Nursing homes in Freeport, Oregon fined for endangering patients

(WTVO) — The Illinois Department of Public Health has levied fines against two local nursing homes for resident safety violations.

Manor Court of Freeport, located at 2170 West Navajo Drive, was fined $25,000 for failure to ensure a resident was given the correct medications, after a patient was given another patient’s medication and caused an accidental overdose. The patient was subsequently admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital.

The resident’s daughter allegedly told hospital staff that the incident was the second time the facility had given the resident the wrong medications.

Oregon Living & Rehab Center, at 811 South 10th Street, was fined $50,000 for failure to ensure the safety of a resident during personal care, supervise residents with a history of falls, and administration of correct medication.

The complaint says that in one case, facility workers fractured a patient’s arm while dressing her; in another, one resident with a history of falls was unsupervised and was injured; and in another, a resident suffered a bruise after accidentally being hit in the head with a bed remote during care.

The IDPH releases quarterly reports on nursing home violations.

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Nursing homes in Freeport, Oregon fined for endangering patients

Port Ludlow financial guardian pleads guilty to defrauding clients

A Port Ludlow man who is accused of stealing as much as $280,000 from clients he served as a financial guardian pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday to Social Security fraud.

Wayne Jerome Houston, 61, owned Cross Point Services LLC, a guardianship organization for disabled and vulnerable adults, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney Brian Moran. 

As part of his business managing the financial affairs of 15-20 clients a month, Houston  had access to the clients’ bank accounts so he could pay rent, utilities and other bills for them. Beginning in 2010, Houston began writing checks from his client's accounts to himself, to Cross Point Services, or to cash, and he used ATMs to withdraw money from client accounts for his own expenses, according to Moran's office.

He continued withdrawing money through 2018. The amount stolen is still under investigation, the office said, but it is estimated between $150,000 and $280,941.   

“This defendant stole from those he was supposed to protect at least 240 separate times,” Moran said in the press release. “He betrayed the clients who needed his help, as well as the Kitsap County Superior Court judges who appointed him, believing he could be trusted to make sure disabled and vulnerable adults were protected.”

Houston targeted clients who had significant income so that the theft was less likely to be detected, the press release said. 

Social Security benefits were paid into the accounts of at least 13 clients who required a representative payee to manage their benefits. Approximately $83,000 of what Houston is accused of stealing was Social Security Administration benefit funds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.  

The charges are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend no more than 40 months in prison. The judge, Ronald Leighton, is not limited by the recommendation, however, and Houston's sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, according to the press release.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.  

Houston is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17. 

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Port Ludlow financial guardian pleads guilty to defrauding clients

Evicted from a nursing home? It happens more than you might think

More than 10,000 consumers complained about involuntary discharges in 2018

By Beth Baker

Moving a loved one into a nursing home can be difficult. Getting settled in a new environment, surrounded by strangers, is a challenge for anyone, often made harder if the person has cognitive impairment. Once the transition is made, family members hope it will be a long-term solution. But Laurice Redhead, of Washington, D.C., learned the hard way that nursing homes can force a person to leave.

Redhead’s late mother, Rosa Diggs, ended up in a nursing home after a bout of pneumonia and a hospital stay in 2009 ended up with doctors inserting a tracheotomy to help her breathe. The tracheotomy tube, which she had for the rest of her life, prevented Diggs from speaking.
With additional diagnoses of osteoporosis, arthritis and some cognitive impairment — all requiring complex care — Diggs spent the last couple of years of her life in multiple nursing homes.

One of the facilities looked good to Redhead on the outside, but she encountered problems for her mother. The physician there prescribed sedatives that Redhead didn’t think were needed.

“My mother was very quiet, polite, old school,” she says. “I asked if she was causing any problem, and [the doctor] said ‘No, it’s just to keep her quiet.’”

Eventually, after 18 months of expressing concerns about her mother’s medications and other problems, Redhead was told by the nursing home attorney that she had 30 days to move her mother out. The lawyer said the nursing home could not provide her with the care she needed. Rather than pursue her right to appeal, Redhead moved her mother into what turned out to be a substandard place. She died soon after.

“You live with this for years. It never goes away,” Redhead says of the distress she feels about what happened to her mother.

