Many family members have no other choice than to place a loved one in a nursing facility to ensure they receive the highest level of hygiene assistance and medical care. Even though there have been significant advancements in the healthcare industry providing compassionate care in a safe environment, many Cheatham County nursing home residents are victimized through neglect and abuse.
If your loved one was mistreated while living at a nursing home, assisted living center or rehabilitation facility, the Tennessee Nursing Home Law Center attorneys can help. Our legal team has represented many families in need of financial compensation to recover their losses and want to seek justice to ensure those who caused their loved one harm are held legally accountable. We can begin working on your case today.
This Medicare/Medicaid-participating center is a 95-certified bed facility providing services to residents of Ashland City and Cheatham County, Tennessee. The "for profit" long-term care (LTC) home is located at:
111 E Pemberton Street
Ashland City, Tennessee, 37015
(615) 792-9154
The investigators working for the state of Tennessee and the federal government had 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. Within the last three years, Hillcrest Healthcare Center has been fined once by the government for $11,700 on August 10, 2017. Also, Medicare denied one payment for services rendered on August 10, 2017.
Over the last thirty-six months, the Nursing Home received nine formally filed complaints and self-reported thirteen serious issues that all resulted in citations. Additional information about fines and penalties can be found on the Tennessee Department of Health Nursing Home Reporting Website concerning this nursing facility.
To be fully informed on the level of care nursing homes provide, families routinely research the Medicare.gov and the Tennessee Department of Public Health website database systems. These sites detail a complete list of health violations, safety concerns, incident inquiries, opened investigations, filed complaints, and dangerous hazards. This information provides valuable content to make a well-informed decision of where to place a loved one who requires the highest level of health care and hygiene assistance.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one out of five stars concerning health inspections, three out of five stars for staffing issues and two out of five stars for quality measures. The Cheatham County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Hillcrest Healthcare Center that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 10, 2017, the state investigators documented that the facility had failed to “thoroughly investigate an allegation of abuse for [one resident] and failed to timely report allegations of abuse for three residents.” The nursing home also failed to report an injury of “unknown origin of fourteen residents reviewed for abuse or injury of unknown origin.”
One incident involved a review of a Facility Investigation Report that states that on August 27, 2016, [the assaulting resident once again slapped the other resident] on the face.” The investigator said that a guest or visitor witness statement dated August 27, 2016, revealed that “the incident happened in the dining room. There were no witness statements for the August 31, 2016 incident.”
The investigators interviewed the facility Administrator who confirmed the “two incidents of [one resident slapping the other resident].” The documentation shows that “both incidents were reported to the State agency in the same report on September 2, 2016.”
“Further review revealed there was one statement documented on August 27, 2016, by a visitor and there were no witness statements documented on August 31, 2016.” Additional documentation confirmed that “the facility failed to report the alleged abuse in the required 24-hour time. To the State agency and the facility failed to thoroughly investigate the incident on August 31, 2016.”
In a separate incident, the surveyors reviewed a facility investigation that revealed: “a resident reported an allegation of staff-to-resident verbal abuse to the facility staff on August 21, 2016, at 11:30 PM and that the allegation was reported to the Administrator on August 22, 2016, at 9:00 AM.”
Further documentation revealed that “the facility staff failed to report the allegation to the administrative staff immediately.” During an Administrator interview, it was confirmed that “the allegation of verbal abuse was reported to the facility staff on August 21, 2016, at 11:30 PM by [the allegedly assaulted resident].”
The Administrator said that the “allegation was reported to the State agency on August 23, 2016 [two days later].” The surveyors said the administration confirmed that “the facility failed to timely report an allegation of abuse for [the resident] in the required time of 24-hours to the State agency and failed to report to the facility Administrator immediately.”
The Administrator revealed that the incident was “not reported to the State Agency within the required 2-hour period,” and “the Administrator confirmed that the facility failed to report [the resident’s] injury of unknown origin to the State agency timely.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 10, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility’s failure to “prevent neglect by failing to provide the services necessary to avoid physical harm for residents utilizing electrical power strips.”
The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved fourteen of seventy residents when the nursing home “failed to prevent neglect by failing to ensure the facility utilized approve electrical power strips. The nursing home also failed to “prevent neglect by failing to prevent exploitation of five residents reviewed for abuse.”
The state investigator documented the facility’s “system failure resulted in Immediate Jeopardy (a situation in which the provider’s non-compliance is caused or is likely to cause serious injury, harm, impairment or death of [a resident]). The Administrator was notified of the Immediate Jeopardy on October 20, 2017.” This failure “represents a substandard quality of care.” The investigative team reviewed the facility policy titled” Abuse, neglect, and Exploitation/Dementia Management, revised on June 14, 2017, that reads in part:
“Neglect means failure of the facility to provide goods or services to a resident that are necessary to avoid physical harm. The facility will consider factors indicating possible abuse, neglect or exploitation of residents, including but not limited to the following possible indicators: Evidence of photographs or video of a resident regardless of whether the resident provided consent and regardless of the resident’s cognitive status.”
