Iowa nursing home settles allegations of neglect

[kitty]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa nursing home has agreed to pay $75,000 to settle allegations of patient neglect.
Federal officials fined Friendship Manor of Grinnell over $101,000 last fall after a resident lost a leg to gangrene and later died.
Owner Tim Boyle appealed the penalty. Last week, he agreed to settle the case by paying $75,000 to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The case involved 89-year-old Ruth Louden. She entered the nursing home in 2008 for what was expected to be a short stay for physical therapy after fracturing an ankle.
According to state inspectors, during the next four weeks, Louden complained about pain. She was taken to a hospital where doctors diagnosed gangrene and amputated her leg. Louden died three months later.
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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Some how a $75,000 fine does not seem adequate for something such as this. Revocation of their license would be more appropriate.

 

[kitty]

yes i agree!!!

 

[mak2]

I worked for nursing homes for quite a while when I was a new nurse. There are a few good ones but the one I worked for was a money making machine. I have seen RT giving (er charging for treatments) hours after someone had died, pharmacy filling half the perscriptions at a time so they could charge an extra fee for the other half, geeze I could go on for a long time, I had not thought about this for a long time. Anyway, the one I worked for squeezed all the cash out of patients they could, while many received inadequate care because of lack of staff (increase profits by keeping labor costs down). In other words, yea $75,000 is nothing.

 

[kitty]

I know i worked for one that was that way always workin short staffed and who pays for it the residents!!!!

 

[pirate_girl]

I worked for nursing homes for quite a while when I was a new nurse. There are a few good ones but the one I worked for was a money making machine. I have seen RT giving (er charging for treatments) hours after someone had died, pharmacy filling half the perscriptions at a time so they could charge an extra fee for the other half, geeze I could go on for a long time, I had not thought about this for a long time. Anyway, the one I worked for squeezed all the cash out of patients they could, while many received inadequate care because of lack of staff (increase profits by keeping labor costs down). In other words, yea $75,000 is nothing.

Don't even get me started on bad nursing facilities.
GRRRRRRRRRR worked at one for 3 months.
They are still operating and passed state inspection (barely)..


Actually Mak, where I work right now does the sneaky dollar squeeze.
If all beds are full on the nursing home wings, we get them (the loons/crazies) on rehab until a bed becomes open in the NH.
Everyone bitches about it, but nothing is done about it because it sucks out a ton of money from Medicare for the 90 days they can stay on rehab until they are finally moved on the other side (unless of course they apply for an extention) depending on how full the unit is.

 

[mak2]

I get mad just talking about this. The really bad thing is it aint a criminal offense. All in the name of capitalism. The one I was talking about above had a nurse that worked full time finding things patients qualified for. For expample back then, I dont know about now, but they had a sub acute unit. Pts could spend a certain number of days per year on this unit and medicare would pay. One of the qualifications for this unit was if the patiient was on heparin sub q. Well as PG knows but some people not in the biz might not is heparin is used to prevent clots in bed bound pateints. Each year all the elderly patients would get put on bedrest, with absolutely no change in condition, and their bed changed to subacute status for however many days they qualified for. The NH made money on the bed, several times the regualr bed, big increase in nursing cost, pharmacy made money, etc. All this with absolutely no change in the patinents status. Absolutely no reason for this except to make money. I cant talk about it anymore. I am gonna have a beer.

 

[joec]

It isn't just nursing homes. My grandmother lived out her life with my wife and me. She had hospice come in every other day to help her with some things other than that my wife and I tended to her needs. She simply laid down to take a nap leaving instruction for my wife to wake her when her favorite soap opera came on. When my wife went to wake her she had died at 94 years old. Now so far this story is normal until a year later I was notified by doctors demanding payment of medical bills. Every single one of the bills had been paid by Medicaid for services 6 months after she had died. Their where 5 doctors, various specialist fields involved. I notified Medicaid and a year later every one of them was in jail. Not only had she never seen these doctors while alive, so they had never treated her for anything they where simply scamming the system pulling names out of the obits. There are many out there that money is all it is about period.

 

[pirate_girl]

The NH made money on the bed, several times the regualr bed, big increase in nursing cost, pharmacy made money, etc. All this with absolutely no change in the patinents status. Absolutely no reason for this except to make money. I cant talk about it anymore. I am gonna have a beer.

That's what goes on Mak in nursing facilities that have a large nursing home, rehab units and assisted living centers all in one.
We get calls that John Doe is being brought in via the squad.
Status: pleasantly confused, syncope, dementia.
Mr. Pleasantly Confused gets a bed on rehab until a more appropriate bed becomes available in the nursing home, and thus upsets the peaceful environment and tranquility, all the while the big bucks are rolling in because he's going to be taken to therapy for 90 days until the extention kicks in for even more $$$ to be sucked out, at which time he'll finally be placed where he should have been placed in the first place, and he'll be fighting the PT staff all the way, making lives miserable, upsetting the atmosphere and causing much stress for all.

 

[mak2]

Yea PG as you can tell I really enjoy discussing universal health care, but the way the health care industry treats old and disabled people just makes me so mad I just dont talk about it much. AND IT IS LEGAL. un"f"ingbelieveable.

I am glad you and all those like you are there, it would be hell for them without you. I could never do it.

 

[pirate_girl]

I know i worked for one that was that way always workin short staffed and who pays for it the residents!!!!

Every nursing home is short staffed, Hope.
When is the last time you worked when you had a full staff?
Don't get me wrong, I love the crazies the best, but they should be admitted only if we have the proper place to facilitate them.

Nothing pisses me off more than getting a resident who we all know will sooner or later end up in the nursing home, and that big money is being made putting them through therapy (going through the motions).

 

[kitty]

Every nursing home is short staffed, Hope.
When is the last time you worked when you had a full staff?
Don't get me wrong, I love the crazies the best, but they should be admitted only if we have the proper place to facilitate them.

Nothing pisses me off more than getting a resident who we all know will sooner or later end up in the nursing home, and that big money is being made putting them through therapy (going through the motions).

I know all nursing homes are short staffed some more then others....the nursing home im at now is decent better then most the ones around me as far as staffing and care.

 

[pirate_girl]

I know all nursing homes are short staffed some more then others....the nursing home im at now is decent better then most the ones around me as far as staffing and care.

That's refreshing to hear!

Now, get at it girl and get that license.
We need more like you