Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville

Some assessments show that over 1.5 million Americans currently reside in nursing homes, assisted living centers and rehabilitation facilities nationwide including our fathers, mothers, grandparents, grandmothers, and siblings. Many families face the burden of placing their loved one in a nursing home trusting they will receive the best care and enjoy the highest quality of life possible. Unfortunately, many nursing home residents are victims of abuse, neglect, mistreatment, and injuries at the hands of those in charge of providing them care. The legal team at the South Carolina Nursing Home Law Center have represented many South Carolinian families who want to hold the nursing facility in staff members financially accountable for their inappropriate actions when causing injury or harm to a loved one.

If your loved one has been mistreated at Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville, contact our South Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers.

Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville

This Nursing Center is a corporate 85-certified-bed 'for profit' Home providing services to residents of Blackville and Blackville County, South Carolina. The Medicaid/Medicare-approved Nursing Facility is located at:

1612 Jones Bridge Rd.
Blackville, SC 29817
803-284-4313

Financial Penalties and Violations

Both the state of South Carolina and federal agencies are legally obligated to monitor every nursing facility and impose monetary fines or deny payments through Medicare when investigators as found the nursing home seriously violated established nursing home regulations and rules. Over the last three years, surveyors fined this facility $13,627 on November 14, 2017. Additional information about penalties and fines can be found on the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control website concerning Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville.

Blackville South Carolina Nursing Home Resident Safety Concerns

The state of South Carolina and the federal government regularly update their nursing home database system with complete details of all opened investigations, filed complaints, dangerous hazards, health violations, safety concerns, and incident inquiries. The search results can be found on numerous sites including Medicare.gov.

Currently, Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville maintains an overall one out of five available star rating in the nationwide comparison analysis Medicare rating summary system. This rating includes one of five stars for health inspection problems, one in five stars for staffing issues, and four of five stars for quality measures. The Blackwell County nursing home neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have located numerous deficiencies and safety concerns at this nursing home that include:

• Failure to Ensure That Every Resident Remains Free from the Use of Physical Restraints Unless Need for Medical Treatment

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 27, 2018, the state investigator noted the facility's failure "to document a medical symptom to warrant the use of a Merry Walker and failed to evaluate the effectiveness and need for continued use for [a resident] reviewed for restraints." The investigator reviewed the resident's records that revealed "no initial restraint assessment or periodic re-assessment for the Merry Walker."

  At 2:16 PM on April 26, 2016, "three staff members and the surveyor requested [the resident] release the strap and the bar in the Merry Walker and sit in the dining room chair." The resident "was able to lift the bar after much encouragement but was not able to release the leg straps to exit the Merry Walker." Eighteen minutes later, the MDS (Minimal Data Set) nurse "confirmed there was no restraint assessment when the restraint was applied or periodically afterwards to ensure the least restrictive restraint was being used. The nurse further confirmed a restraint is anything that prevents a change of position or prevents the resident from sitting to standing. The nurse also confirmed if the resident was not able to release the bar and strap, it would be considered a restraint."

• Failure to Write and Use Policies and Forbid Mistreatment, Neglect, and Abuse of Residents

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 14, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility's failure "to ensure each resident remained free from misappropriation of resident property. The Assistant Business Office Manager was noted to misappropriate residents' funds. There was a total of forty residents involved with a total of $4077.31 that could not be accounted for." The deficiency in the resident's money was identified during a random audit by the Regional Business Office Manager, who was filling in for the Assisted Business Office Manager who was asked to return to the facility to look at the receipts. There was an indication of the discrepancy found in the audit of the residents' trust accounts.

• Failure to Develop, Implement and Enforce Policies That Prevent Neglect, Abuse, and Mistreatment of Residents

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 14, 2017, the state surveyor noted a facility's failure "to develop and implement written policies and procedures that prohibit and prevent misappropriation of resident property. The Assistant Business Office Manager was noted to misappropriate residents' funds" totaling approximately $4077.31. The state investigator reviewed the facility's policy titled: Protection and Prevention of Resident Abuse and Neglect that read in part:

  "It is the policy of the facility to ensure that residents are free from any form of abuse or neglect, including misappropriation of property."

• Failure to Provide Every Resident in a Nursing Home Area That Is Free of Accident Hazards and Provide Adequate Supervision to Prevent Avoidable Accidents

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated February 2, 2017, the state surveyor documented the facility's failure "to assure that hot water temperatures did not exceed 120°F (Fahrenheit) in [one restroom] used by residents." The surveyor conducted an initial tour of the facility on January 30, 2017, at approximately 10:22 AM and found the front hall resident restroom next to the chapel had significantly hot water in the sink that was determined to be 124.4°F. The temperature was taken approximately one hour later, and the water temperature read 125°F.

  A few minutes later, the Medical Director "was asked to calibrate the facility thermostat and to accompany the surveyor to check the Front Hall water temperatures. The Maintenance Director was unable to calibrate the facility thermometer as instructed by the maintenance consultant asked to the calibration technique." The Maintenance Consultant and the Maintenance Director were asked how hot the hot water temperature could get and neither could provide "an accurate answer."

• Failure to Assess a Resident When There Is a Significant Change in Their Condition

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 27, 2018, the state surveyor documented that the facility "failed to complete a Significant Change in Status MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment following a decline in Activities of Daily Living from the Admission MDS Assessment and the first Quarterly MDS Assessment for [one resident] reviewed for a significant change."

