Many families have limited options on how to ensure that their loved one receives the best care and choose to place them in a community nursing facility. Unfortunately, the incident rates of abuse and neglect occurring in nursing homes nationwide have risen significantly over the last few decades. Many patients become victims of mistreatment at the hands of caregivers, employees, visitors, or other residents.
If your loved one suffered harm or died unexpectedly while living in a Lawrence County nursing facility, contact the Ohio Nursing Home Law Center Attorneys now for immediate legal intervention. Let our team of abuse prevention lawyers work on your family’s behalf to ensure you receive monetary compensation for your damages.
This long-term care facility is a 100-certified bed Medicare and Medicaid-participating center providing services to residents of South Point and Lawrence County, Ohio. The "for-profit" home is located at:
7743 County Road 1
South Point, Ohio 45680
(740) 894-3287
Heartland of Riverview Nursing Center
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Heartland of Riverview Nursing Center offers other services. Additional focused care includes long-term and short-term care and outpatient rehabilitation.
The investigators working for the state of Ohio and the federal government have the legal authority to impose monetary fines and deny payment for Medicare services if the nursing home has been cited for serious violations of established regulations and rules.
Within the last three years, federal investigators imposed a monetary fine against Heartland of Riverview Nursing Center for $60,828 on March 23, 2018, citing substandard care. During this time, Medicare denied payment on March 23, 2018, due to a lack of quality care.
This nursing facility received six complaints and self-reported three serious issues over the last three years that resulted in violation citations. Additional documentation concerning penalties and fines can be reviewed on the Ohio Department of Health Complaint Website.
The state of Ohio and federal government nursing home regulatory agencies routinely update their care home database system. This list contains historical information of all citations and violations.
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 three out of five stars for quality measures.
The state investigators determined that “the facility failed to ensure staff did not violate residents’ rights to privacy and confidentiality. This [failure] resulted in Immediate Jeopardy and psychosocial harm for [one resident] when a State-tested Nurse Aide engaged in an act meant to humiliate and ridicule the resident.”
The Aide took “a photograph of the resident without permission and not in accordance with facility policy.” Next, the Aide altered the photograph of the resident “by adding drawings of male genitalia, female breasts, and a beard and posted on a social media website, Snap Chat, resulting in outcomes which one would expect a reasonable person in a similar situation to suffer.”
Subsequently, posting the photograph on Snap Chat treated “the resident as an inanimate object having no emotions or feelings, and causing embarrassment and shame. The facility also failed to ensure staff did not violate a resident’s right to privacy that was not Immediate Jeopardy when [the same Aide] took the photographs of a cognitively impaired [resident] without the resident’s knowledge or permission and posted this photograph on the same social media website.”
This failure by the nursing staff and administration affected two residents, who were “reviewed for abuse.” At the time of the investigation, fourteen residents were identified as being cognitively impaired and living on the same unit as [both abused residents].”
The investigators determined that “the embarrassing ridiculing photograph potentially could have been viewed by others in the community on Snap Chat and was viewed by two people not employed by the facility.” As a part of the initial investigation, the Aide “was suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.”
The facility Administrator “verified the photograph of [one resident] taken and altered by [the State-tested Nursing Assistant] and subsequently posted on Snap Chat, violated the resident’s privacy.” The Administrator also verified that the photo [that the Aide] took of [the other resident] and posted to Snap Chat, violated [that resident’s] privacy as well.”
Do you believe that your loved one was the victim of abuse or neglect while living at Heartland of Riverview Nursing Center? Contact the Ohio nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for immediate legal intervention. We represent Lawrence County victims of abuse and neglect in all areas, including South Point.
It is always free to discuss your case with our legal team. We provide a 100% “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee, meaning you will owe us nothing until we can secure a financial recovery on your behalf. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
Sources:
Attorney Nancy Iler
Licensed in Ohio
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home