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 North Carolina has risen significantly over the last few years.
If your loved one was harmed while living in a Johnston County nursing facility, contact the North Carolina 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 facility is a 138-certified bed "for-profit" long-term care home providing services and cares to residents of Smithfield and Johnston County, North Carolina. The Medicare and Medicaid-participating center is located at:
902 Berkshire Road
Smithfield, North Carolina 27577
(919) 934-3171
Smithfield Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Smithfield Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center offers other services. Additional focused attention includes short-term and long term care. The facility also provides comprehensive rehab services, and physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
Both the state of North Carolina and federal agencies are legally obligated to monitor every nursing facility and impose monetary fines or deny payments through Medicare when investigators find that the nursing home seriously violated established nursing home regulations and rules.
Within the last three years, investigators imposed two monetary penalties against Smithfield Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, citing substandard care. These penalties include an $8,294 fine on March 15, 2019, and a $9,038 fine on October 06, 2017, for a total of $17,332.
The nursing home received one complaint over the last thirty-six months that resulted in a violation citation. Additional information concerning the facility can be reviewed on the comprehensive North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Adult Protective Services Website.
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To be fully informed on the level of care nursing homes provide, families routinely research Medicare.gov and the North Carolina Department of Public Health website database systems for a complete list of deficiencies, violations, and citations.
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 three out of five stars for quality measures.
The state investigators determined the nursing home "utilized a device without considering it to be a restraint and without a medical symptom .” The deficient practice involved two residents. In one case, a resident “was observed by staff, with his legs between the side rail bars and required staff assistance to remove his legs from the side rail.”
A second resident was observed, “with both legs between the side rail bars, which required staff assistance to remove her legs and sustained a skin tear.” The state investigators determined an Immediate Jeopardy situation began when the first resident “was observed by staff with his legs between the side rail bars.”
Additionally, the situation extended to the other resident when that resident’s “legs were between the side rail bars and required staff assistance to remove.”
One case involved a severely cognitively impaired resident. Their Nursing Note, dated June 27, 2017, reported that the resident “was awake the entire shift, was agitated, and restless and was observed with his legs between the side rail bars frequently during the shift. The note indicated the resident was repositioned numerous times.”
This resident’s family member indicated that “the resident often put his feet, legs, and sometimes arms into the spaces in the side rail. The family member indicated the resident had some bruises in the past, which she and the staff felt were from the rail.”
The family member said that “the resident did not use the rails to position himself [and that] the rail was probably there to keep them from falling out of bed.” The facility MDS (Minimum Data Set) Nurse indicated that the Side Rail Rationale Screen Assessments were usually updated every quarter.
The nurse “did not know why there was not an updated screen for the resident.” The nurse also indicated that “she did not know why she indicated the resident expressed a desire to have the side rails up because the resident was not capable of expressing that desire, due to her significant decreased cognition.”
Do you suspect that your loved one suffered injury or died prematurely while living at Smithfield Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center? Contact the North Carolina nursing home abuse prevention lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for immediate legal intervention. We represent Johnston County victims of abuse and neglect in all areas, including Smithfield.
We do not charge for case evaluations and consultations. Also, we provide a 100% “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee. This promise means we will postpone all of your payments for legal services until after we have secured a financial recovery on your behalf.
Attorney Carl R. Wilander, Esq.
Licensed in North Carolina
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