  Additionally, the state investigator documented that a comprehensive "care plan was not completed [as it] relates to the initiation and use of restraint for [the resident]." A review of the resident's Minimum Data Set (MDS) "revealed the client [requiring] supervision for activity did not happen for ambulation both on and off the unit. Further review [of the document] revealed that a decline in dressing, toileting and hygiene limited to assistance, to extensive assistance, and the resident had a restraint initiated on November 3, 2017." Further review of the document revealed that "the resident ended physical therapy on December 14, 2017." During an interview with the MDS nurse, it was revealed that "the decline documented on the January 4, 2018 Quarterly MDS Assessment and the Significant Change in Status Assessment should have been done and was not."

• Failure to Ensure Residents Do Not Lose the Ability to Perform Activities of Daily Living Unless There Is a Medical Reason

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 27, 2018, the state investigator documented a facility failure "to identify, evaluate or treat a decline in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) for [a resident] reviewed for a decline in ADLs." The state investigator reviewed the resident's Progress Notes that revealed the resident "had sustained three falls without injuries" on January 16, 2018, January 31, 2018, and March 7, 2018."

  The surveyor interviewed the facility's MDS nurse who confirmed "the decline in the ADLss documented on the January 4, 2018, Quarterly MDS Assessment. The nurse also confirmed that therapy had screened [the resident] after the falls but had not screened the resident for the decline in ADLs." The MDS nurse also said that "the resident had been discussed in the morning stand up meeting for a decline in ADLs which therapy attended but could not recall when. The nurse confirmed no interventions had been implemented to restore the resident's ADL function."

• Failure to Receive Registry Verification the Nurse Aide Has Met the Required Training and Skills That the State Requires

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 14, 2017, the state surveyor noted that the facility "failed to receive Registry verification that an individual had met competency evaluation requirements. Review of nurse aide personnel files revealed two Nurse Aides whose Registry verifications were not checked prior to hire."

  The state investigator reviewed the facility's personnel files "to ensure registry verification checks were done" before the employees were hired. A review of the employee files showed that "two nurse aides whose Registry verifications were done after their hire date. The facility was not able to provide any additional information that the verifications were done prior to hiring." The surveyor interviewed the facility Administrator on November 14, 2017, who "confirmed the two Certified Nurse Aide Registry verifications were done after hire.

• Failure to Review or Revise a Resident's Care Plan after Experiencing a Major Change in Their Physical or Mental Health

  In a statement of deficiencies dated February 2, 2017, the state investigator documented a facility failure "to perform a significant change assessment [for one resident at the facility]." The documentation shows that the resident had "improved in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) from [their] admission assessment to [their] next quarterly assessment, yet no significant change assessment was performed."

  The state investigator interviewed the facility MDS Coordinator who said they "did not consider improvement in the area of ADLs to be a significant change. The MDS Coordinator pulled out the Resident Assessment Instrument Manual which read that a significant change consists of a change in two or more of the following areas: ADL physical functioning area, decrease in the number of areas where behavioral symptoms are coated as being present, resident's decision-making ability changes, improvement a resident continents, and overall improvement in the resident's condition."

• Failure to Ensure the Medication Error Rates Were Not Five Percent or Greater

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 27, 2018, the state investigator documented the facility's failure to "maintain a medication rate of less than 5%. There were two errors of 26 opportunities for errors, resulting in a medication error rate of 7.69%."

• Failure to Provide Care by Qualified Persons According to Each Resident's Written Plan of Care

  In summary statement of deficiencies dated February 2, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility's failure "to implement the Care Plan of [one resident]." During two meals, [the resident] was observed to be served more fluids than permitted by the fluid restriction that was carefully planned and ordered." The state investigator reviewed the resident's Care Plan and made an observation of the resident's breakfast tray that revealed "that the resident had on [their] tray, chocolate milk, water, coffee, and juice. The meal card on the tray read that only water, coffee and juice should have been served."

  A review of the resident's Fluid Restriction Monitoring Sheet revealed: "that the resident was to be served 420 mL of fluid during breakfast." However, "the total sum of fluids in milliliters as 660. The total sum of fluids that, per the meal card, were to be served was 420 mL."

Need to Hold Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville Accountable for Neglect? We Can Help

Our affiliated lawyers have represented many families in nursing home abuse cases. We understand how neglect, abuse, and mistreatment affects the lives of every member of the family. For decades, we have seen firsthand the intense pain and suffering experienced by nursing home residents and their families in seeking financial compensation. Our network of attorneys have successfully resolved hundreds of cases just like yours by protecting the rights of our clients to ensure they receive maximum compensation for their damages.

If your loved one was mistreated, neglected, abused or died unexpectedly from neglect while residing in a nursing home in South Carolina, like Laurel Baye Healthcare - Blackville, let our team of dedicated lawyers protect your rights. Contact the Blackville nursing home abuse attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 today to schedule a free, no-obligation case consultation to discuss filing a claim for compensation to recover your damages. Our legal team accepts all claims for compensation and lawsuits through contingency fee agreements. This arrangement postpones payment for legal services until after your case is resolved through a jury trial award or negotiated settlement. Every client is offered a "No Win/No-Fee" Guarantee, meaning if we are unable to obtain compensation for your family, you owe us nothing.