Life Care Center of Charleston Ratings and Violations

Long-term care facilities are a viable solution for aging adults with significant medical needs. Nursing homes are designed to provide 24/7 nursing support in a comfortable, safe environment. However, many nursing homes nationwide, including Life Care Center of Charleston in North Charleston, SC, fail to uphold professional standards of care with every resident.

Understaffing, poor policies, and administrative oversights can lead to abuse and neglect of residents, causing lifelong consequences for their physical, mental, and financial well-being. Fortunately, victims of nursing home abuse, neglect, or misconduct have legal options to hold these facilities accountable while fighting for compensation to cover their losses.

The Nursing Home Law Center is a team of compassionate attorneys protecting nursing home residents from misconduct. We will stand by your side as you pursue justice for your suffering, fighting for every dollar you deserve. Our legal team knows what it takes to build a strong claim and ensure you have a better chance of succeeding with your claim.

In this guide, we will examine the history of deficiencies at Life Care Center of Charleston to help you understand the risks residents face in these types of institutions. Then, we will discuss some of the legal ramifications of nursing home abuse and how you can obtain fair compensation for legal damages caused by misconduct.

Life Care Center of Charleston: Skilled Nursing Facility Profile

One of the most important federal agencies in the healthcare system is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This government entity regulates nursing homes nationwide, making it easier for consumers to identify high-quality institutions that provide the best care. On the CMS website, you can access public information about individual nursing homes, including location data, quality ratings, past inspection reports, and deficiencies.

Below is some of the latest data available on the Life Care Center of Charleston in SC:

Facility Name: Life Care Center of Charleston (Charleston Medical Investors, LLC)

Address: 2600 Elms Plantation Blvd, North Charleston, SC 29406

CMS Overall Rating: 2 stars (below average)

CMS Health Inspection Rating: 1 star (much below average)

CMS Staffing Rating: 3 stars (average)

CMS Quality Measures Rating: 5 stars (much above average)

Federal Fines in the Last 3 Years: 2 fines totaling $24,247

Denied Payments by Medicare in the Last 3 Years: 0 payment denials

Cited for Abuse: No

SFF: No

About Life Care Center of Charleston in North Charleston

Life Care Center of Charleston is a skilled nursing facility located in North Charleston, SC. This nursing home is owned and overseen by Life Care Centers of America, a for-profit corporation. Life Care Centers of America is one of the most well-known nursing home operators in the country, with nearly 200 facilities in the network.

Life Care Center of Charleston is a 148-bed nursing home that is part of a continuing care retirement community, though it is not connected to a hospital. The main focuses at Life Care Center of Charleston are short-term rehabilitation, long-term care, and post-operative support.

As a resident of this North Charleston, SC, nursing home, you can take advantage of the following services and amenities:

• Easy access to 24-hour skilled nursing care
• Outpatient therapy programs
• Individualized care plans
• Infection management
• Discharge planning
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• IV therapy
• Medication management
• Post-surgical care
• Social services
• Memory care
• Wound care
• Nutrition support
• Meal planning
• Daily living assistance (bathing, eating, dressing, etc.)
• Certified dietician
• Private and semi-private rooms with roommates
• Transportation services
• Patient and family education programs
• Housekeeping and laundry services

CMS Ratings, Violations, and Safety Inspections Life Care Center in North Charleston, SC

The Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services performs another important duty on behalf of consumers: rating nursing homes based on their performance. The CMS created a five-star rating system to assess all facilities in the United States. Each institution receives scores in three main categories: health inspections, staffing, and quality measures. These three scores combine to form the nursing home’s overall rating.

The scale for the five-star rating system is as follows:

• One star – Much below average
• Two stars – Below average
• Three stars – Average
• Four stars – Above average
• Five stars – Much above average

Within this CMS rating system, Life Care Center of Charleston has mixed reviews (two stars overall, one star for health inspections, three stars for staffing, and five stars for quality measures). In the following sections, we will break down each of the three main categories to better understand this nursing home’s ratings.

Health Inspections

Nursing homes are supposed to be inspected fairly regularly in the US. Many are inspected annually or at least every other year. Facilities like Life Care Center of Charleston can also be inspected after receiving complaints.

