I posted an article yesterday about a short piece which appeared in the online version of the Norfolk Examiner. The story mentioned 3 nursing homes in the Roanoke Valley and what nice facilities they were. My blog shared the fact that each of these facilities received failing grades from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I just ran across two more disturbing reports of lawsuits against facilities in Virginia, one a nursing home and the other an assisted living facility.
The assisted living facility, Cote De Neige Assisted Living Care in Virginia Beach/Norfolk, was sued when a male certified nursing assistant (CNA), with a known history of assault and battery (5 convictions) was hired by the facility to care for its residents. Previous to to attack which lead to this lawsuit, the CNA sexually assaulted another resident who was mentally impaired. The CNA was suspended but re-hired two weeks later. In this reported case, the CNA repeatedly sexually assaulted a 56 year old male (with the mental capacity of a 5 year old). The attacks permanently damaged the resident’s sphincter muscle causing the resident to require adult diapers. A jury awarded the resident $750,000, which included $250,000 in punitive damages.
The second case comes from the report of wrongful death case against a Virginia nursing home. The resident was admitted to the facility for rehabilitation care and was mistakenly injected with insulin in her stomach, which was meant for another resident. After the injection, the resident was found unconscious and taken to a hospital where she died. An autopsy revealed hypoglycemic encephalopathy as the cause of death. Apparently the nursing home did not deny its negligence but defended the case by arguing the resident had no life expectancy due to her age and other medical conditions. Ultimately, this case settled before trial.
My Take: As bad as these reports sound, these types of outrageous care and negligence by Virginia nursing homes and assisted living facilities occur all too frequently.