New Mexico Nursing Home Advocate News : New Mexico Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers & Attorneys : Harvey Law Firm : Neglect, Resident Rights : Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Santa Fe

As the Santa Fe New Mexican reports today, Cathedral Rock Corporation recently paid $4000 in fines as part of a settlement agreement with the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department.

In December 2009, Cathedral Rock was issued a notice of violation after concerns raised by the state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman involving the Sunshine Haven and Silver City Care Centers.  The violation stemmed from the nursing home's plan for inappropriate resident transfers and discharge, but also involved misinformation conveyed to nursing home employees about the ombudsman's involvement and approval of the plan. 

Disturbingly, once the ombudsman's office was actually involved, and stopped the planned, improper transfer, Cathedral Rock senior staff criticized the ombudsman's office and also publicly criticized the staff who were thought to have contacted the ombudsman.

Under New Mexico law, ombudsmen have both the right and the duty to investigate any claims of nursing home resident abuse or neglect.  It is not proper for a nursing home to interfere with their right of access, or to retaliate against staff or residents for contacting the ombudsman's office. The law specifically states that  "No person shall institute discriminatory, disciplinary or retaliatory action against any resident, employee or other person for filing a complaint, providing information to or otherwise cooperating with a representative of the [ombudsman's] office." 

In addition to the fine, as part of the settlement, Cathedral Rock issued an apology to its staff for its "inappropriate and unprofessional behavior."

We reported earlier this year on the penalties imposed on Cathedral Rock for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and about the cases pending against the Cathedral Rock nursing homes in Santa Fe.  Cathedral Rock operates 10 nursing homes in New Mexico: 

Santa Fe Care Center

Casa Real (Santa Fe)

Sunshine Haven (Lordsburg)

Silver City Care Center

Bloomfield Nursing and Rehab

Clayton Nursing and Rehab

Espanola Valley Nursing and Rehab

Red Rocks Care Center (Gallup)

Raton Nursing and Rehab

Country Cottage Care and Rehab (Hobbs)

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This week's New York Times' Health section offers suggestions for families choosing a nursing home for a loved one.  

The article recognizes that, unfortunately, the majority of nursing home placements come after a person has been hospitalized, and that families often have very little time to fully explore their options.  However, many of these suggestions are useful even if you do not have much time before you have to decide upon a particular nursing home. 

The article suggests that you visit medicare.gov, and use their Nursing Home Compare tool to help get a picture of the facilities in your area.  We covered this topic in more detail here. 

The article also emphasizes the importance of visiting potential nursing homes, preferably at different times of the day, and using this checklist to review basic aspects of the nursing home. 

Also important in choosing the right home for your loved one is the nursing home's guiding philosophy.  The article suggests that you ask about "person-centered care" and "consistent assignment," burgeoning trends in the nursing home industry that can increase the quality of resident care.  While person-centered care focuses on allowing the residents to make their own schedules and maintain a degree of autonomy, consistent assignment focuses on the staff of the nursing home.  In a nursing home which practices consistent assignment, the same caregivers, nurses, and doctors attend to the same person as regularly as possible--allowing them to create lasting relationships, which positively affects the resident's care.  High staff turnover, on the other hand, can mean that resident care suffers--which is why the article suggests that you avoid nursing homes with over 50% annual turnover. 

Finally, it recommends you call your local Ombudsman's program to learn more about facilities you may be considering.  In New Mexico, the Ombudsman's bureau is a division of the state Aging and Long-Term Services Department.  Information on this program can be found at its website.  In New Mexico, there are five local and regional ombudsmen, in addition to the State Ombudsman. 

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This week, the Santa Fe New Mexican featured a story about two pending lawsuits against Santa Fe nursing homes operated by Texas-based nursing home corporation Cathedral Rock. The article featured interviews with Harvey Law Firm owner, Dusti Harvey, and her clients, the family of Mary Abeyta.

Ms. Abeyta died in March 2008 at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center at the age of 84. “[T]he family claims the stitches in her forehead, pressure sores on her tailbone as well as dehydration, weight loss and malnutrition were the fault of the nursing home.”

“It’s difficult to put someone you love in a nursing home," said Laura Jean Abeyta, a St. Michael's grad who works as a juvenile probation officer in Española. "She was our gift, we trusted this place to take care of her."

The story also featured interviews with Regional Ombudsman Gail Trotter and U.S. attorney Dorothy McMurty, who handled the criminal case in Missouri against Cathedral Rock, which I discussed in a previous post.

McMurtry, Harvey and Trotter all emphasized the importance of family vigilance. "The best nursing home is the one closest to your home," said Harvey. Trotter meanwhile urged family and residents to “speak up, tell somebody what's going on."

The story also contains links to the following helpful websites:

• New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Care Ombudsman's Office
• National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care
• Department of Health
• Medicare/Medicaid Nursing Home ratings website

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A recent New York Times article, Doctor Leads Quest for Safer Ways to Care for Patients, highlights the critical importance of hand-washing in patient safety. Although the article is directed at patient safety in hospitals, the same principle applies to nursing homes. 

According to this article, most hospital doctors only wash their hands 30-40% of the time! Even the doctors at the better hospitals only wash their hands 70% of the time. Dr. Peter J. Pronovost of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore implemented a checklist that required hand-washing and empowered nurses to enforce the checklist. As a result of the checklist, infection rates went down to almost zero.

In our cases, we have heard stories from nurses and CNAs about how budget cuts have led to a shortage of sterile gloves, which are necessary for many routine procedures. We’ve heard about nursing staff having to reuse gloves on different patients while doing wound dressing changes. We’ve heard about people doing peri-care without hand-washing either before or after the process. For a person who has a weak immune system, a facility-acquired infection can be deadly. 

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