Nursing homes in New York City run the gamut of price ranges. On one end of the spectrum, you have the unadorned nursing homes where most of the residents are Medicaid beneficiaries who lead a meager lifestyle on the Personal Needs Allowance; they can splurge on a packet of soft facial tissues or use the scratchy government-issued ones for months while saving up to buy a new pair of trousers from Amazon to replace the ones they have had since years before they entered the nursing home.
On the other end of the spectrum are the plush accommodations that the New York Times snarkily referred to as “Boomer Enrichment Centers” or something similar, assisted living facilities where retirees live in denial of the fact that they are old and in need of assistance, where help with personal hygiene is referred to as “discreet services,” as if it were a clandestine visit to a cosmetic surgeon or a red-light district. Whatever your budget, New York law requires nursing homes to meet legal standards of patient care, but in practice, nursing homes sometimes fall short of the legal requirements.
The New York Attorney General has recently filed a lawsuit alleging that the operators of a group of nursing homes intentionally skimped on patient care while collecting payment from Medicare and Medicaid. If the nursing home where your family member resides has intentionally been cutting corners, contact a New York City nursing home lawyer.
Nursing Home Owners Allegedly Enriched Themselves by Pocketing Medicare and Medicaid Money Meant for Patient Care
Centers Health Care operates nursing homes in the Bronx, Queens, White Plains, and Buffalo. Now it is at the center of a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The lawsuit seeks $83 million in damages and names Centers Health Care as a defendant, along with several other companies associated with it and the owners of these companies.
The first issue is that patients at nursing homes operated by Centers suffered preventable harm due to neglect by staff members, especially with regard to delayed assistance with using the toilet.
To give just one of many examples, a resident pressed the call button in her room several times to summon a staff member to help her walk to the bathroom. When no one responded, the resident walked to the bathroom by herself, falling several times before she arrived. The nursing home staff determined that the resident was not seriously injured, but she began suffering from pain several days later, and when she arrived at the emergency room, doctors diagnosed her with a dislocated hip; they also noted that she suffered from severe diaper rash.
Meanwhile, the nursing home operators allegedly colluded with their landlords to pay unnecessarily high rents since the money was coming from federally funded healthcare programs. One nursing home paid triple the going rate for its rent, with the surplus money lining the pockets of the defendants.
Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda About Nursing Home Neglect
A nursing home lawyer can help you if you suffer serious injuries because of inadequate nursing home care. Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC in Brooklyn, New York, or call (212)671-1110 to discuss your case.
