Negligent Nursing Home Chain Fined
March 9, 2006
The second largest chain of nursing home in California has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle civil allegations that they were providing negligent care.
Pleasant Care Corp., a La Canada Flintridge firm, owns more than 30 nursing homes in California. The agreement resolved a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office in his attempt to proceed with aggressively penalizing nursing homes that have failed their patients.
According to the suit, Pleasant Care provided poor quality of care that permeated their homes throughout the state.
Upon investigation, it was found that the corporation grossly failed to fulfill their patient stewardship responsibility. As a result of this, the company was charged with five counts of elder abuse and one count of violating state patient-care regulations.
The basis for the civil action taken was that more than 160 regulatory violations cited by the state Department of Health Services over the last five years. In past reviews, it was noted that the company had “serious compliance problems” according to Department of Health Services officials.
When these problems seemed to go unresolved, Lockyer's offices decided to scrutinize the operators of the chain of nursing homes after concluding that the current system of enforcement was inadequate.
Now, a 65-page injunction approved by Judge Laura Metz requires that Pleasant Care hire a government-appointed independent monitor, a compliance officer to make sure that each nursing home follows the law, and more nurses.
Along with this agreement, there will be protection for whistle-blower staff members.
Failure to comply with any of these measures could result in civil penalties of up to $6,000 per violation.
For more information on California's nursing homes, contact us to confer with a California nursing home abuse lawyer.
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