Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

911 operators received a plea for help from a nursing home resident because "he wasn't able to breathe" and the facility was hot, according to a report from the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality. When state regulators arrived at the facility, they found air-conditioning pumps and compressors that had been inoperable since Summer 2009 and dirty and/or blowers and filters in resident rooms at Ravenwood Nursing & Rehabilitation.

Chilled water circulation pumps failed on July 2, 2010 and temperatures in the facility soared to 90 - 96 degrees by July 6, 2010. Inspectors found that the door to the facility's walk-in refrigerator had been propped open and refrigerator temperatures had reached 60 degrees; normal safe food storage temperature is 41 degrees. All 150 residents were immediately evacuated by the state and have not returned to the facility.

The ensuing investigation found that Ravenwood administrators knew about the air conditioning problems for over a year, yet failed to notify anyone of the existing problems and failed to make needed repairs. In fact, a cooling pump failed last year. Repair bids were obtained and a new pump ordered on November 4, 2009, but the pump was never installed. Sadly, only two of four compressors were working in September 2009 and a work order was not issued for repair until July 5, 2010. Additionally, one of two cooling-water circulator pumps had also failed and had not been replaced.

The facility was fined $52,500 by the state and ordered to correct the problems within ten days. If the facility is not substantially compliant by October 16, 2010, it runs the risk of being denied Medicare or Medicaid payments on new admissions.

With the East Coast suffering through triple-digit temperatures, residents at Ravenwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore, Maryland faced a "potential harm" situation when the air conditioning system failed at the facility. According to reports, the air conditioning problem began on Friday, July 2, 2010, but, according to residents and employees, the air conditioning system had not been meeting the facility's needs for approximately two weeks.

Reportedly, the temperature reached 93 degrees in the building on Tuesday morning. After a resident called 911 seeking help that morning, the State of Maryland stepped in and ordered Ravenwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to relocate its residents for safety reasons.

As of July 7, 2010, all of Ravenwood's residents but ten had been moved to different facilities until air conditioning system repairs are completed. Those repairs are expected to take at least another week. The remaining residents have been moved to an air-conditioned multi-purpose room where they are sleeping on cots, beds, and mattresses on the floor.

Beulah Addison suffered a stroke in September 2005 and had to enter Lochearn Nursing Home in Baltimore, Maryland. Addison alleges that the facility delayed in filing her Medicaid application so that it could continue to charge her a higher daily rate for several months. The delay cost Addison over $70,000. Reportedly, Addison also alleges that a nursing home employee put her in contact with individuals who tried to purchase her home at a rate far less than its worth.

A circuit court judge ruled that Addison could not be forced into arbitration, but that decision was overturned by Maryland's Court of Special Appeals. Addison has appealed to the Court of Appeals to allow her to take her fraud claims against the facility to trial rather than the arbitration that the facility perfers. The Court of Appeals has not indicated when it will rule on Addison v. Lochearn Nursing Home LLC d/b/a Future Care-Lochearn, No. 134, September Term 2008.

In the wake of the pending manslaughter charges against Life Care Centers of America, who has pled not guilty, Massachusetts lawmakers want to toughen manslaughter penalties for corporations. The current fine amount, which is $1,000, dates back to 1819. Lawmakers believe that, given the severity of the Julia McCauley case, the current law is grossly inadequate. In that case, Julia McCauley was found dead at the foot of the facility's front stairs with her wheelchair overturned. The facility allegedly failed to ensure that she was wearing her WanderGuard bracelet that would have set off an alarm and locked doors if she got too close to an exit.

Attorney General Martha Coakley supports a bill that would increase the fine to $250,000, which is merely a suggested amount to serve as a starting point for legislative discussions. "Corporations do not go to jail, but they do respond to monetary fines," Coakley said.

The Summerville at Potomac nursing home in Potomac, Maryland was slapped with a $10,000 fine and has been banned until further notice from accepting new patients after a survey revealed very serious violations in state and federal regulations. In fact, the violations were so serious, the Director of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Office of Health Care Quality said, "These are very serious violations. We do not see them routinely." She went on to say, "We do not direct a plan of correction routinely."

The facility must complete a six-point "directed plan of correction" issued by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene after a November survey uncovered improperly cared for pressure sores, mismanaged medications, no intervention for patients at risk for falls, and failure to report excessive weight gain and loss. Many of the problems were attributed to the lack of a delegating nurse. A delegating nurse is a registered nurse who monitors patient care and issues patient care directives to the staff. A delegating nurse is to visit the facility every 45 days, but at Summerville, no delegating nurse had been at the facility since August.

The residents' conditions were poor. One woman was suffering from an infected pressure sore that emitted a foul odor and greenish-yellow discharge. Another resident gained 49 pounds in four months and the weight gain was not reported to a physician. Another resident fell nearly ten times and no fall prevention plan was put into place. Another resident did not receive any pain medication during wound treatment. Residents on pureed diets were fed food in which all items were mixed together, rather than separately.

The six-point "directed plan of correction" orders Summerville to appoint a full-time registered nurse, examine the skin of each patient and report findings, enlist a wound-care specialist to address ulcer concerns, operate under a monitor that will report to officials, and to advise residents and their families of the poor survey result.