Are you concerned that your loved one living in a nursing facility might be the victim of mistreatment? Were they injured in a preventable fall or develop avoidable bedsores because the nursing home neglected to provide adequate supervision or nursing care? Did the facility’s caregivers, visitors, or other patients physically, sexually, verbally, or mentally abuse your loved one?
The Alabama Nursing Home Law Center Attorneys fight aggressively to maintain the rights of Jefferson County nursing home patients. Our team of abuse prevention affiliated lawyers uses the law to obtain financial compensation for victims who want to seek justice for their injuries. Contact us now so we can begin working on your case today.
This long-term care nursing facility is a 66-certified bed "for profit" home providing services and cares to residents of Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama. The Medicare-participating center is located at:
501 University Park Drive
Birmingham, Alabama 35209
(205) 870-0786
Brookdale University Park Skilled Nursing Facility
In addition to providing 24/7 skilled nursing care, Brookdale University Park Skilled Nursing Facility offers other services. Additional focused care provided by the nursing staff includes post-surgical care, wound care, diabetes management, infectious disease care, fall prevention program, fracture care, and rehabilitative services involving physical, occupational and speech therapies.
The investigators for the state of Alabama and federal nursing home regulatory agencies have the legal responsibility of penalizing any facility that has violated rules and regulations that harmed or could have harmed a resident. These penalties often include monetary fines and denying payment of Medicare services. Typically, the higher the penalty, the more egregious the problem.
The nursing home received one complaint over the last thirty-six months that resulted in a violation citation. Additional documentation about fines and penalties can be found on the Alabama Public Health Nursing Home Provider Standards Website.
Your family can visit Medicare.gov and the Alabama Department of Public Health website to obtain a complete list of all violations, citations, and deficiencies identified by investigators and surveyors.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of two out of five stars, including two out of five stars concerning health inspections, three out of five stars for staffing issues and four out of five stars for quality measures.
The state investigators determined that “the facility failed to ensure [that a resident’s] sacral wound was staged per facility guidelines by licensed staff.” This failure affected one resident who had identified pressure ulcers.
The incident involved a severely, cognitively impaired resident who “was incontinent of bowel and bladder and at risk for pressure ulcer development.” Documentation at the facility indicated that the documented stage and progression of a sacrum wound had developed into a stage IV (life-threatening) pressure ulcer.
However, during observations of wound care performed by a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) who said that “she had only been the Wound Nurse for two weeks” the nurse identified the wound as a Stage IV because “the depth was unknown.” The surveyors asked, “how and when she was trained for wound care and staging.” The nurse stated that she had received in-service training years ago and indicated that “she had not reviewed the facility wound care policy this year.”
When the surveyors asked where the initial wound assessment, including measurements, was for the resident’s sacral wound, the LPN indicated that they “didn’t know.” The surveyors then asked the LPN “what the potential harm [would be] to the resident if wounds were not measured or assessed weekly.” The LPN indicated, “it would mean deterioration infection of the wound.”
The LPN could not find “any other weekly wound assessments for [this resident’s] sacral wound” between August 29, 2016, and September 16, 2016. The LPN then admitted that there was harm in not accurately staging wounds because “it could cause slow healing and the potential for infection and could cause the wound to decline without appropriate treatment.”
The surveyors reviewed the facility’s policy on treating bedsores and shared the information with the staff. The policy indicated that “the following information should be recorded in the resident’s Electronic Medical Record, treatment sheet or designated wound form [including] all data (wound bed color, size, drainage) collected when inspecting the wound.”
Do you believe that your loved one is the victim of mistreatment, abuse, or neglect while living at Brookdale University Park Skilled Nursing Facility? Contact the Alabama nursing home abuse attorneys 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.
Our network of attorneys offers every client a free, initial case consultation. Additionally, we offer a 100% “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee. This promise means you do not owe us anything until we have secured monetary compensation on your behalf. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
Attorney Brian Murphy
Licensed in Alabama
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Attorney Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home