Any form of treatment that occurs in a nursing home often involves substandard care or the intentional, willful act of the nursing staff, doctors, caregivers, and employees or other residents. In some cases, the victim suffers wrongful death, harm or injury through neglect. Other times, the victim is physically, sexually or verbally assaulted by others. When a patient is harmed, state and federal law provides an avenue for financial compensation by filing a civil claim to ensure the family recovers their monetary damages.
If your loved one was injured while residing in a Yuma County nursing facility, contact the Colorado Nursing Home Law Center attorneys now for immediate legal intervention. Our team of lawyers has successfully resolved cases like yours and can help your family too. Let us use the law to hold those responsible for causing the harm legally and financially accountable. We can begin working on your case today.
This Medicare/Medicaid-participating long-term care (LTC) center is a 58-certified bed "for profit" home providing services to residents of Yuma and Yuma County, Colorado. The facility is located at:
323 West 9Th Avenue
Yuma, Colorado, 80759
(970) 848-5804
In addition to providing 24/7 skilled nursing care, Yuma Life Care Center offers other services that include:
Colorado and federal government agencies have the legal responsibility of monitoring every nursing home and imposing monetary fines or denying reimbursement payments through Medicare. Facilities are fined if investigators identify serious violations and deficiencies. These penalties are typically imposed when the violation is severe and harmed or could have harmed a resident.
Within the last three years, state and federal regulators imposed three monetary fines against Yuma Life Care Center, citing substandard care. These penalties include a massive $524,885 fine on July 19, 2017, a $14,850 fine on July 8, 2016, and a $6468 fine on January 26, 2016, for a total of $546,203.
Also, the facility received sixteen formally filed complaints that all resulted in citations. Additional information about penalties and fines can be reviewed on the Colorado Department Of Public Health an Environment Department of Public Health Website concerning this nursing facility.
A list of safety concerns, incident inquiries, opened investigations, filed complaints, dangerous hazards, and health violations on statewide long-term care homes can be reviewed on database sites including at Colorado Department of Public Health and Medicare.gov. Many families use this data to determine the best facility to place a loved one who requires the highest level of skilled health care and hygiene assistance.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one out of five stars concerning health inspections, one out of five stars for staffing issues and four out of five stars for quality measures. The Yuma County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Yuma Life Care Center that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 5, 2018, the state investigative team documented that the facility had failed to “provide appropriate treatment and services to maintain or improve the ability [of one resident] to perform activities of daily living (ADLs).” The investigator stated that specifically, “the facility failed to ensure recommendations were made by therapy were followed.”
As a part of the investigation, the surveyors reviewed the facility’s Restorative Care Program Overview that reads in part:
“The rehabilitation program manager is responsible for managing the daily activities for the restorative care program. The Director of Nursing is responsible for ensuring the daily provision of restorative care services.”
“The Director of Nursing shall provide an adequate number of restorative aide staff to provide residents services and assign a licensed nurse to assume the role of restorative care nurse.”
The investigative team reviewed a moderately, cognitively impaired resident’s MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment and Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS) score of nine of fifteen. The resident “did not have verbal behavior symptoms directed toward others. However, there was no indication of her resisting care. She requires extensive assistance for bed mobility, transfers, grooming, and toilet use. She was frequently incontinent of bladder and always incontinent of bowel.”
A surveyor interviewed a frequent visitor to the facility just before dinner time on April 3, 2018, who said that “she was concerned that [the female resident] was no longer ambulatory and was always observed in a wheelchair.” The survey team reviewed the Activities of Daily Living Care Plan initiated on October 14, 2016, revised on January 20, 2018.”
The documentation identified the resident’s activities of daily living had “declined due to activity intolerance and disease progression. Interventions included the resident propelled herself around the facility utilizing a wheelchair. She required supervision or standby assistance with transfers.”
A review of the Physical Therapy Discharge Summary documented on November 16, 2017 “revealed the discharging therapist recommended a restorative program for [the resident]. The therapist recommended restorative ambulation program and the resident was to ambulate to meals (two out of three meals) six days a week with the use of a front wheeled walker and a gait belt for safety (walk to dining) program.”
The documentation shows that the “therapist documented that the resident was to maintain her current level of function and the nursing staff had been educated to provide these restorative services. There was no evidence in the clinical record of the resident being provided the services as recommended by the physical therapist.”
The investigation involved an interview with the Occupational Therapy Manager on April 4, 2018, who said that “after the resident was discharged from therapy on November 16, 2017, she was referred to participate in a restorative ambulation program.” The therapist said that “she was not responsible for coordinating restorative care and nursing was responsible. She said she did not know if the resident had participated in the program.”
The surveyors interviewed a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who said “she had worked at the facility for a few years [and] did not know that the facility had a restorative program. She said there was no specific area to document any special task such as a range of motion in ambulation. She said she had not received any restorative training to provide ambulation for [the resident].”
The investigators interviewed the Nursing Home Administrator and Director of Nursing who said that “the facility did not have a Restorative Nurse and the Restorative Aide had been on medical leave” for some time.” The Administrator and Director said that “they did not replace the Restorative Aide position.”
