There are a variety of lapses in care that can cause a nursing home to be found legally responsible for any harm that is caused as a result. This can range for abuse to neglect to any failures in medical care. The attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center have the experience that it takes to successfully file a claim that can lead to financial compensation for your family.
This nursing home is a 156 bed for-profit facility that offers short and long-stay care to residents of the Los Angeles area. The Medicare/Medicaid approved facility is located at:
2468 S St Andrews Pl
Los Angeles, CA 90018
(323) 731-0641
St. John of God Retirement
In order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, nursing homes must comply with federal regulations that cover practically every detail of the care that they provide nursing home residents with on a daily basis. The federal government will contract with the state agency to conduct inspections of the nursing home, and the state investigators will make recommendations for regulatory action when it is necessary. In addition, California nursing homes must follow state law as a condition for being licensed in the state. California regulators are known for being discerning and protective of the seniors who reside in nursing homes.
St. John of God Retirement was fined $10,000 in October of 2017. Nursing homes stand a greater chance of being fined by the federal government when there is an incident that causes actual harm to a resident. Here, the actual harm was that the resident died. Staff failed to assess a change in the resident’s condition. The resident was having trouble breathing, but staff failed to monitor the resident’s condition. Later, the resident was found unresponsive and passed away. Even though the resident was being given oxygen, the vital signs were not monitored. The fine was accompanied by a payment denial from Medicare, which prevented the facility from receiving reimbursement for new intakes until the conditions that led to this incident were fixed. In addition to the fine from the federal government, St. John of God was fined $100,000 by the State of California, which is generally the highest level of fine given to nursing homes by the state regulators.
The facility has also had several documented instances of abuse that were committed by residents on other residents. The most recent incident involved a male resident inappropriately touching a female resident. The facility failed to make the required report to state regulators in the necessary timeframe. Nursing homes are legally responsible for incidents of resident-on-resident abuse especially when they should have foreseen the incident and taken steps to prevent it.
In addition, the facility was also recently cited for an instance of abuse by nursing home staff. A CNA was attempting to obtain a finger stick of a resident, but the resident was resisting. The CNA pinned the resident’s arms down and obtained the finger stick against their will. As a result, the resident became distressed and combative.
The most recent inspection report issued 26 separate citations to the facility for care deficiencies. One noted problem was in the staff’s slow or non response to residents’ call lights. This resulted in resident not receiving the help that they need with activities of daily life. This assistance is crucial because the ADLs are vital both to help residents retain their dignity as well as their hygiene. These call lights included requests for bathroom accommodation, which led to residents having accidents.
There were numerous other examples of insufficient care. Several residents were found to be lacking comprehensive care plans. Nursing homes are required to have a plan for each resident which dictates the care that is provided on a daily basis, both from a medical and a daily life perspective. There was one instance where a resident passed away, but the physician was not notified.
St. John of God also received a low rating from Medicare in the area of staffing since there was far less RN time per resident per day than the national average. In addition, this facility has a much higher rate of hospitalization than the national average. This puts the nursing home in the position of receiving a penalty from Medicare, which has instituted a new program to reward nursing homes with low rates of hospitalization while docking those who have higher incidents of hospitalization.
Nursing homes will not simply give you and your family money when you tell them that their lack of care has hurt your family member. Instead, they will focus their efforts on defending themselves instead of taking the time to improve their care and make things right. This is why you need an aggressive lawyer on your side to vindicate your legal rights. Contact us today! The attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center fit this description. We have decades of experience helping families hold nursing homes accountable for their mistakes that have caused harm. Call us today at (800) 926-7565 to schedule your free no-risk case consultation. You only owe us anything if we are successful in helping you obtain compensation and, in that case, our fee would come from the proceeds of your settlement or jury award.
Attorney Anthony Lanzone
Licensed in California
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home