Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

After repeatedly failing to meet federal minimum health and safety standards, Lady of the Oaks Retirement Manor, a nursing home facility located in Lafayette, Louisiana, has lost it funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and will be forced to close, leaving nearly 100 defenseless residents looking for a home.

The decision to deny the facility federal funding came after repeated problems at the facility. In 2008, the facility was assessed $361,450 in civil penalties and new admissions payment was denied. In March 2009, the facility again faced denial of admissions payment and a fine of $11,700. In February 2010, the facility was fined $86,100 and new admissions were once again denied.

On July 7, 2010, inspectors found health and safety deficiencies that placed residents an immediate jeopardy situation. On August 5, 2010, deficiencies were once again found that placed the residents in immediate jeopardy and risked their health and safety. According to Bob Moos, Public Affairs Specialist for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, lady of the Oaks had been ample opportunity in the past to submit corrective action plans but that the "facility remained out of compliance with federal quality of care recommendations" on subsequent inspections.

Bed Menard, who owned Lady of the Oaks until approximately 2004, "I'm very disappointed that this would happen to something we struggled to build up. I thought I was selling it to somebody who would act accordingly and ensure that the residents' quality of life would be better than at their own home. I guess I sold it to the wrong person."

It's been almost five years since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Huntington Place Senior Community through massive flooding. What remained inside was still dangerous and was only discovered through chance.

A man named Nicholas, who requested that his last name remain anonymous, had a dog that ran off. During the search for the dog, Nicholas and his friend had to enter the abandoned Huntington Place Senior Community to catch her and were quite surprised to find multiple filing cabinets filled with medical records of the facility residents. The records were completely legible and contained social security numbers, birthdates, addresses, medical information, and resident names. This was identity theft waiting to happen. But the records weren't the only find that day - Nicholas and his friend also found pills thrown all over the floor of the facility, most of them unopened and in their original packaging. One of the medications found was Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Syringes and other medical supplies were also found abandoned and unsecured.

According to St. Bernard Parish President, Craig Taffaro, the building was originally slated to be demolished in June 2009 but a property release error held up the demolition. The building will be demolished within thirty days.