When state inspectors were asked to take a hard look at an assisted living center in Florida,
what they found amounted to “a total collapse in the delivery of care
to the residents,” they wrote.
The state immediately halted — with the owner’s consent — all new admissions.
During a two-week period in September, inspectors discovered:
- A patient who died of heart failure after staff members failed for
four days to give her the heart medicine she had been prescribed. - Another patient who was given a blood thinner — a medicine she had
not been prescribed — that made her so sick, she went to the hospital
for an emergency blood transfusion. - An employee who had falsified medication and nurse’s orders.
- Three Alzheimer’s patients with toenails so long they curled around their toes.
- Managers who, over several days, could not give an accurate resident count. One day, they were off by more than 30 people.
Inspectors for Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, the
office that regulates nursing homes and assisted-living facilities,
began investigating the facility after receiving seven complaints. They
cited it for three dozen problems. The agency since has begun overseeing a series of corrections. For more, read the story.
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Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law
practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of
nursing home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond,
Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across
Virginia.