Rights of long-term care residents

Eviction stories like Diggs’ happen to thousands of nursing home and assisted living residents each year.

“Involuntary discharge [from nursing homes] is the number one complaint that [long-term care] ombudsmen have had to deal with for the past seven years,” says Lori Smetanka, executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.

More than 10,000 consumers complained about involuntary discharges in 2018, according to national ombudsman data. One common reason residents are told to move out: behavioral issues related to dementia or mental illness. But experts say these discharges are often unwarranted.

In 1987, Congress passed the landmark Nursing Home Reform Act, guaranteeing a set of comprehensive rights for residents, such as the right to receive adequate care, to be treated with dignity and respect and to make personal choices about how you dress or spend your time. (Unlike nursing homes, assisted living facilities are not covered by federal regulation, and states have varying rules.)

Included in the Nursing Home Reform Act is a section on a resident’s right to remain in a nursing home, unless a transfer or discharge “is necessary to meet the resident’s welfare” or “is needed to protect the health and safety of other residents or staff.”

The nursing home must give a resident at least 30 days notice, put the reason for the discharge in writing, indicate where the person will be moved and include contact information for the state ombudsman.

Residents have the right to appeal. If the eviction is due to nonpayment, the resident has the right to remain in the nursing home if the person has applied for Medicaid assistance and is awaiting a decision.

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the nursing home regulations. “This was the first major update in 30 years,” Smetanka says. One of the updated provisions was in the area of transfer and discharge. CMS found that some nursing homes were inappropriately claiming they could not meet a resident’s needs.

With the new regulations, “They have added extra protections,” Smetanka says. “The nursing home has to document specifically what the [unmet] need is, what attempts they took…and what services [the new place] is providing that the original place says they couldn’t provide.”

National Consumer Voice is training ombudsmen, surveyors, residents, family members and advocates in the updated rights and urges families to appeal improper nursing home discharges.

Blaming the victim?

“The main medical paradigm is to blame [difficult behavior] on the dementia,” says Dr. Allen Power, who worked in nursing homes for 22 years and is the Schlegel Chair in Aging and Dementia Innovation at the University of Waterloo’s Research Institute for Aging in Ontario. Power is the author of “Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care.”

“I reject this…to say it’s a symptom of dementia means it is caused by brain disease,” he says. “It could be something much deeper. For example, if a person is living in an environment where they have no choice or control; if strangers are bathing you, and there’s high staff turnover.”

Often agitation and anger “are a form of communication,” agrees Smetanka. “The key is finding out if it’s pain, hunger, thirst, fear or boredom.”

Power has found that rather than evict residents, nursing homes may be inappropriately using antipsychotic drugs. Sedation, he argues, “is a violation of rights.”

Instead, he and others say, nursing homes should conduct thorough assessments.

“You have to ask: ‘Have you really looked at everything? Have you seen patterns or triggers?” says Carmen Bowman, who has a consulting practice called Edu-Catering in Brighton, Colo. Bowman is a former nursing home state surveyor who trains long-term care staff on transforming their institutional culture into one that supports a high quality of life for residents.

People can be upset because they have a roommate or a staff member they don’t like, Bowman points out. Having a consistent, small team of caregivers who come to know the individual is fundamental to receiving good care, she stresses.

In general, though, long-term care facilities do not want to discharge people. “They represent revenue,” Bowman adds.

Dr. David Gifford, chief medical officer of the American Health Care Association, a nursing home trade group, says involuntary discharges are “an issue [our members] really grapple with, because it’s very upsetting when you can’t continue to care for an individual in your building.”

But there is a subset of people with dementia who have extreme problems that most nursing homes are unable to handle, Gifford says.

“Some people with dementia lose their ability to control themselves in socially appropriate ways, and they become intrusive in other people’s lives. Occasionally, those behaviors lead to really unfortunate situations where they harm, or are likely to harm, other residents or themselves. What leads to involuntary discharge is often when they become sexually aggressive or they can’t control their impulses, so they’re hitting other residents,” he says.

In such cases, the resident will be told to leave. Unfortunately, nursing homes that specialize in caring for people with extreme cognitive or mental health problems are few and far between.

