Connecticut state investigators conducted a “surprise” investigation at a New Haven nursing home, the West Rock Health Care Center. Now, the facility is being closed down based on the results of that investigation.
The owner of West Rock Health Care, Anthony Pinto, was forced to file bankruptcy in 2009, after running out of money. He has owned the facility since 1998, and states that this year he was pushed out as owner and forced to close the nursing home.
Pinto doesn’t understand why the facility should be shut down, and says the state has been at West Rock Health Care since April 12th correcting problems. He believes that the investigation findings were mistakes on the part of the facility, but since no one died he should not be shut down.
In the report by Department of Public Health regarding the investigation, 37 pages found numerous violations on the part of the nursing home. According to these pages, patients were found in beds on sheets that were accumulated with soiling, and many resident’s apparently had not been seen to regarding personal hygiene, as hair was greasy and unkempt.
The Department of Health also found that out of four residents reviewed, all four were not provided medications on a timely basis. Boxes of patient medical records were sitting in pooled water, and a nurse was found to have cleaned an open ulcer on a patient using the same washcloth that was used to clean the patient, which contained fecal material.
Pinto stated, “believe me, I understand that’s not an easy piece of paper to take. I was concerned like everyone in this facility but my God it was correctable.” Pinto also called the closing a travesty.
The closing of West Rock Health Care will result in 79 patients needing to be placed in other nursing homes, and the loss of 90 jobs.
It seems that nearly every week, there are reports of abuse and/or neglect in nursing homes across the nation. Some of this is neglect by staff members to provide personal care and medicine, while other reports involve physical abuse to residents. Families who place loved ones in a nursing home expect that they will be well cared for, but this is often not the case.
If circumstances cause you to suspect that your loved one is being neglected or abused in a nursing home, contact a New York nursing home abuse and neglect lawyer at once to determine what rights your loved one has and what actions may be necessary to correct the problem.
