Information & Ratings on The Estates of Spanish Lake (Violations)

For whatever reason, a nursing home may be providing your loved one with deficient care. Whether it is a simple lack of competence, or something more sinister at work, when a skilled nursing facility provides care that is anything but skilled, it has far-reaching impacts on your entire family. Seeing your family member suffer in the care of another is stressful and infuriating. However, while the nursing home may not be able to get its act together on its own, you can take action that can force a resolution to this situation. This will help not only your loved one, but other people who are experiencing issues at these homes as well. When a nursing home is facing legal action, they may take steps to improve the care that they provide so you should consider immediately retaining counsel to help you. 

The Estates of Spanish Lake is a large facility which contains 150 certified beds. It participates in both Medicare and Medicaid and it offers both short and long-stay services to residents of the Greater Saint Louis area. It has for-profit ownership and is located at:

610 Prigge Rd
St. Louis, MO 63138
(314) 741-9393

The federal government carries out regular surprise inspections of nursing homes. Since the federal government makes payments on behalf of Medicare, it has regulatory oversight authority over nursing homes, in addition to there being state requirements to which nursing homes are subjected. These inspections, while not announced in advance, occur roughly once every calendar year. Once the nursing homes are on notice of the health citations that are issued, they must promptly correct the issues that are noted. If not, they can face a denial of payment for new patients who are relying on Medicare to fund the costs of their residency.

In 2016, The Estates of Spanish Lake received a denial of payment from Medicare. This is indicative of ongoing care deficiencies at the facility. In the time since then, while the denial may have been lifted, there have still been issues with the quality of care at the facility. The Estates of Spanish Lake remains a one-star facility, which is the lowest rating that Medicare can give to a nursing home. The past two years' inspection reports had 14 and 17 health citations respectively, which is far above the national average of 5.8 for each facility. While it is expected that each nursing home will have a handful of care lapses, the sheer number of problems at The Estates of Spanish Lake is concerning. In addition, there have been seven complaints in the past three years that have resulted in a citation as well as three self-reported incidents that also resulted in a citation. 

There was a complaint inspection that was conducted in April 2018. These examinations are carried out in response to a specific complaint that has been filed against the nursing facility. This specific complaint resulted in a health citation against The Estates of Spanish Lake. The home was found to have not properly considered a patient's feeding tube in their plan of care. In fact, they did not consider it at all as the patient had a feeding tube and it was not being used despite the fact that there were physician's orders for its usage. Instead, the resident was observed sitting in their wheelchair with the pump turned off and the tubing was disconnected from the resident. There was another resident who had a feeding tube and it was also turned off and not being used despite there being physician's orders for its usage. 

The June 2018 inspection report detailed an incident in which a resident accused a staff member of hitting them on the leg with a comb. Although the administrator and the director of nursing were notified and supposedly ordered the staff member off of the unit, there was no documentation of this. Without addressing the merits of the allegation, there was no evidence that the home complied with their own policies regarding handling abuse allegations.

Recently, in January 2019, there was a grave incident at this facility. One resident was found dead in their bed. There were multiple signs on the resident's body that they had been beaten, including visible injuries to the head. The resident's roommate was arrested and charged with homicide. The roommate had blood on their hands at the time that the resident was found dead in their bed. The roommate was charged with second-degree murder. 

Get Legal Help Now Have More Questions Regarding The Estates at Spanish Lake? Let Our Team Help. The attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have a dedicated expertise in ensuring that nursing homes are held accountable for abuse, neglect or mistreatment. Even if your loved one's care does not rise to that level, we may still be able to help you improve your family member's situation. Call us at (800) 726-9565 to find out how we can help you. We can discuss the facts of your case in an initial consultation, which is always free. Then we can help you decide if moving forward legally is the right option for you. 

Sources:

• Inspection Report
• Inspection Report
• Roommate charged in homicide at St. Louis County nursing home