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Calif. Nursing Home Charged Again With Elder Abuse
In spite heavy fines and multiple charges of elder abuse and nursing home neglect, Pleasant Care Corporation is once again being brought to court on charges of elder abuse and neglect.
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March 8, 2007 (FPRC) -- Pleasant Care Convalescent of Riverside, Calif.; its corporate parent, the lawsuit-beleaguered and frequently fined Pleasant Care Corporation, headquartered in La Canada-Flintridge, a Los Angeles suburb known for its million dollar homes; Pleasant Care Corp. Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Bernabe, Sr., a resident of La Canada-Flintridge, Calif.; and J. William Westphal, administrator of Pleasant Care Convalescent of Riverside are all named in a lawsuit (Case #EC 0044304), charging elder abuse and negligence that was filed recently in Los Angeles Superior Court.
On approximately Feb. 16, 2006, nurses’ notes indicate, that Ida Mae Davis, 81, complained of “right knee pain.” Though an X-ray was ordered, there is no notation anywhere in the records how this injury occurred. On Feb. 27, 2006, staff notified Davis’s family that she was fighting and resisting physical therapy and yelling out in pain. No doubt she was; after an x-ray was taken it was discovered that Davis had a fractured right hip. On Feb. 28, Davis was transferred by ambulance to Riverside Community Hospital to undergo hip surgery.
This was the eighth time since March 1, 2003 that Davis had fallen while a resident at the skilled nursing facility. Medical records indicate that Davis was at times disoriented, had an unsteady gait, poor safety awareness, and demonstrated paranoia and delusional behavior. Though obviously a high risk for falls, the facility never updated Davis’s Care Plan in order to identify or implement methods that might prevent her from falling, never investigated or assessed the source and cause of Davis’s pain, and never accurately or in a timely fashion informed Davis’s family or physician of these incidents. In fact, many times there are no corresponding notes in the medical records explaining why or how Davis fell and injured herself.
Davis’s Pleasant Care chart does record various instances of malnutrition and unexplained weight loss. In fact, prior to Davis’s discharge from the facility, she had lost approximately 18 pounds in that final month. Once she was in Riverside Community Hospital, her weight returned to normal.
Meanwhile, while she was in the hospital staff found Stage III – IV (the worse levels), pressure (bed) sores on her coccyx, a Stage II pressure sore on her left heel, and a critical Stage IV pressure sore on her right heel.
“Ida Mae Davis suffered tortuous pain because Pleasant Care staff is deliberately under-funded and understaffed,” says Riverside attorney Michael Young of Law Offices of Michael R. Young. “California mandates that each resident of skilled nursing facility receive 3.2 hours of care per day. In reality, the California statewide average of licensed nursing staff hours per day is 1.18 hours. Pleasant Care Convalescent of Riverside is so under-funded and understaffed (see www.medicare.gov/NHCompare), that residents get a mere 20 minutes a day of care from licensed nurses.”
Pleasant Care knew the results of its under-funding and understaffing. For example, on Oct. 30, 2005 alone, the California Department of Health Services cited the facility with 15 deficiencies with respect to their care and treatment of residents.
“If all of this wasn’t bad enough, on more than one occasion facility caregivers attempted to extort money from Ida Mae’s family and family friends,” says Young. “They asked for extra money ‘to ensure good care of grandma.’”
Pleasant Care Corp. is no stranger to legal woes resulting from their treatment of the vulnerable elderly residents placed in their hands by believing family members. Consider:
• In June 2005 news reports of Bernabe’s almost $70,000 campaign contribution to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is reported that in November 2003 state regulators cited 11 of Bernabe’s homes more than 50 times and slapped them with $285,000 in fines, according to California Department of Health Services.
• In June 2005, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a 13-count complaint against Pleasant Care Corp., claiming that the company and its Napa facility neglected residents and endangered their health. The Napa facility was cited at least 22 times from 2002 to January 2005, including allegations that a worker sexually abused a resident and another slapped and cursed a resident who required frequent cleaning. The Napa facility was closed.
• In March 2005, Pleasant Care settled a suit brought by the Attorney General Lockyer that cited 160 incidents of substandard care documented by the Dept. of Health Services in the past five years. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to pay $1 million in fines and take a series of steps to improve care at 30 facilities statewide.
• In June 2002, Bernabe’s company was charged with wage and child labor violations and settled with the United States Department of Labor for $1.1 million.
• Numerous cases by former residents and their families have been filed in superior courts across California.
“Obviously, in spite of all the law suits and the millions of dollars in fines and settlements, Bernabe is still finding it profitable to run these facilities,” says Young. “At what point do we as a society and we as a State say ‘no’ to monsters like Bernabe? At what point does the State bring criminal charges against this person?”
For information, call Michael R. Young at (877) 668.6529 or visit www.elderabusepractice.com.
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Send an email to Geri Wilson of http://elderabusepractice.com
626.403.6741
Keywords:
elder abuse
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