Keokuk County in southeastern Iowa. The September inspection was a complaint inspection, meaning it was triggered by a concern reported to regulators rather than occurring as part of a routine survey cycle. That origin is worth noting. Someone, whether a resident, a family member, or a staff member, contacted authorities about conditions at the facility. Inspectors arrived and found eleven things wrong.
Eleven deficiencies in a single inspection is a significant number for any facility, regardless of severity levels. The respiratory care citation was one piece of a larger picture that inspectors documented across multiple regulatory categories. The full scope of what else they found, and how serious those additional violations were, is part of the public record but was not detailed in the summary narrative provided.
The facility reported correcting the respiratory care deficiency by September 26, 2025, twenty-two days after inspectors walked through the door. Whether that correction involved retraining staff, repairing or replacing equipment, updating care protocols, or something else entirely, the inspection record does not say. A correction date reported by the provider is not the same as a correction verified by regulators. Follow-up confirmation, if any occurred, is not reflected in the summary.
What the record leaves behind is a narrow window into a moment when someone in Sigourney needed respiratory care and the system around them was not working the way it should have been. The inspectors came, found the problem, wrote it down, and left a facility with twenty-two days to fix it.
For residents who depend on oxygen or other respiratory support to get through the night, twenty-two days is a long time to wait.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Stone Cottage Care Center from 2025-09-04 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
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 26, 2026 · Our methodology
Stone Cottage Care Center in Sigourney, IA was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 4, 2025.
Inspectors classified the violation at Scope and Severity Level D, meaning it was isolated in nature and caused no documented actual harm.
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.