Nursing homes can be held responsible for their failures in care in multiple different regards. Besides enforcement action by the state and federal government, private parties can also sue nursing homes for any injuries that their loved ones have suffered at a nursing home. Contact the attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center to find out the process that you would need to follow to be eligible for financial compensation.
This nursing home is a 124 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:
975 N Virgil Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 665-5793
The federal government has regulated nursing homes going all the way back to the 1930s. Their regulation has been stepped up since the Medicare and Medicaid programs came into being. After some instances of high-profile care failures in homes that receive funding from these government programs, there was additional legislation in the 1980s and the end result of this law was a new set of regulations with which nursing homes must comply. The federal government contracts with California state inspectors to have an on-the-ground presence that inspects nursing homes and investigates complaints that are filed. The information in this writeup is taken from federal and state inspection write-ups.
Virgil Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center received a one-star rating from Medicare. While it did receive two stars in the area of health inspection, its rating was based on a one-star rating that it received in the area of staffing. Medicare’s staffing ratings are based on the information that a nursing home reports. When a facility does not report the information or does not give it to Medicare in an appropriate form, then Medicare will assign it a one-star rating, which will result in an overall one-star rating.
Here, although Virgil Rehabilitation received a two-star rating in the area of health inspection, it was issued several fines by the State of California. In 2018, the facility was assessed two fines by the state, both in the area of patient care. For one deficiency, the facility failed to notice that one resident experienced a reduction in their range of motion and did not monitor the resident’s pain and increased stiffness. As a result, pain medication was not administered and the resident did not receive the proper exercises to possibly restore the range of motion.
The other state fine in 2018 resulted from the facility’s failure to prevent pressure ulcers and care for them once they develop. Here, the resident had a stage II pressure ulcer that worsened to a stage IV pressure ulcer, which is the most severe type. While pressure ulcers are largely preventable, there are steps that nursing homes can take to treat them if they develop. Bedsores require continuous wound treatment and changing of the dressing. Resident can also be moved to a low-air mattress in order to reduce the actual pressure that is exerted on the affected area. Here, the facility did neither of those and the resident developed a severe pressure ulcer.
Even after the facility received the fine for inadequate pressure ulcer care, there was another incident in 2018 that resulted in a citation in this area. The resident returned to the nursing home with stage II pressure ulcers. However, it was not documented that the staff had noticed this or began to treat it. These progressed to an unstageable pressure ulcer that required more intensive intervention. Pressure ulcers are a problem that a resident should not have to experience, and if they do, the nursing home should be able to treat them according to a plan.
In addition, Virgil Rehabilitation has an elevated rate of hospitalizations in the facility. The national average rate of hospitalizations in 1.7 for every 1,000 resident days at the facility. This facility has a rate of over 2.7 hospitalizations. Medicare has a program whereby they reward and dock facilities that have better or worse rates of hospitalization. Virgil’s ratio puts it in the position of having its Medicare reimbursements reduced by up to two percent.
Many of the lawsuits against nursing homes involves situations where the nursing home failed to provide the proper pressure ulcer care and it either caused death or some other severe injury. The nursing home can be held legally accountable for this. When you retain counsel, you can take the appropriate legal action to get your loved one or your family the compensation that they deserve for the harm that they suffered. The attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center can help you throughout this process from the filing of the claim all the way through litigating the claim if the nursing home does not make a fair settlement offer. Contact or call them today at (800) 926-7565 or click further here to set up your free no-risk case evaluation. We can help you figure out if you have a viable legal claim and the next steps that you can take towards compensation.
Attorney Anthony Lanzone
Licensed in California
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home