The Nursing Home Abuse Continues
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento nursing home abuse lawyer. Many people take care of their parents or loved ones as they age. Sometimes their aging loved ones develop problems that can only be cared for by professionals. When that times comes, many families make the decision to utilize a nursing home. They trust that the staff will be attentive, compassionate and properly care for their family member. Sadly, this is not always the case.
Nursing Home Abuse at Inglewood-Centinela
A local woman had to turn to the Ingelwood-Centinela nursing home for professional medical care after she spent six weeks successfully battling a severe infection. She had defied all of the expectations and was on track to make a stunning recovery. Her family left her in the hands of this nursing home expecting this trend to continue. Unfortunately, her family returned to find that she had somehow deteriorated. According to the family, they found her sitting in a wheelchair in the nursing home mumbling to herself, unable to make eye contact with her loved ones. While the nursing home may have thought it was dementia, it had developed too quickly. Something else was going on.
Rushed Back to the Hospital, but which Hospital?
Understandably, her family members became very concerned. Shockingly, one of the attendants told the family that she had taken their loved one’s vitals and she appeared normal. Of course, she was far from normal. Her family sought to call 911 to request an ambulance because, somehow, the facility was unable to find an ambulance for transport. Then, the nursing home said that she needed to be taken to the Hollywood Presbyterian (45 minutes away) because of their contract. The family asserted their rights to move her to Centinela hospital because it’s across the street. Once they arrived at Centinela, it turned out she was running a fever up to 104, had suffered an intestinal infection, a urinary tract infection, and pneumonia. She was acutely confused, had diarrhea, and extreme abdominal pain. Frankly, this was completely unacceptable. She was sent to the ICU after being admitted to a nursing home for professional care.
A Pattern of Abuse
The owner of this nursing home, Schlomo Rechnitz, actually owns a slew of nursing homes across the state of California. His nursing homes operate under the umbrella of Brius Healthcare Services. He acquired many of these nursing homes after they fell into bankruptcy. He has impressive control over the nursing home industry in California and the nursing homes have fallen short of standards multiple times. Since 2004, the LA County Department of Health has received over 30 complaints regarding the nursing home, leading to investigations that have found around 250 deficiencies within the home. While this nursing home has a poor record, Rechnitz has even had a nursing home decertified by the federal government. This means the home will no longer receive funding from Medicare. With this kind of track record, it is essential that families know how to spot nursing home abuse.
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Sacramento Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento nursing home abuse lawyer. If your loved one has suffered abuse, neglect or has passed away as a result of poor care, please call me at (916) 921-6400 for free, friendly advice. I can also be reached toll free at (800) 404-5400 if you are calling outside of the Sacramento region.
I am a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. We are a fellowship of top rated US trial attorneys with multiple million dollar verdicts.
My past verdicts and settlements may be viewed here.
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Photograph Attribution: Mercurywoodrose (Own work), by way of Wikimedia Commons
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