Relocating an elderly loved one into a nursing facility is often the toughest decision a family can make. Many times, the family will perform extensive research in the hopes of finding the most comfortable and safest environment. Unfortunately, the incident rate involving mistreatment occurring in nursing homes throughout California has risen significantly over the last few years.
If your loved one was harmed while living in a Los Angeles County nursing facility, contact the California 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 from recovering your damages.
This long-term care center is a "for-profit" 290-certified bed home providing care to residents of Downey and Los Angeles County, California. The Medicare and Medicaid-participating facility is located at:
12023 Lakewood Blvd.
Downey, California 90242
(562) 869-0978
Lakewood Healthcare Center
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Lakewood Healthcare Center offers other services. Additional focused care includes short-term and long term care, and physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
Fined $71,788 for substandard care
It is the responsibility of federal and state investigators to penalize any nursing home that has violated a rule or regulation that caused harm or could have caused harm to a resident. Many of these penalties involve monetary fines or denial of payment for Medicare services.
Medicare has cited this facility for abuse. Medicare says that “every nursing home resident deserves to retain their basic human dignity and be treated with respect at all times. Abuse and neglect are never acceptable.” Nursing homes “cited for abuse are required to take steps to protect their residents.”
Within the last thirty-six months, investigators imposed four monetary penalties against Lakewood Healthcare Center, citing substandard care. These penalties include a $26,000 fine on October 10, 2017, a $33,034 fine on June 05, 2017, a $3,063 fine on January 10, 2017, and a $9,691 fine on October 18, 2016, for a total of $71,788. During this time, Medicare denied payment on two occasions, including on June 05, 2017, and October 18, 2016, due to a lack of quality care.
This nursing facility received seventy-seven complaints and self-reported thirty-eight serious issues over the last three years that resulted in violation citations. Additional information concerning the facility can be reviewed on the comprehensive California Department of Social Services Adult Protective Services Website.
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The state of California and the federal government regularly updates its long-term care home database system with complete details of all deficiencies, 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 nursing home "failed to implement its Abuse Policy and Procedure and report an allegation of abuse for [one resident].” This “deficient practice violated [the resident’s] rights and had the potential for the facility staff not conducting a thorough investigation and not protecting the residents from abuse.”
The investigators reviewed the resident’s Social Service Assessment Form dated December 12, 2018. The document states that the resident “had the behavior of verbalizing that people are taking advantage of her” and had a “history of confabulation (the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself for the world).”
A review of the resident’s medical records revealed that she was transferred to a General Acute Care Hospital “for a psychiatric evaluation.” A Licensed Vocational Nurse stated that “this morning, the facility received a telephone call from [the hospital staff]” who informed the facility that the resident “made an allegation that she was molested by an unknown staff in the facility.” The Licensed Vocational Nurse stated that he called the hospital, and the resident “denied the allegation of an unknown staff from the facility molesting her.”
Even so, the Director of Nursing stated the “facility did not notify the ombudsman, the law enforcement, and the Department of Public Health regarding [the resident’s] allegation.” The Director stated that “the facility did not report the allegation of abuse to the Department due to [the resident] being admitted to the General Acute Care Hospital and not being in the facility on June 19, 2019.”
Additionally, the Director of Nursing stated that the resident “denied the allegation that an unknown staff molested her in the facility.”
Were you the victim of mistreatment while you lived at Lakewood Healthcare Center? Contact the California nursing home abuse prevention lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for immediate legal intervention. We represent Los Angeles County victims of abuse and neglect in all areas, including Downey.
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.
Sources:
Attorney Anthony Lanzone
Licensed in California
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home