In recent decades, there has been a significant rise in the number of senior citizens entering their retirement years who require assistive care in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. This increasing demand has placed a significant burden on long-term care facilities who need additional beds and nursing staff to provide care. Unfortunately, this burden has led to serious problems or patients become victims of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment at the hands of caregivers, employees or other residents.
If your loved one was injured while living in a Cuyahoga County nursing facility, contact the Ohio Nursing Home Law Center Attorneys now for immediate legal help. Our network of attorneys is handled cases exactly like yours, and we can help your family, too. Let us begin working on your case today to ensure you receive financial compensation to recover your damages.
This long-term care home is a 190-certified bed center providing cares and services to residents of Westlake and Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The "for profit" Medicare and Medicaid-participating facility is located at:
27601 Westchester Pkwy
Westlake, Ohio 44145
(440) 871-5900
Ohio and federal agencies are duty-bound to monitor every nursing home and levy monetary fines or deny payments through Medicare when investigators identify serious violations of nursing home regulations and rules. In some cases, the nursing home receives multiple penalties if surveyors find severe violations that harmed or could have harmed a resident.
Within the last three years, federal investigators imposed a monetary fine against West Bay Care and Rehabilitation Center for $6,500 on April 27, 2017, citing substandard care. The nursing home also received three complaints over the last three years that resulted in a violation citation.
Additional documentation concerning penalties and fines can be reviewed on the Ohio Long-Term Care Consumer Guide.
Our attorneys review data on every long-term and intermediate care facility on Medicare.com and the Ohio Department of Public Health website.
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 four out of five stars for quality measures.
According to the state investigators, “the facility failed to ensure an allegation of staff-to-resident abuse was reported immediately.” The survey team reviewed the State Reported Incident (SRI) revealing “a family member had reported to the facility ombudsman on September 15, 2017, that [the resident] had sustained an injury when a staff member pulled or twisted her finger.”
The ombudsman returned to the facility and “asked the facility Administrator and Director of Nursing about the investigation regarding the abuse and vest occasion for [the resident’s] finger.” The investigation indicated that “the facility staff had not known of the allegation of abuse [before] the ombudsman asking them about it on September 18, 2017.”
The investigation began immediately and identified “the alleged perpetrator and immediately suspended the identified staff member.” The incident involved a severely, cognitively impaired resident who “had trouble concentrating but did not have behaviors including physical, verbal or other behavioral concerns.”
The investigators reviewed the Progress Notes/Event Summary Note dated September 14, 2017 that showed that the “resident had been sitting in her wheelchair in her room on the evening of September 14, 2017, watching TV” at 8:35 PM, “the resident was found on the floor near her bed.” A State-Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) observed the resident and notified a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to the room.
At that time, the resident was observed “banging their head on the floor. The resident was combative and would not allow the staff to assess her. After they were able to move her back to her chair and to her bed, the resident was assessed to have abrasions on both knees.” During that time, the resident “was combative, with kicking, hitting, spitting, scratching, and pinching staff at times as they tried to assist her.”
The resident received an x-ray which revealed it was “negative for a fracture.” The resident’s daughter remained at the bedside. At 10:00 AM the next day, the resident “threw food on the floor, and continue to hit and staff, calling staff members racial slurs. The note indicated the resident’s for finger remained black and blue for the resident was moving [it].”
The resident’s daughter stated that “she had taken the resident to the emergency room while she was out in the figure was again x-ray, with no acute fracture noted.” The SRI revealed that “the resident’s daughter called the ombudsman” and indicated that a staff member had injured the resident's finger.
Do you believe that your loved one was the victim of abuse or neglect while living at West Bay Care and Rehabilitation Center? Contact the Ohio nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for immediate legal intervention. We represent Cuyahoga County victims of abuse and neglect in all areas including Westlake.
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 financial recovery on your behalf.
Sources:
Attorney Nancy Iler
Licensed in Ohio
Illinois Nursing Home Injury Attorney Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home