Unfortunately, many nursing home residents become the victim of abuse, mistreatment or neglect at the hands of their caregivers or other residents. In many incidents, the nursing home fails to hire appropriately trained nurses and nurse's aides or fails to provide adequate supervision which leads to substandard care. If your loved one was injured, neglected or abused, the Arkansas nursing home abuse lawyers can help. Our network of attorneys has represented many Independence County victims to ensure their family is adequately compensated for their damages and those responsible for their harm are held legally accountable.
This long-term care center is a "for-profit" 150-certified bed home providing cares to residents of Batesville and Independence County, Arkansas. The facility is located at:
1975 White Drive
Batesville, Arkansas, 72501
(870) 698-1853
In addition to providing skilled nursing care, Batesville Health and Rehab also offers:
Arkansas and federal elder abuse agencies are duty-bound to monitor every nursing home and levy monetary fines or deny payments through Medicare when investigators identify serious violations of nursing home regulations and rules. In some cases, the nursing home receives multiple penalties if surveyors find severe violations that harmed or could have harmed a resident. Within the last three years, investigators fined Batesville Health and Rehabilitation Center twice including one fine for $20,907 on July 28, 2017, and another $13,975 fine on January 11, 2018.
The federal government also denied payment for Medicare services on three occasions including on May 10, 2017, July 28, 2017, and January 11, 2018. The nursing home received twenty-one formally filed complaints over the last thirty-six months. Additional documentation about fines and penalties can be found on the Arkansas Adult Protective Services website concerning this nursing home.
To ensure that families are fully informed of the services and care that every long-term care facility offers in their community, the state of Arkansas routinely updates their comprehensive list of safety concerns, incident inquiries, opened investigations, filed complaints, dangerous hazards, and health violations of homes statewide and posts the resulting data on the Medicare.gov website. This data can be used to make an informed decision before placing a loved one in a private or government-run facility.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one out of five stars concerning health inspections, four out of five stars for staffing issues and one out of five stars for quality measures. The Independence County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Batesville Health and Rehabilitation Center that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated July 20, 2018, the state surveyor documented the facility's failure to "ensure treatment and care were provided in accordance with accepted standards of practice for a resident with constipation, as evidenced by the failure to ensure through assessments of the resident's bowel status were conducted and documented." The investigator also noted the facility's failure "to promptly identify and treat when a resident failed to have a bowel movement for three or more consecutive days to prevent potential fecal impaction and other [severe] complications." The incident involved a severely impaired resident who had cognitive challenges "for daily decision-making." The resident "had short-term and long-term memory problems, required extensive assistance for toilet use, and was frequently incontinent of bladder, and always incontinent of bowel."
After reviewing the resident's medical records and clinical documents, the investigator asked the facility Administrator "how would the nurse know if a resident had gone longer than three days without having a bowel movement?" the Administrator responded that "we have a system when a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) documents daily that the resident had a bowel movement. After three days with no BM, the nurse is flagged." She was asked, "after this resident had not had a bowel movement for three days, were any interventions put in place?" The Administrator responded, "I am not able to find any, so, no."
The survey team interviewed a Registered Nurse (RN) "about the events of July 4, 2018" involving the resident suffering from constipation. The RN stated that the "resident was in the dining room throwing up copious amounts." The RN "looked on the computer and saw that [the resident] had not had a bowel movement in six days." The RN "notified the Advanced Practice Nurse" and received an order for a medication to treat impaction [and an enema]." Also, the Advanced Practice Nurse received an order for a kidneys ureter and bladder x-ray that provided negative results for an obstruction.
The investigators reviewed the facility Protocol for Bowel Movement Monitoring that reads in part:
"The Charge Nurse should verify that the resident has not had a bowel movement in three days. The Charge Nurse should then verify if the resident has an 'as needed' medication that can be administered for constipation. If there is no 'as needed' order, the Charge Nurse should notify the medical doctor for further instructions."
"The Director of Nurses or their designee monitors the Alert Listing Report daily to ensure residents have a documented bowel movement at least every three days. The Alert Listing Report is printed by the Director of Nurses or designee and given to the Charge Nurses on each unit for the residents identified to not have a documented bowel movement and three days for intervention/follow up daily."
The Director of Nurses or designees monitors the Alert Listing Report daily to ensure the Charge Nurse has followed-through with resolving constipation for residents identified."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated July 28, 2017, a notation was made by the state surveyor regarding the nursing home's failure to "ensure infection control and isolation procedures were consistently implemented." The investigative team also documented the facility's failure "to ensure signage was posted outside the room of a resident on contact isolation for Clostridium difficile (C-diff), to alert staff and visitors to see the nurse for instructions before entering the room."
