Record Settlement announced in nursing home elder abuse says Cleveland Plain Dealer news

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http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/10/nursing_home_chain_with_big_oh.html

According to an article found by Ken Ditkowksy in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: a$38 million dollar settlement for severe and grossly negligent patient care.  Bed sores, infections, malnutrition and dehydration–issues repeatedly brought to the attention of the probate courts in Illinois and what did Judge Quinn tell me just a few days ago when I brought up the continued hip pain of Allen Fracke, his drooling (indicating use of psychotropic drugs which are contraindicated in the elderly by the FDA), never explained hip pain and muscle wasting?  She said she was referring it to the Guardian of the Person! This is the same entity that has not investigated these issues for more than about a month now.  The 18th floor sure does have some strange ideas about who to use for an investigation (someone ignoring the problem or giving lip service to it in the past) and how to do it (hand the complaint back to the person(s) ignoring it in the first instance.

At least the feds are doing something in Ohio.  I hope and pray they do more from the reports I receive in Chicago and Illinois about drugging, drooling and keeping seniors from going home that want to go home.  But there is huge profits to be made from keeping someone in a nursing home, so our elders stay there–even if they never wanted to go.  (Sykes, Wyman, Gore, Frake, etc.)

Back to the article

“These problems stemmed in large part from Extendicare’s business model – a model that was driven more by profit and less by the quality of the care it provided,” Branda said. “Extendicare employed fewer skilled nurses than were needed to care for the very sick residents in those facilities and failed to properly train and supervise the staff it did have.”
Extendicare operates 146 skilled-nursing facilities across 11 states. While agreeing to the settlement, it denied any illegal activity.
But it has agreed to an extensive, five-year monitoring program that will include regular government checks of staffing and care, “to ensure that this kind of conduct does not happen again,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart Delery.
……. Those states are Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. [We could use monitoring programs in Illinois, just as long as they do their job.]
The allegations cover care at Extendicare facilities between 2007 and 2013.
Of the settlement, $5.7 million will go to states whose Medicaid programs also helped pay Extendicare for patient care. Ohio will get $2.5 million. The money will go back into the states’ Medicaid programs, according to state and Justice Department officials.
“Through this settlement, not only will the states and federal government be reimbursed for the millions that we believe was paid for inadequate care, but we will also make sure that residents living in every Extendicare skilled nursing facility across the country receive the quality care that they depend on and deserve,” Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.
It looks like someone is doing something!

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