The severely cognitively impaired resident was documented as requiring “extensive assistance of two or more people for bed mobility, dressing, toileting, and personal hygiene and was dependent on the assistance of two or more people for transfers and bathing and required supervision and set up for help with eating.” Further review shows that “the resident did not ambulate and was receiving hospice services.
The investigators observed a resident’s room on the morning of August 7, 2017, when the resident “was lying on the right side of the bed with the head of the bed elevated.” The documentation shows that to the “left side of the resident was a white electrical power strip with a cell phone charger attached to a cell phone plugged into the electrical power strip laying in bed.”
The surveyor said that the “electrical power strip was plugged into the wall and was in the ‘ON’ position.” There was also “two ounces a red fluid in a cup on the overbed table to the right side of the bed next to the resident and urine with approximately 200 mL of urine in it hanging on the trash can to the right side of the bed next to the resident.”
The surveyor’s interview the Licensed Practical Nurse assigned to providing the resident care that day in the C Hall who “denied knowledge of the electric power strip in bed with the resident and stated that she had not assessed the resident yet.”
The LPN was observed a few minutes later attempting “to remove the electrical power strip from the resident’s bed [when the resident] became very agitated.” A Social Worker entered the resident’s room and “asked him if she could place the electrical power strip on the floor. The resident agreed, and the Social Worker removed the electrical power strip from the bed and placed it on the floor to the left side of the bed.”
The investigative team interviewed a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who provided the resident care. The CNA said that “she regularly cared for the resident [and had] observed him at 7:45 AM and at 8:15 AM and the electrical power strips was not in bed.” The CNA said that “the resident could roll independently and reach the electrical power strips from the floor with his right hand and roll back independently.”
The CNA said that it was “probably how the electrical power strips got into the bed.” However, a second Certified Nursing Assistant stated that “the resident was not able to roll independently, needed assistance with bed mobility, and could use his right hand independently.”
The surveyors conducted a follow-up observation of the resident’s room just after noon on the same day and saw that the resident “was in the same position in bed [as] when observed at 9:10 AM.” At that time just after noon, the “same glass of red fluid and the urine in the urinal were in the same place as they were at 9:10 AM.”
Observations show that the “electrical power strip was laying on top of the green lid of a clear tote stored on the floor to the left side of the bed with the resident’s phone charger plugged into it.” A Certified Nursing Assistant “placed a lunch tray on the overbed table and positioned the overbed table over the resident.”
The investigators then observed numerous rooms between 3:30 PM and 4:30 PM on August 8, 2017, that revealed many residents’ rooms “contained electrical power strips [that were in] noncompliance with the Light Safety Code (LSC) regulations with devices plugged into the electrical power strips.” These rooms included residents in the 200 Hall, 300 Hall, 500 Hall, and 600 Hall.
The investigators interviewed the Maintenance Director who “confirmed none of the electrical power strips previously use in the facility were Model 1363 and stated he was confused with all the updates and changes recently.” The surveyor said that in summary, “the facility failed to prevent neglect by failing to provide the services necessary to avoid physical harm for residents utilizing electrical power strips based on the observation of [the first resident] with an electrical power strip in his bed which he was physically able to pull onto his bed.”
The surveyor said that “fluids were accessible to [that resident] while the electrical power strip was in the bed and while stored on the clear tote box stored on the floor.” The surveyor said that “a total of fourteen residents were utilizing unapproved electrical power strips.
The facility Administrator and Maintenance Director were unaware of which electrical power strips were approved to be used in the facility.” The surveyors placed the facility in Immediate Jeopardy that was removed once corrective actions were validated through direct observation.”
If you and your family believe that your grandparent, parent or spouse died prematurely or suffered serious injury while a resident at Hillcrest Healthcare Center, contact the Tennessee nursing home abuse attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 today. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Cheatham County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Ashland City.
As your legal representative, our network of attorneys can provide numerous options to hold those responsible for causing your loved one harm legally and financially accountable. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim. We can start working on your case to ensure your rights are protected.
We accept every case concerning wrongful death, nursing home abuse, and personal injury through a contingency fee agreement. This arrangement will postpone the need to make a payment for our legal services until after our attorneys have resolved your case through a jury trial award or negotiated out of court settlement. We offer every client a “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee. This promise ensures that you will owe us nothing if we cannot obtain compensation on your behalf. We can begin representing you in your case today to ensure you receive adequate compensation for your damages. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
Attorney Cameron Jehl
Licensed in Tennessee
Tennessee Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home