The Director also said that “she relied on therapy” for some time “to manage the restored of care. She said the facility was unable to provide any documentation of the resident receiving restorative services as recommended by therapy since November 16, 2017. She acknowledged there was a need for improvement with implementing and following a restorative program for the facility.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated April 5, 2018, the state investigators documented the nursing facility “failed to manage acceptable levels of pain [for a resident] consistent with professional standards of practice, the Comprehensive-centered Care Plan and the resident’s goals and preferences.”
The investigative team said that specifically, “the facility failed to demonstrate consistent, effective communication across all disciplines to ensure the resident received optimal pain relief.” The nursing home also failed “to show non-pharmacological interventions were attempted [and] demonstrate re-assessment of the resident’s acceptable level of pain.”
The nursing facility also “failed to create a resident-centered comprehensive pain Care Plan and review and revised to reflect changes in pain control.” The facility also “failed to utilize ‘as needed’ medications as ordered for uncontrolled pain. The resident continued to have uncontrolled and unacceptable pain even though he was on two scheduled [pain medications] and one ‘as needed’ narcotic as evidenced by verbalizing he was in constant pain and nothing was helping.”
The resident voiced “he wanted to be dead and in a grave and exhibited facial grimacing, brow furrowing, and moaning. This uncontrolled pain affected his psychosocial well-being as well.”
Failure to Follow Appropriate Procedures to Alleviate Residents Experiencing Intense, Excruciating Pain – CO State InspectorIn a separate summary statement of deficiencies dated September 29, 2016, the state investigators noted that the nursing home “failed to provide care and services for the highest practicable well-being for [one resident]. Specifically, the facility failed to assess and provide an individualized approach to relieve pain for [a 94-year-old resident].”
The resident’s MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment showed that the resident “experienced severe pain almost constantly. The resident was cognitively intact, with a Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS) score of fifteen of fifteen,” the highest level.
The surveyors observed the resident “during a mechanical lift transfer on September 26, 2017” just before dinner time. A Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) “entered the resident’s room with the Director of Nursing and a mechanical lift. The CNA and Director of Nursing took the U-shaped gray sling draped over the resident’s bathroom door, which they identified as a toileting sling, and slid the back of the sling behind the resident’s back.”
At that time, “the two front ends were wrapped around the outside of the resident’s legs and slid underneath them. Straps attached to the back of the sling and the two front ends were attached to the hooks on the mechanical lift. As a lift began to go up, the resident grimaced and cleansed her job, and her breathing became harsh. The resident was maneuvered, so she was over a bedside commode, and the CNA and Director of Nursing said they were going to toilet the resident.”
While the resident was toileting, the resident “was heard to cry out, and the sound of her breathing remained harsh. The CNA and Director of Nursing checked in with the resident during the procedure.”
The survey team interviewed a frequent visitor on September 26, 2016, who said that “the resident used a mechanical lift and frequently vocalized concerns to both facility staff and [the visitor] about the lift being painful. The visitor set [they] had observed the resident being transferred in the resident had become very combative and agitated.”
The visitor said that the resident “had been screaming and kicking throughout the lift procedure. The visitor said that the facility used multiple staff to transfer the resident, but sometimes a lift procedure took half an hour.”
The surveyors then interviewed the resident that same day who said that several months before, “the facility had switched the lift they used to transfer her. She said previously, she had used a little lift (later clarified to be a ‘sit to stand’ lift) and now the facility used the big course (later clarified to be a mechanical sling lift). She said the new lift was hurting her and said it caused pain from head to toe.”
The resident confirmed that the nursing staff uses the sling that was “draped over the resident’s bathroom door to go to the bathroom.” The resident said that “she sometimes tried to hold her bladder, so she did not have to use the lift.”
The Director of Nursing confirmed that they had seen “the expressions of pain observed during the lift and that the staff was aware the lift procedure was causing pain and discomfort. However, she said the resident did not like to take medications and did not want to be given a pain medication [before] the lift procedure.”
The Nursing Home Administrator confirmed through observation that “the resident had not had any pain evaluation conducted since the previous month and as a result, the lift had not been factored into the resident’s assessed pain status. She confirmed the resident had verbalized concerns about the lift being uncomfortable and painful and said the staff had attempted numerous slings [to] find one that was most comfortable.”
The Nursing Home Administrator said that the “resident had been reluctant to take medications but had recently started [a new medication] due to nerve pain on the side of her face.” The Nursing Home Administrator said that “this made it difficult for staff to help manage her pain.”
Do you suspect that your loved one was victimized by visitors, caregivers, employees or other residents while living at Yuma Life Care Center? If so, contact the Colorado nursing home neglect and abuse attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 now for immediate legal intervention. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Yuma County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Yuma. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Allow our seasoned nursing home abuse injury attorneys to file your claim for compensation against every party responsible for causing harm to your loved one. Our years of experience can ensure a successful financial resolution to make sure your family receives the financial recompense they deserve. We accept every nursing home neglect case, wrongful death lawsuit, personal injury claim for compensation through a contingency fee agreement. This arrangement will postpone the need to make a payment for our legal services until after our attorneys have resolved your case through a jury trial award or negotiated out of court settlement.
Our network of attorneys offers every client a “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee, meaning if we are unable to successfully resolve your case, you owe us nothing. We can start on your case today to ensure you receive compensation for your damages. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
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