What families can do

When moving a loved one to a long-term care facility, families and residents need to have realistic expectations, Bowman says. Sometimes a nursing home or other facility works well for the person for a while, but as the condition and needs change, the home is no longer a good fit.

“Mom or Dad may change due to depression, or (trauma) from (some other time) in their life, or dementia. And now where they’re living is not equipped to handle these,” Bowman says. “It’s nobody’s fault.”

In many cases, nursing homes will convince the family to move their loved one before issuing a formal discharge letter. Families may voluntarily comply, they may agree it’s not a good match or they may feel the home will not provide good care under the circumstances.

But if a formal discharge letter is sent, saying the family has 30 days to move the person, there are several steps to take.

The first is to contact the long-term care ombudsman. If regulations are being followed, the nursing home should have sent a copy of the letter to the ombudsman at the same time as the resident.

The ombudsman should be your advocate, although this is not always the case. For example, Redhead felt the ombudsman “was in bed with the nursing home.”

Ask the ombudsman what assessments have been conducted and what measures the care facility took to ameliorate the difficulty. Find out what services the staffers say they are unable to provide, and ask if the new place has them.

If you feel the discharge is unfair and not in your loved one’s interest, appeal the decision to the facility.

“The facility has a responsibility to meet the needs of the individual,” Smetanka says. “If they accept a person, essentially, they are saying they are able to meet those needs. They cannot ask a resident to waive their rights. They can’t say, ‘because of your dementia, if you become combative, we’ll discharge you.’

“If they can’t provide a specific type of service, such as a ventilator, they can’t accept (the prospective resident) and they have to tell you that,” Smetanka continues. “Dementia is not one of those special diagnoses. It’s one that nursing homes should be prepared to care for.”


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Evicted from a nursing home? It happens more than you might think

‘It’s sad:’ Dementia leads to dropped charge against caregiver accused of stealing $17K

FRANKLIN — Stealing from the elderly is a growing problem across Wisconsin, and the FOX6 Investigators found caregivers suspected of financially abusing their elderly clients sometimes go unpunished.

Franklin police said they had a "tight case" against a personal care worker accused of fraud, until something happened that derailed it. It is something millions of Americans face that makes them especially vulnerable to financial exploitation.

When Grace Rutkowski arrived to chat with Franklin police in summer 2018, she still had a sharp sense of humor.

"Oh, she's good looking," Rutkowski said as Detective Steven Horn held out a cellphone picture of his wife. "How'd you get her?"

Horn recorded the interview as evidence that the 83-year-old alleged fraud victim was competent.

"How do you feel about this money being taken out of your account?" Horn asked in the recording.

"I don't like it," Rutkowski replied.

"She was able to answer the questions very clearly," said Captain Craig Liermann, Horn's boss.

This was the second time police had interviewed Rutkowski and, this time, it was the final piece of a nearly 18-month investigation into Nicole McAtee.

In September 2018, prosecutors charged McAtee with a felony for allegedly stealing more than $17,000 from her elderly client.

The FOX6 Investigators first met McAtee at a south side gas station.

"You were charged with theft," said Bryan Polcyn, FOX6 Investigator.

"No, I wasn't charged," McAtee said.

"You were charged. I have the records," Polcyn said.

She just happened to be standing at the very ATM police said she had used to defraud Rutkowski.

"How'd you know it was me?" McAtee asked.

Polcyn gave McAtee his business card and a one-week deadline to call back and set up an interview so she could provide her side of the story. She promised to call but never did. That is, until two days before the story was set to be broadcast when McAtee's face started appearing in on-air promotions.

"This lady had a spending habit," McAtee said.

McAtee was hired in September 2016 by Visiting Angels, an independently-owned** home care franchise in Milwaukee that assigned her to care for Rutkowski at her Greendale apartment.

"How long after you met her did you get her debit card?" Polcyn asked.

"A year?" McAtee said while twisting her face with apparent uncertainty.

"A year,"  Polcyn repeated.

"Maybe six months to a year," McAtee said.

Actually, police the said the same month McAtee starting caring for Rutkowski, there was a "dramatic increase in debit card purchases and cash withdrawals" on Rutkowski's bank account.

"Why did she have your debit card?" Horn asked Rutkowski.

"Because when I needed some clothes and that from Walmart," Rutkowski said.

