Every staff member working in a nursing facility has a legal and ethical responsibility to provide each resident with the highest level of care according to established standards of quality. Unfortunately, many nursing facilities do not follow established procedures and protocols that prevent injuries, accidents, and the development of life-threatening pressure wounds.
If you suspect that your loved one was victimized through neglect or abuse while living in a Tulsa County nursing facility, the Oklahoma Nursing Home Law Center Attorneys can help. Let our team of lawyers work on your family’s behalf to ensure you receive financial compensation for your damages.
This nursing facility is a "for profit" Medicare and Medicaid-participating home providing services to residents of Tulsa and Tulsa County, Oklahoma. The 118-certified bed long-term care center is located at:
2425 South Memorial
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74129
(918) 628-0932
Emerald Care Center Tulsa
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Emerald Care Center Tulsa offers other services. Additional focused care includes cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary impairment care, post-surgery recovery, tracheostomy care, pain management, stroke care, IV (intravenous) therapy, stroke condition care, and restorative care involving physical, speech and occupational therapies.
Oklahoma and federal government agencies have the legal responsibility of monitoring every nursing home and imposing monetary fines or denying reimbursement payments through Medicare if investigators identify serious violations and deficiencies. These penalties are typically imposed when the violation is severe and harmed or could have harmed a resident.
The nursing home also received seven complaints over the last three years that resulted in a violation citation. Additional documentation about fines and penalties can be found on the Oklahoma Long Term Care Provider Inspection Search Website.
To ensure families are fully informed of the level of care every nursing home provides, the state of Oklahoma 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 one out of five stars concerning health inspections, two out of five stars for staffing issues and one out of five stars for quality measures.
According to state surveyors, “the facility failed to ensure resident who required two-person assistance for transfers with the lift was properly transferred.” A review of the resident’s Care Plan documented that the resident “was at risk for falls and required a mechanical lift plus two-person assistance with all transfers.”
The survey team interviewed a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and asked if they were “meeting the care needs of the residents. She stated she thought they were understaffed, and she was the only Aide on her hall most of the time. She stated she had twenty residents, and most were two-person transfer or two-person lift transfer.”
The CNA stated that “there was not an extra staff member available most of the time, so she just transferred the residents by herself.” The CNA was observed going into a resident’s room at 11:15 AM “without a lift and shutting the door.” Eighteen minutes later, the CNA “was observed pushing [the resident] out of his room. The resident was in a Broda chair, and there was a lift sling under him. The surveyor looked into the room at that time and “there was no lift in the room.”
By 12:30 PM, the surveyors asked the CNA “if she used a lift to transfer [the resident] from his bed to his chair. She stated ‘no.’ She stated she had just transferred him by herself without the lift or another staff member.” The survey team interviewed the Director of Nursing who stated that “the facility was a no-lift facility. She stated all lift transfers required two staff members.”
The nursing home “failed to ensure the Physician and resident’s representative were notified after the resident fell.” The surveyors reviewed the resident’s Fall Risk Care Plan the documented that the resident “was at risk for falls due to poor safety awareness, history of falls, impaired balance/poor coordination and motor agitation, and medication administration.”
A review of the facility Incident Report dated August 15, 2018, documented that the resident was “found on the floor next to his bed on his right side. The report noted that the Physician had been notified” forty minutes later” and the resident’s representative was notified five minutes after that.
However, during an interview with the resident’s representative, it was revealed that “the staff had not called her when the resident had fallen on August 15, 2018, and she found out about it the next day when the resident had told her.”
Was your loved one mistreated while residing at Emerald Care Center Tulsa? Contact the Oklahoma nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for immediate legal intervention. We represent Tulsa County victims of abuse and neglect in all areas including Tulsa.
You will not be charged to discuss your case with our legal team during an initial, free case review. Also, we provide a 100% “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee. This promise means that you will owe us nothing until we have secured financial compensation on your behalf.
Sources:
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Attorney Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home