What good are nursing home fines when they're not enforced?
It seems like we hear about nursing homes getting fined for safety problems or patient injuries on a daily basis. After learning of the underlying reasons why the fine was imposed, many of us sit back and sigh thinking to ourselves "serves them right." At some point there is an assumption that the fine will serve as the inspiration for the nursing home to correct the underling problem and improve the safety conditions for other patients at the facility. Right? Ideally, fines would serve their intended purpose and get poorly performing nursing homes to change their ways. However, what many...
More
Shouldn't Nursing Home Fines Be Reflective Of The Type Of Violation Committed?
As the name would suggest, nursing home fines are one of the tools available to state and federal agencies to get them to correct their practices. After all, a substantial fine would (or at least should) cause nursing homes to carefully reevaluate how they care for patients in order to avoid similar fines in the future. But, what happens when these fines are so seemingly low in comparison to the type of violation or patient harm committed? Patient harm and poor nursing practices aside, it only seems like human nature for facilities to take a closer look at instances that...
More
Significant Drop In Number Illinois Nursing Homes Cited For Violations. Is Care Really Getting Better?
For the past several years, I've always highlight some of the Illinois nursing homes represented on the listing of Quarterly violators published by the Illinois Department of Health. While it may be logistically impossible to investigate every incident involving a nursing home injury, I look at the list of quarterly violations as a snippet of the type of care provided to residents throughout the state of Illinois. For families and patients seeking information on particular facilities, reviewing the facilities on the quarterly violations is also important as certain facilities tend to appear more frequently than others. Depending upon the type...
More
State Fines Nursing Home Where Patients Drowns In Puddle In Front Of Facility
Wandering in a potentially deadly problem for nursing home patients with dementia and other medical conditions that make them unable to appreciate the dangers around them. While not a common problem, wandering from nursing homes puts particularly vulnerable patients at risk for harming themselves when they find themselves in the outside world with no one to look after them. Just 200 feet from the doors to the nursing home where she was a patient, a 92-year woman left the facility without the knowledge of the facility staff and managed to fall into a shallow puddle nearby and drown. Authorities from...
More
Illinois Nursing Homes Continue To Rack Up Fines In 3rd Quarter Of 2010
As is becoming somewhat of a regular feature at the Nursing Homes Abuse Blog, I like to take a bit of a closer look at the facilities appearing on the Quarterly list of nursing home violators as published by the Illinois Department of Health. More than anything, when you look at the list on the whole, it provides the most accurate account of the state of nursing homes in Illinois. Forty-eight Illinois Nursing Homes appear on the list of violators and a total of $545,000 in fines were handed out by IDPH. When you look at the list of nursing...
More
Traffic Accident Fatality Costs Iowa Nursing Home $10,000 In Fines
An Iowa nursing home now faces a $10,000 fine imposed by the state following an investigation into the death of an elderly patient at the facility. As we recently discussed, Corine Armentrout and another elderly patient were injured in a November 9th auto accident when the nursing home van in which they were passengers stopped abruptly. The sudden stop resulted in the women getting thrown from their wheelchairs to the floor of the van. The state investigation determined that women's injuries--- and subsequent death of Ms. Armentrout were attributable to the fact that the driver of the van failed to...
More
Illinois Health Officials To Have More Leverage When It Comes To Punishing Bad Nursing Homes
Faced a situation where a nursing home was providing inadequate or dangerous care to its patients, officials at the Department of Public Health-- the regulatory agency for Illinois Nursing Homes-- had relatively little in their arsenal when it comes to prodding along facilities. That is, until now. Recently, the Illinois Appellate Court tossed out a Sangamon County judge's ruling that capped fines imposed by the Illinois Department of Public Health at $10,000. In the case involving Peoria's Rosewood Care Center and The Illinois Department of Health, Judge Leo Zappa ruled in favor of Rosewood in a matter involving a $20,000...
More
42 Illinois Nursing Homes Cited In 4th Quarter of 2009 For Violations Related To Patient Care
Normal 0 0 1 1324 7547 62 15 9268 11.518 0 0 0 I feel strongly about publicizing information related to poorly performing facilities. In Illinois, we are fortunate to have a department of health that does a great job documenting nursing home violations and publishing them on a quarterly basis. My hope is that families can use this information when making decisions relating to the placement of a loved in a nursing home. Below are the actual facilities cited by the IDPH this quarter-- I do think the individual violators are important-- but I think the better understanding...
More
Judge Limits Fines For Poor Nursing Home Care
An Illinois Court has ruled the Illinois Department of Public Health can impose maximum fines of $10,000 per incident for poor care--and not a penny more. The decision stems from a case involving infection-related death of a 95-year-old resident at Rosewood Care Center of Peoria. Following an investigation into the death, IDPH imposed a $25,000 fine. In ruling the IDPH fine was too high, Sangamon County Circuit Judge Leo Zappa determined the fine was excessive and violated state law and circumvented administrative rules that limit fines to $10,000. Illinois officials have been gradually increasing nursing homes fines according to William...
More
New Bill Would Return Money To Dangerous Nursing Homes After They Correct Problems
A new bill in the Illinois General Assembly could dramatically change the way nursing homes operate in Illinois. Under Senate Bill 321, proposed by Dan Kotowski (D- Park Ridge, IL), fines imposed against nursing homes for providing poor care and injury could be returned to the facility at the discretion of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Currently, part of the money collected from fines against Illinois nursing homes is used to provide health monitors who are stationed in troubled nursing homes and used to pay staff members who serve on regional teams to review cases of abuse and preventable...
More
Page:
1