Surveillance video from Walmart showed McAtee stocking up on everything from Gatorade and Easter candy, to laundry soap and a stack of DVD movies, and then using Rutkowski's debit card to pay for it.

"Did you take that to her?" Polcyn asked.

"Yeah. Everything we bought was taken to Grace," McAtee said.

Police reports indicated Rutkowski never saw any of it.

"Did she have permission to buy things for herself with the card?" Horn said.

"No," Rutkowski said.

"No, okay. So that was, it was strictly set up for..."  Horn said.

"For me," Rutkowski said.

Records showed McAtee repeatedly used the card at an ATM just blocks from her own apartment and nowhere near Rutkowski's.

"I would grab the money here and then go to her house," McAtee said.

Four months after they first met, Rutkowski signed documents making McAtee her power of attorney. That meant McAtee had complete legal control over all of the elderly woman's finances.

"She said, 'Would you like to be my POA?' and I said, 'Grace, I don't know what that is,'" McAtee recalled.

"But why would you say yes to that if you don't know what that is?" Polcyn asked.

"'Cause she didn't have family," McAtee said.

"Why did you do that?" Horn asked in the recorded interview with Rutkowski.

"Because I didn't have one and I needed one," Rutkowski said.

"She clearly established a relationship, developed a trust, and then took advantage of that trust," Liermann said.

Visiting Angels told police the POA agreement was "against company policy."

Days after they learned of it, McAtee stopped coming to work. Visiting Angels officials said she was "terminated," but for a different reason.

That same month, April 2017, Rutkowski moved to Lake Pointe Manor in Franklin, but for another full year, police said, McAtee kept her debit card, kept the power of attorney, and kept on spending Rutkowski's money.

What she failed to do was live up to her duty as POA in paying for Rutkowski's room and board. By April 2018, Rutkowski was 10 months behind in payments and owed nearly $8,000 to Lake Pointe Manor.

"Financial exploitation is a crime of opportunity and greed," said Doreen Goetsch, coordinator of Adult Protective Services for the Wisconsin Department of Health.

In 2018, Goetsch said agencies across the state took nearly 9,000 calls about elder abuse, with 20% of those calls involving some form of financial exploitation.

"These are crimes against our frail elderly, and we need to prosecute these cases," Goetsch said.

Juanita Woods stole rings from a dementia patient in West Allis.

Elizabeth Reda filled garbage bags full of residents' valuables in Burlington.

Ratravion Wade repeatedly pressured a group home resident in Racine to loan him money.

Then, there's Tenisha Ivy, who claimed to have found an assisted living client's debit card on the ground.

"I just figured, 'Oh, this is a card. I can use this. I mean, I'm not using my money,'" Ivy said in a recorded police interview.

She then proceeded to use the card at restaurants, bars, and gas stations.

"Yeah, I probably done used it to see if it worked or somethin' like that," Ivy said.

"But that is stealing," said a Milwaukee police detective. "Why would you use it if it`s not yours to see if it worked?"

"You're right. You can't put that any other way but stealing," Ivy said.

Woods, Reda, Wade, and Ivy were all found guilty of crimes and flagged on the state's caregiver misconduct registry, but Goetsch said that is the exception, not the rule.

"People are reluctant to report. They are often ashamed. They are embarrassed. They don't know who to tell," Goetsch said.

Even when they do, she said, police often treat it as a civil offense and prosecutors are hesitant to charge.

"Because the person has dementia," Goetsch said.

As McAtee's case languished in court for nearly a year, Rutkowski's health declined.

"Sometimes you get things mixed up," Rutkowski said.

Prosecutors eventually determined that progressive dementia had made her an unreliable witness, so they dismissed the case.

"The very kind of person she took advantage of was someone who was in failing health," Polcyn said.

"Correct. It worked to her advantage, unfortunately," Liermann said.

"That's not the case," McAtee said. "I was there for her."

The former caregiver said she is the real victim.

"I can't pursue nothing I want to do with my career or further myself, because of this," she said. "I did what I could for this lady,a nd for everybody to put me out there like I'm a bad person? I'm only guilty of taking care of an elderly that did not have anybody. That's the only thing I'm guilty of."

