Nursing homes must treat their residents with dignity and respect and must give them the best treatment. Note that this does not mean the best treatment possible, but it does mean that nursing homes cannot make mistakes. When a nursing home harms your loved one either through their actions or their inactions, call the attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center to learn your legal rights.
This nursing home is a 22 bed for-profit facility that offers short and long-stay care to residents of the Northeastern California area. The Medicare/Medicaid approved facility is located at:
741 Main St
Cedarville, CA 96104
(530) 279-6111
The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 allows the federal government to set detailed standards with which nursing homes must comply. Nursing homes must follow federal law as a condition for their receipt of Medicare and Medicaid funding. If their deficiencies are significant enough, nursing homes can eventually be suspended or even removed from these government programs. Removal from these programs is the equivalent of a death sentence for the nursing home, which loses the right to receive reimbursement for its services. Even payment denials from Medicare can have a serious impact on a nursing home’s bottom line.
Although the Surprise Valley Community Hospital is a small 22 bed facility, the nursing home still has a disproportionate amount of health citations in its inspection reports. In its July 2018 inspection report, the facility was issued a total of 22 different citations, an amount that is even higher than the resident count at the facility. The number of citations at the facility has remained elevated, even after falling from 36 citations in the 2016 report. Taken as a whole, these care deficiencies paint a picture of care at the facility that is haphazard. The facility recently went through a bankruptcy and is now under new ownership.
Surprise Valley has received two fines from the federal government in the past three years. Each of these fines was accompanied by a payment denial from Medicare and Medicaid. This meant that, for a period of time, the nursing home was barred from receiving reimbursements from the government for any new patients. Payment denials are usually lifted after the conditions are corrected. The facility was fined $9,984 in June 2017 for an incident in which several residents failed to receive bowel care for extended periods of time to treat constipation. One resident passed away and one of the causes of death was a perforated intestine, which is one of the damages caused by constipation. Previously, in November 2016, the facility was fined $28,896 for administering a flu vaccine to a resident against their will. Each nursing resident has the right to refuse treatment. As a result of the staff’s disregard for the resident’s wishes, the resident became agitated and attempted to strike and bite staff and ended up being restrained with a face mask being placed over the resident’s face.
The facility recently received a citations as a result of a complaint filed about a similar incident in which it disregarded a resident’s expressed wishes. The facility ignored the resident’s refusal of an abdominal x-ray and gave it to him against his will. This caused the resident to want to leave the facility and, when he expressed these wishes, was told that he could not come back if he left or sue the facility if something happened to him.
In February 2019, the facility was cited for abuse of a resident. One RN was heard yelling and swearing at a resident, causing psychological harm to that resident. The RN was alleged to have threatened to kill the resident if they touched her again. Verbal abuse of nursing home residents is almost every bit as bad as physical abuse since it can cause physical symptoms among seniors who are psychologically distressed at what they have encountered. When this incident was being investigated, the RN told investigators that they had not received abuse prevention training when they were first hired by the facility.
Medicare also gave the facility the lowest possible rating in the area of staffing. The ratings are given based on the data that the nursing homes must report to Medicare. If the facility does not properly report the staffing information, Medicare cannot give an evaluation. Here, Medicare gave a one-star rating because the facility did not properly report its staffing levels. Given the small size of the nursing home, one would think that there would be no issues in adequately staffing it.
When a nursing home mistake leads to the death of a loved one, your family may have a wrongful death claim against the nursing home that could result in compensation for your family. Death of a loved one is not necessary in order to be eligible to receive compensation. Any injury that has been suffered as a result of deficient care at a nursing home means that the nursing could be found liable for its errors or omissions. Contact or call the attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 to schedule your free no-risk case consultation to find out if you may have a viable case against the nursing home where your loved one was injured.
Attorney Anthony Lanzone
Licensed in California
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home