Surveyors also documented that the facility had failed to "ensure staff utilized personal protective equipment (PPE) when providing care to the resident, to prevent the potential spread of [infection]." The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved one resident who required contact isolation. However, the investigator noted that the deficient practice could harm others. The nursing home's failure "had the potential to affect three residents who required isolation precautions, as documented by a list provided by the Interim Director of Nurses on July 28, 2017" and "28 residents who resided on the 500 Hall and shared staff with [the infectious resident] as documented on the Roster Matrix provided by the Director of Nurses on July 24, 2017."
The incident involved a failure "to ensure urinary catheter tubing was kept off the floor to prevent potential cross-contamination that could result in infection" involving residents with urinary catheters. There was a "failure of a direct care staff member to wash her hands after providing incontinent care, before handling items in the resident's room, to prevent cross-contamination and potential infection." This failure "had the potential to affect forty residents who were dependent on staff for incontinence care."
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated January 11, 2018, the state investigator documented the facility's failure "to ensure their abuse and neglect policy and procedures were implemented to prevent resident-to-resident altercations, Care Plans were updated with interventions to prevent aggressive behavior, and staff are trained on how to monitor and supervise residents with aggressive behaviors." The investigators also noted a failure to conduct "one-on-one monitoring [that] was consistently provided when necessary, and efforts were made to determine and address positive factors for aggressive behaviors to prevent further physical attacks of other residents."
The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved residents "who had a history of aggressive behavior toward other residents. These failed practices resulted in an Immediate Jeopardy, which caused or could have caused serious harm, injury or death to [a specific resident] who was intentionally sought out and attacked by [an aggressive resident] on two different occasions." The failure by the nursing staff and the Administrator "had the potential to affect twenty-two residents." The investigators reviewed the facility policy titled: Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation that reads in part:
"Each resident has a right to be free from abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property and exploitation. This includes but is not limited to freedom from corporal punishment, involuntary seclusion or any other physical or chemical restraint not required to treat the resident's medical symptoms. Residents must not be subject to abuse by anyone including, but not limited to: facility staff, other residents, consultants, contractors, volunteers, or staff of other agency serving the resident, family members, legal guardians, friend or other individuals area. Abuse means the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain or mental anguish."
The investigator reviewed an Incident Accident Report dated January 6, 2017, involving residents in the dining room in the 300 Hall (secure unit) involving resident to resident contact. The report showed that one resident attacked another resident and "hit him in the back, with no injuries noted at this time." The immediate action taken by the nursing staff involved assessing the resident "for injuries and keeping them apart." The incident was witnessed by a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). However, "there was no documentation of any follow up to the incident."
The investigator asked the Director of Nurses about the issue involving resident to resident altercations at the facility. The Director said that "there has been an issue with the repeated resident to resident altercation." The Director said in one incident, "there was a resident to resident altercation [with the resident] on January 3, 2017," when a resident hit another resident, "his roommate, in the head with the control for the recliner. The residents were separated and [the aggressive resident] was moved to another room." The Director was then asked, "if this incident was investigated to try to determine causative factors." The Director responded, "no." The investigators then asked the Director in regards to the incident "when was the one-on-one initiated and who performed the one-on-one with [the attacked resident] on January 6, 2017, after the first incident occurred?"
The survey team asked the Director "if she had investigated the incident for causative factors related to the two incidents stated [above]." The Director responded, "no." When asked if there was any plan put into place to address the behaviors of the resident exhibited the Director replied, "No, not at this time." When asked if the staff was educated on how to handle the situation, the Director replied, "no."
If you believe your loved one has been harmed or injured while a resident at Batesville Health and Rehab, call the Arkansas nursing home abuse attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 now. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Independence County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Batesville. Our team of skilled elder resident injury attorneys can assist your family and successfully resolve your case for financial recompense against all parties including the facility, doctors, nurses, and staff members that caused your loved one harm. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim. Let us fight aggressively on your behalf to ensure your rights are protected.
We accept all nursing home cases involving personal injury, abuse, and wrongful death through a contingency fee agreement. This arrangement postpones the need to pay for our services until after our legal team has resolved your claim for compensation through a jury trial award or negotiated settlement out of court. Our network of attorneys offers every client a "No Win/No-Fee" Guarantee, meaning you will owe us nothing if we are unable to obtain compensation to recover your family's damages. Let our team begin working on your case today to ensure you receive adequate compensation. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
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