That's true. Because prosecutors dismissed the case, Nicole McAtee is not guilty of a crime, but Franklin police said they still want you to know who she is just in case she ever comes to care for someone you love.

"It's sad," Liermann said.

In Wisconsin, registered nurses, CNAs, and LPNs are all regulated by the Office of Caregiver Quality, which tracks allegations of abuse, but Nicole McAtee was not a CNA or LPN. She was a "personal care worker," meaning she helped with meal prep, bathing, cleaning, and so on.

Personal care workers are not required to be licensed and, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, they are not tracked or regulated.

In other words, theoretically, she could get another job as a personal care worker, assuming someone would hire her.

If you want to protect someone you love from elder financial abuse, DHS recommends you keep a close eye on their accounts. If you can, register for email or text notifications whenever there's a withdrawal or debit on the account.

If you suspect abuse of any kind, call your local county's elder adults-at-risk helpline. There is one for every county in Wisconsin. CLICK HERE to learn more.

**Visiting Angels is a national network of home care agencies with franchises that are independently owned and operated. This case involved a caregiver hired by the Milwaukee office of Visiting Angels, managed locally by Angela Sanchez. In a voicemail left for the FOX6 Investigators, Sanchez indicated that Nicole McAtee was "terminated," but not for obtaining Power of Attorney over Rutkowski. Sanchez said she was unaware of the POA until shortly before McAtee's employment ended.

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‘It’s sad:’ Dementia leads to dropped charge against caregiver accused of stealing $17K

Opening Statements in Dispute Between Hospital, Teen Placed State Custody

Justina Pelletier's family is accusing Boston Children's Hospital of malpractice after a dispute in the then-teenager's diagnosis prompted state officials to take custody of her

Opening statements began Tuesday in a medical malpractice trial involving a Boston hospital and the family of a Connecticut teen who was placed into state custody after a dispute over her diagnosis.

The family of Justina Pelletier has filed a lawsuit against Boston Children's Hospital, saying Pelletier, then 14, was placed in Massachusetts state custody and "held against her will" in 2013.

The Pelletier family's attorney said she was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease — a disorder that affects cellular energy production — at Tufts Medical Center, but Boston Children's Hospital said her issues were psychiatric.

When her parents rejected that diagnosis and tried to discharge her, allegations of medical child abuse were raised, and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families took custody of her.

"You will hear that they were angry, that they were enraged and that they objected in every way they knew how," John Martin, the attorney for the Pelletier family, said during opening statements.

She eventually was returned to the care of her parents in 2014 after a judge's order.

The lawsuit says Pelletier suffered "severe and debilitating psychiatric trauma as a result of being held against her will in a locked psychiatric ward."

Boston Children's Hospital denies the allegations of medical malpractice and said it would "vigorously defend the care our clinicians provided."

"You didn't hear anything in the opening statement that the treatment they provided was wrong," said the hospital's attorney, Ellen Epstein Cohen. "That's because it wasn't improper. It helped her. She improved."

The case is putting the spotlight on the debate of who has the final say on a child's treatment — doctors or parents.

With opening statements now complete, the jury will begin listening to testimony in the case. The judge told them the trial could last up to a month.

Full Article & Source:
Opening Statements in Dispute Between Hospital, Teen Placed State Custody 

See Also:
Parents of Justina Pelletier sue Boston Children’s Hospital

Justina Pelletier's Father says Justina's Returning to Family!

Justina Pelletier's Family And Boston Children's Hospital Are Heading To Court

New Placement gives DCF hostage Justina Pelletier more privileges

Police: She bought new home, car, went on 'nice vacations.' Meanwhile, employee checks bounced, taxes weren't paid and utilities were cut

Melinda R. Bixler

The owner of two West Manchester Township elder-care companies — one a nonprofit — spent money earmarked for indigent elderly people to buy herself a home, put her son through drug rehab and give to family members, West Manchester Township Police said.

Melinda R. Bixler bought a new Lexus and took her three children and boyfriend on "very nice vacations" to Australia and the Caribbean, according to charging documents.

She created two businesses, both located at 4070 W. Market St., police said — Elder Healthcare Solutions and the nonprofit Adult Care Advocates.

