Many families in Pennsylvania have elderly loved ones that require a great deal of medical care. While these families want nothing more than to provide this care themselves, in their homes, they often find themselves unable to meet their loved ones' needs. As a result, they make the difficult decisions to place their family members in nursing homes. While they expect their loved ones will receive quality care, many end up being victims of nursing home neglect. Patients in one out-of-state facility will be moved after the government decided to stop Medicaid and Medicare payments due to neglect.
State inspectors reported that there were squalid conditions in the nursing home ran by New Beginnings. Most notably, inspectors claim that the majority of toilets in one wing of the facility were malfunctioning. In fact, court filings claim that staff had tracked the sewage through the hallways.
Representatives for the nursing home claim that it spent $22,000 correcting the issues with itspipes and that footprints in the hallways were actually from the muddy shoes of plumbers. Regardless of the claims, a judge has recently declined to block the government from stopping Medicaid and Medicare payments. Unfortunately, New Beginnings has had similar issues in other facilities, including claims that antibiotics were not provided as per doctor's orders, patients suffered from bedsores that could have been prevented and residents were left in soiled adult diapers, among others.
The elderly and/or ill residents of nursing home facilities are often unable to speak for themselves, leaving them to suffer as a result of nursing home neglect. This neglect can ultimately cause serious harm. For those who have suffered as a result of such negligence -- including harm caused by poor building conditions and substandard medical care -- there are options available for recourse. Those in Pennsylvania who have pursued these options have also prevented others from suffering similarly.
Source: timesfreepress.com, "Court closes 'squalid' nursing home operated by Hixson-based New Beginnings", Tim Omarzu, Feb. 9, 2016