Many of the 1.5 million residents in nursing facilities in the U.S. are victims of mistreatment. In some cases, the nursing staff neglects these patients, or caregivers, visitors, employees, and other residents abuse, sexually assault, or mistreat the patient.
If your loved one was injured while living in a Jefferson County nursing facility, contact the Alabama nursing home affiliate attorneys now for immediate legal intervention. Let our team of abuse prevention lawyers handle your case to ensure your family is adequately financially compensated for your damages. Let us begin working on your case today.
This long-term care center is a "for-profit" 163-certified bed home providing care to residents of Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama. The Medicare and Medicaid-participating facility is located at:
1028 Bessemer Rd
Birmingham, Alabama 35228
(205) 923-1777
NO WEBSITE
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Blue Ridge Healthcare Birmingham offers other services. Additional focused care includes short-term and long term care, and physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
Federal and state investigators can penalize any nursing home that has violated rules and regulations that resulted in harm or could have resulted in the harm of a resident. These penalties include imposing monetary fines and denying payment for Medicare services.
Additional information concerning the facility can be reviewed on the comprehensive Alabama Adult Protective Services Website.
Call (800) 926-7565 Toll-Free for a No Obligation Consultation
To ensure families are fully informed of the level of care every nursing home provides, the state of Alabama and Medicare.com routinely update their long-term care home database systems with info on violations, citations, and deficiencies.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including two out of five stars concerning health inspections, one out of five stars for staffing issues, and two out of five stars for quality measures.
The state investigators determined that the nursing home “failed to ensure that [one resident] was not physically restrained with a lap tray without the presence of a medical symptom or medical [diagnoses]. This deficient practice affected [one resident] reviewed for physical restraints.”
The facility’s policy titled: Restraint Management indicates the use of the least restrictive restraints “for the least amount of time. Restraints are not to be used as a disciplinary action or for the convenience of the facility to control behavior.” A lap buddy “may enable a resident to be positioned properly; however, if the resident cannot remove the lap buddy unassisted, then it is a restraint.”
A review of the resident’s Medication Review Report indicated that as of April 24, 2017, the resident “was ordered a device: Trunk Restraint – Velcro Lap Tray while in a wheelchair secondary to multiple falls.” The severely cognitively impaired resident had “one fall with no injury since the prior assessment on June 15, 2017.” The MDS (Minimum Data Set) indicated that the resident “used a trunk restraint daily.”
The survey team observed the resident “sitting in a wheelchair in the activity room. The wheelchair had a lap tray across the wheelchair arms that was secured with Velcro straps. No activity was observed on the lap tray.” The following day, the investigators observed the resident “in the hallway on the 300 Hall of the facility. The lap tray was observed across the arms of the wheelchair and secured to the wheelchair arms with Velcro straps. No activity was observed on the lap tray during the observation of the resident.”
The investigators saw the resident restrained the next day when no activity was provided on the tray. The investigators asked the Director of Nursing “what the medical symptoms were for [the resident’s] use of the lap tray restraints.” The Director responded that “the tray was used for activities and to keep the resident busy.”
The survey team asked the Director if the resident “could walk on his/her own.” The Director responded that “the resident could walk with assistance.” The Director also verified that the resident “was able to stand up unassisted if the lap tray was not in place.”
The Director of Nursing also verified that the resident “was able to sit in a chair unassisted during activities, meals, and while in his/her room without a lap tray in place.” However, “the resident needed to be monitored.” The Director also verified that the lap tray would restrict the resident “from getting up.”
Was your loved one restrained, abused, neglected, or mistreated while residing at Blue Ridge Healthcare Birmingham? Contact the Alabama nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for immediate legal intervention. We represent Jefferson County victims of abuse and neglect in all areas, including Birmingham.
We provide every potential client a free initial case consultation and offer a 100% “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee. This promise means you will not pay us anything until after we have secured a monetary recovery on your behalf. All information you share with our law offices concerning your financial compensation case will remain confidential.
Sources:
Attorney Brian Murphy
Licensed in Alabama
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Attorney Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home