The latest inspection of this nursing home, conducted in December 2024, listed six health citations, exceeding the state average of 4.1 per inspection report and making this facility one of the worst nursing homes in South Carolina. While there have been no complaint inspections since September 2024, one facility-reported issue resulted in a citation within the past three years. There was also a fire safety and emergency preparedness inspection in December 2024 that resulted in a citation against the rehab institution.

Let’s look at the specific deficiencies mentioned in recent health inspection reports about Life Care Center of Charleston:

• A failure to ensure that the nursing home area is free from accident hazards and provides adequate supervision to prevent accidents, which resulted in immediate harm to some residents and raises concerns about the prevention of nursing home fall injury claims
• A failure to honor the resident’s right to be treated with respect and dignity and to retain and use personal possessions
• A failure to procure food from sources approved or considered satisfactory and store, prepare, distribute, and serve food in accordance with professional standards
• A failure to ensure that residents are free from significant medication errors, demonstrating a pattern of failing to enforce nursing home medication handling procedures
• A failure to ensure that medication error rates are not five percent or greater
• A failure to ensure that drugs and biologicals used in the facility are labeled in accordance with currently accepted professional principles, and that all drugs and biologicals must be stored in separately locked compartments for controlled drugs
• A failure to timely report suspected abuse, neglect, or theft and report the results of the investigation to the proper authorities

Staffing

Staffing is an incredibly important feature in every nursing home. If the facility has a sufficient staff, it will be better equipped to meet the needs of all residents. With that in mind, a three-star staffing rating (average) is not terrible, but it does not inspire confidence in the professional standards at Life Care Center of Charleston.

Let’s look at some specific deficiencies related to the staffing at Life Care Center of Charleston:

• 104.4 average residents per day, compared to the state average of 89.6 and the national average of 84.6, indicating a greater need for well-trained nurses
• 3 hours and 38 minutes of nurse staff hours per resident per day, compared to the South Carolina average of 3 hours and 50 minutes and the national average of 3 hours and 51 minutes
• 31 minutes of registered nurse hours per resident per day, compared to the state average of 39 minutes and the national average of 41 minutes
• 1 hour and 53 minutes of nurse aide hours per resident per day, compared to the state average of 2 hours and 10 minutes and the national average of 2 hours and 18 minutes
• 3 hours and 14 minutes of nurse staff hours per resident per day on the weekend, compared to the South Carolina average of 3 hours and 18 minutes and the national average of 3 hours and 24 minutes
• 18 minutes of registered nurse hours per resident per day on the weekend, compared to the state average of 25 minutes and the national average of 28 minutes
• A registered nurse turnover rate of 50%, compared to 42.4% statewide and 43.8% nationally
• 2 administrators have left the nursing home within a given year, compared to the state average of .4 and the national average of .5

Long Term Care Quality Measures

This category represents the quality of care provided at Life Care Center of Charleston. While the overall rating is five stars in this category, it breaks down to three stars for short-stay programs and five stars for long-stay programs.

First, let’s identify some of the main issues that short-stay residents experience at this nursing home:

• 30.4% of short-stay residents were re-hospitalized after a nursing home admission, compared to the South Carolina average of 24.3% and the national average of 23.4%
• 12.9% of short-stay residents had an outpatient emergency department visit, compared to the national average of 12%, indicating concerns over preventable nursing home injuries
• 2.7% of short-stay residents experienced new or worsened pressure ulcers, compared to the national average of 2.4%, demonstrating a slight failure to focus on nursing home skin breakdown
• 40.3% of healthcare personnel received a flu shot for the current flu season, compared to the national average of 45%
• 51.1% of short-stay residents needed and received a vaccine to prevent pneumonia, compared to 79.8% statewide and 81.8% nationally, raising questions over nursing home pneumonia cases
• 2.5% of healthcare personnel were up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, compared to the national average of 10%
• An 11.8% rate of potentially preventable hospital readmissions 30 days after discharge, compared to the national average of 10.5%
• 7.4% of short-stay residents experienced infections that resulted in hospitalization, compared to the national average of 7.1%

Although long-stay quality measures received a five-star rating from the CMS, there are still a few areas of concern at Life Care Center of Charleston in this category:

• 5.7% of long-stay residents experienced pressure ulcers, compared to the national average of 5.4%
• 85.5% of long-stay residents needed and received a flu shot for the current flu season, compared to the South Carolina average of 92.2% and the national average of 95.3%
• 21.3% of long-stay residents experienced new or worsened bowel or bladder incontinence, compared to the state average of 17.4% and the national average of 20.7%, which could increase the risk of nursing home bladder infections
• 6.2% of long-stay residents lost too much weight, compared to the national average of 5.5%, demonstrating a failure to weed out nursing home dietary neglect

Residents’ Legal Rights Following Abuse or Neglect at Charleston Life Care Center

If you or a family member is a resident of the Charleston Life Care Center, certain rights are protected by state and federal laws. A violation of these rights could make the at-fault parties liable for any legal damages you suffer as a result of the mistreatment.

These rights include:

• The right to receive high-quality care and daily living services
• The right to be treated with respect and maintain a dignified existence
• The right to file administrative complaints for subpar care or misconduct
• The right to pursue civil litigation if you suffer harm due to nursing home abuse or neglect

Legal action is a viable option for victims of misconduct in nursing homes. Whether you are mistreated at the Life Care Center of Charleston or other South Carolina facilities, you deserve the chance to recover fair compensation that addresses your losses.

A South Carolina nursing home abuse lawyer from our firm can help you recover a settlement for the following legal damages:

• Lost income – If injuries from abuse or neglect force you to miss work because of your recovery, you can seek compensation for lost wages, including payments that you will miss in the future
• Medical expenses – Medical treatment strategies like emergency room visits, surgery, medication, assistive devices, rehabilitation, and therapy can be expensive, but a successful claim can award you compensation to address these costs
• Future medical costs – Even if the claim is resolved while you are still recovering, future medical expenses can be included in the payout structure with testimony from a medical professional
• Emotional distress – If you face Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, depression, fearfulness, or other psychological challenges because of your experience, you can claim additional compensation from the at-fault parties
• Pain and suffering – Pain caused by your injuries or medically-necessary surgeries can affect the value of your claim as a non-economic loss
• Disability and disfigurement – Some types of nursing home misconduct may be severe enough to cause permanent alterations to your appearance or abilities, which can have an effect on the settlement
• Loss of enjoyment of life – If you struggle to feel the same amount of joy and happiness as you did pre-incident, your lawyer could help you fight for additional compensation due to loss of enjoyment of life
• Punitive damages – In some cases, gross negligence, intentional misconduct, or institutional cover-ups can lead to further compensation for the victim of abuse or neglect

How Nursing Home Law Center Can Help

Navigating the legal process is not an easy task, especially if you are dealing with the physical, emotional, and financial effects of nursing home abuse. Whether the staff at Life Care Center of Charleston failed to serve food to maintain your health or isolated you from other patients at the rehab clinic, you deserve to seek justice for your mistreatment.

At the Nursing Home Law Center, we believe in your case and have the experience necessary to build a strong claim. While you focus on recovery and familial support, our legal team will develop a compelling case for fair compensation.

When you work with a Charleston nursing home neglect attorney, you can leverage the following legal services during the claims process:

• Investigating Life Care Center of Charleston for negligence
• Gathering evidence of wrongdoing, such as witness statements, photos of injuries, surveillance footage, or medical records
• Assessing all legal damages to maximize your settlement
• Protecting your rights under state and federal nursing home laws
• Negotiating with insurance companies for full compensation
• Litigating in civil court if a fair settlement cannot be reached

Our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis with survivors of abuse and neglect. This means you will not owe any legal fees unless we secure victory in your claim, and our payment will then be deducted from the final settlement value.

We also offer a free consultation. During this conversation, you can ask any questions about the legal process, nursing home resident laws, what constitutes suspected abuse, and your specific case.

If you or a family member (mom, husband, grandmother, etc.) has suffered at the hands of healthcare professionals or patients at Life Care Center of Charleston, contact us today at 800-926-7565 or complete the online form to schedule your free consultation.

All content undergoes a thorough legal review by our experienced attorneys.

Jonathan Rosenfeld is a leading Chicago nursing home injury lawyer with 25 years of experience focused on elder abuse litigation. Recognized for his dedication, he has received recognition from Illinois Trial Lawyers, Million Dollar Advocates, and Super Lawyers.