The purpose of the nonprofit was to provide financial assistance to clients in need, such as helping clients with rent money after a lengthy hospital stay, police said, while Elder Healthcare Solutions provided power-of-attorney services for people unable to manage their own financial affairs.

"I am in the process of reviewing the allegations contained within the criminal complaint," her defense attorney, Chris Ferro, told The York Dispatch. "This is a complicated matter. Further comment at this time on the substance of the charges would not be appropriate."

Seven felonies: Bixler, 47, of the 1600 block of South Wyndham Drive in Spring Garden Township, remains free on $200,000 bail, charged with seven first-degree felonies — three corrupt organization offenses, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, conspiracy to commit theft and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

Charging documents state she bought her current home for $685,000 and used money she embezzled to do so. The 6,500-square-foot home has five bedrooms and 4½ bathrooms, according to Zillow.com.

Bixler, with the help of her 22-year old son, Zachary Bixler, moved money that was bequeathed to Adult Care Advocates to Elder Healthcare's bank account, to her own private bank accounts and co-mingled the money with her son's bank accounts, charging documents allege.

"In fact, the activity was so suspicious on (one) account that (M&T Bank's) Financial Investigation Unit conducted their own investigation into the matter," documents state.

When Zachary Bixler purportedly needed to go to drug rehab, Melinda Bixler allegedly told an employee it was going to cost $14,000, according to documents, which indicated she paid for his rehab stay.

Utilities shut off? Meanwhile, Elder Healthcare Solutions began to struggle financially, documents state — employees' paychecks were bouncing, utilities at the business office were being turned off and taxes weren't being paid, documents state.

Melinda Bixler's credit cards were being refused when she would try to pay for lunches, police allege.

Zachary Bixler remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail, charged with the felonies of being part of a corrupt organization, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit theft.

Defense attorney Stephen McDonald, who represents Zachary Bixler, said he had no immediate comment on Monday, Jan. 27.

York County detectives assisted West Manchester Township Police with the investigation.

They began investigating after a former Elder Healthcare employee brought her concerns to authorities, documents indicate.

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Police: She bought new home, car, went on 'nice vacations.' Meanwhile, employee checks bounced, taxes weren't paid and utilities were cut

Caregiver Charged With Bilking Up To $100,000 From Elderly Victim

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA — A woman who worked as a caregiver, and is accused of bilking as much as $100,000 from an elderly person she worked for in La Canada Flintridge, was in jail Wednesday while she waits for a hearing next week to determine if she will have to stand trial on two felony counts.

Glendale resident Sheila May Herbito, who also goes by Sheila Paguirigan Solis and Sheila May Paguirigan, is charged with one count each of grand theft from an elder and burglary, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Herbito, 42, is jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail since last week, when she was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives outside her home.

She allegedly took as much as $100,000 through cash withdrawals and bank checks issued from the alleged victim's account while she worked as a caregiver in La Canada Flintridge between April 2015 and August 2016, according to the sheriff's department.

The alleged thefts were discovered by the elderly person's family and reported to law enforcement, according to the sheriff's department.

The sheriff's department said she did not disclose that she has a prior conviction for financial elder abuse.

Herbito is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom next Wednesday.

Sheriff's detectives are asking that any other possible alleged victims contact Detective Todd Sams or Sgt. Jacqueline Luna with the sheriff's Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau at 562-946-7217.

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Caregiver Charged With Bilking Up To $100,000 From Elderly Victim

News10NBC Investigates: Nursing homes sue family and friends of residents, one case for $280,000

Photo: News10NBC.

by Berkeley Brean

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — News10NBC is exposing the trend of nursing homes suing the friends and families of residents whether they're dead or alive.

Mobile app users: Click here to watch all three videos that go with this story on whec.com.

In the lawsuits, the nursing homes say they are owed money for the care they give but instead of going after the money from Medicaid.

News10NBC found out the nursing homes are going after spouses, children, grandchildren and friends.

They are suing these people because they signed an admission agreement when their loved one moved into a nursing home.

The nursing homes and their lawyers also accuse many relatives and friends of hiding money, including a 79-year-old woman who was trying to help her friend.

Ms. Robinson and Ms. Patterson



Two years ago, Barbara Robinson agreed to help her friend move into Monroe Community Hospital, the county's nursing home.

