Nursing Home’s Poor Quality of Care

In North Carolina, if a restaurant scores below a “C” grade for sanitary reasons during a health inspection, the business must close until it passes inspection.  If property owners allow their homes to fall into disrepair, the state can condemn the residence as unsafe, and in some cases, the building may be demolished.

But if a nursing home “fails” Medicare inspections…or if the facility has a history of unsafe practices, or of hiring workers who bring harm to the feeble and elderly residents, do you know what happens?

There’s a small fine. But that’s more than offset by the money Medicare will continue to pay into the nursing home on behalf of the patients living there.

Case in point: Britthaven of Chapel Hill.  This nursing home also has been rated by Medicare as one of the worst in the country. Britthaven of Chapel Hill has been called out as a “Special Focus Facility,” which means that they have a history of persistent poor quality of care. In February, six Britthaven patients were hospitalized from morphine overdose…one patient died of complications. A nurse has been charged with murder in that case.

And now, this article in Saturday’s News & Observer, and this article in today’s newspaper.

If you have legal questions about nursing home care, feel free to contact the attorneys of HensonFuerst. If you have questions, we have answers.