Robinson was her only caregiver for years but in 2018, her friend got very sick. Janet Patterson died two months after she moved into MCH.

"It was a loss," Robinson said. "I still miss her."

Robinson was already Patterson's power of attorney. But to get her friend a bed, Robinson signed the 25-page Admission Agreement to Monroe Community Hospital which included an addendum making Robinson the "financial agent."

That act of charity would come back to bite her.

More than a year later, a lawsuit showed up at Robinson's home in Bloomfield. Monroe County, the owner of Monroe Community Hospital, sued the estate of Janet Patterson and Barbara Robinson for $21,000.

Robinson: "At first I thought it was a joke."

Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean: "It must have scared you though."

Robinson: "Well it did when I realized they were serious."

Not only does the county say Robinson owes $21,000, the lawsuit accused her of "breach of contract" and "fraudulent conveyance," intentionally moving Janet Patterson's money with "actual intent" to not pay the nursing home.

Robinson says Patterson lived on social security, just $800 a month. And she says the hospital had all of her friend's financials.

Robinson: "They know there wasn't an estate."

Brean: "They were looking for the money."

Robinson: "Yeah."

Brean: "And they started coming after you."

Robinson: "Yep."

"This is a classic example of no good deed goes unpunished," said Anna Anderson, a lawyer with Law NY, a non-profit legal office in Rochester. Anderson defended Robinson for free.

Brean: "The nursing home provided services for Janet Patterson. They're owed money."

Anderson: "Yes."

Brean: "Somebody's got to pay them."

Anderson: "Yes but Barbara doesn't owe the money. Barbara didn't receive any of these services.”

For the last two months, I compiled a list of more than six dozen lawsuits by non-profit nursing homes against residents, some of them dead, and their daughters, sons, spouses, nieces, nephews and friends.

The plaintiff in 30 of the cases, four out of every 10 filed, is Monroe County, the owner of Monroe Community Hospital.

The Highlands at Brighton sued eight times.

St. Anne's Homes for the Aged sued 12 times.

The Highlands Living Center sued five times.

St. John's Healthcare Corp. sued 14 times.

Some lawsuits demand huge amounts of money.

• $18,000. 
• $121,000. 
• $280,000.

In Robinson's case, the nursing home bill shows Medicare covered her friend's first two weeks in MCH.

After that Medicaid was supposed to kick in. But Robinson's lawyer says the Medicaid application was never filed by the nursing home. So the bill, filed as evidence in the lawsuit, shows the cost of care of $420 a day built up until Patterson died.

The total was $21,000.

"Yes the resident likely owes something," Anderson said. "But that does not mean the nursing home can pursue whomever the resident knew and was helping to try to collect on this bill."

"I guess they thought, they must think there's an estate. I don't know what they think," Robinson said. "Or they're just hoping they can scare me into paying a bill I don't owe."

Why the lawsuits happen



"The lawsuits represent a very small percentage of accounts that have essentially gone bad," said David Tang is an attorney at Rochester law firm Underberg and Kessler.

That's the firm that represents nine non-profit nursing homes in the lawsuits we identified naming daughters, sons, spouses and friends.

Tang says the lawsuits represent about two to three percent of the total number of residents.

We've also learned that over the same period of time, Harris Beach filed seven similar cases. The firm Pullano and Farrow filed five.

Brean: "Why are you suing family members and friends?"

Tang: "The only time we'll name an individual in addition to the resident is because that individual has identified themselves as someone who is responsible for the resident's finances."

Tang says that happens when relatives and friends signed the admission agreement that includes the same document Barbara Robinson signed.

Remember, addendum five said Robinson agreed to be the financial agent for her friend.

Brean: "But by agreeing to do this, they're opening themselves up to being sued."

Tang: "So, that's an interesting question. If there is no missing money then no lawsuit would take place."

"I just never dreamed when I signed that that there was anyway there would be trouble for me," Robinson said.

I asked Tang about alleging "fraudulent conveyance" against people like Robinson even though the lawsuits don't provide proof.  

"I can't comment on a specific case but typically the allegation would not be included unless there was evidence of some kind of transfer or some kind of control over the assets which were not used to pay towards the cost of care," Tang said.

"Well there wasn't any money to hide," Robinson said.

Robinson says Janet Patterson lived on her social security check and rented an apartment.

Robinson says the nursing home told her it would take care of getting her friend's social security checks and Medicaid.

"Maybe they really think I did something wrong. I doubt that," Robinson said. "I think they just knew I had power of attorney so they took a shot at me."

The case gets dismissed

In October, Supreme Court Justice Debra Martin dismissed the case against Robinson. But five days before Christmas, Monroe County appealed. So the case is still active.

Why did the judge throw it out? Court documents show Judge Martin believed Robinson never got billed while she was still power of attorney, there was no proof that Robinson moved money and no proof that Robinson didn't try to help.

The solution: know what you're signing



"By signing an agreement, a contract with a nursing home, a friend or family member is actually exposing themselves to liability whether they know it or not," said Miles Zatkowsky, attorney at Dutcher and Zatkowsky.

He is an expert at this since his firm specializes in elder law.

Brean: "So what is the answer here? Don't sign these agreements if you have a loved one going into a nursing home?"

Miles Zatkowsky, Dutcher & Zatkowsky Elder Law: "Again that gets complicated because what clients are telling us is that if I don't sign the agreement as is, I'm not getting a bed offer."

Zatkowsky's firm offers free reviews of the nursing home contracts.

"They should know what they're signing," he said. "The concern is that I want my loved one cared for properly and if this is a pre-requisite or requirement to get them into the nursing home, 'show me where I sign?'"

Click here to get to Dutcher and Zatkowsky's website?????.

Click here for another article describing the issue.

We analyzed the lawsuits and found:

            • 79 total cases
            • 33 cases resulted in default judgments totally $1,395,636.53
            • 21 still pending
            • All the cases where the defendants had attorneys were discontinued or settled
            • No default judgments were entered in cases where defendant had an attorney
            • No fraud claims brought against spouses because they can recover automatically against them under the "doctrine of necessaries"


Full Article & Source:
News10NBC Investigates: Nursing homes sue family and friends of residents, one case for $280,000

State fines nursing homes over falls

Injury fatal for one resident, report says

by David C.L. Bauer

Two west-central Illinois nursing homes were among those fined by the Illinois Department of Public Health after one resident was injured and another died, according to the department’s quarterly report released Tuesday.

Aperion Care Jacksonville, a 113-bed skilled care facility at 1021 N. Church St., was fined $25,000 for failure to provide supervision and implement intervention for a resident to prevent multiple falls, according to the state.

Pittsfield Manor, an 89-bed skilled care facility at 610 Lowry St. in Pittsfield, was fined $25,000 for failure to provide supervision to prevent a fall, according to department records.

According to Illinois Department of Public Health documents, policies and requirements were not followed and that resulted in a resident falling, lacerating her head and suffering a fracture that required surgery and the pinning of her hip.

When the woman was admitted to the facility in 2018, it was determined she was at risk for falls, according to the state, but “the facility failed to implement effective interventions and provide supervision to prevent injury for multiple falls.”

At Pittsfield Manor, according to Illinois Department of Public Health documents, the facility also failed to provide supervision to prevent falling for a resident, resulting in her falling, hitting her head and being sent to the emergency room.

The resident suffered “a traumatic skull fracture, subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding in the space between the brain and the tissue covering the brain) and subdural hematoma (a pool of blood between the brain and its outermost covering) that caused her death.”

The woman had been admitted to the facility in February and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a history of falls, unsteadiness, anxiety and vertigo.

The state documented a series of falls that occurred although the resident was urged to use a call light to get staff assistance. In the days before the most significant fall, nursing home staff reported she required more assistance and complained more often of headaches and dizziness.

In June, the woman was taken from the facility for a dental appointment, according to the state’s report. A nurse’s aide and bus driver called a few hours later and said the woman had fallen and was taken to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a brain bleed. The diagnosis was that the woman would “likely soon pass related to the intracerebral hemorrhage.”

She died about three days later, according to the report. The cause of death was “blunt force trauma” resulting from “falling and striking head on ground.”

Both facilities were cited with type “A” violations of the Nursing Home Care Act and processed between October and December. An “A” violation pertains to a condition in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result or has resulted, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.


Full Article & Source:
State fines nursing homes over falls