More than a quarter of nursing homes in the capital area fared poorly in a five-star rating system introduced by the federal government on Thursday.
Only four facilities in Sacramento County garnered the top rating — five stars — while 11 were deemed as “much below average” by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Agency.
Ratings are no longer just the domain of restaurant and movie critics or travel guides. The government hopes its rating system — available online at www.medicare.gov/nhcompare — will give consumers a snapshot of whether nursing homes have stellar or not-so-stellar performance based on state inspection records, staffing and other measures of quality.
“Part of the problem with the information that has been previously available is that it hasn’t always been useful, because it hasn’t always been accessible. It was hard to do a comparison,” said Ed Dudensing, a Sacramento elder abuse attorney who specializes in nursing home cases.
They had names and faces once. Now they have coroner’s numbers.
Social workers call them their “worst outcomes.”
Adrian Conway was 3 when he became Sacramento’s Worst Outcome No. 96-00441, a little boy who was beaten, burned, bruised, bound, tortured and starved to death by his angry, drug-abusing mom.
Others have followed: Christopher Cejas, 12, No. 02-03984. Alexia and Akira Noel, 3-month-old twins, Nos. 04-03525 and 03526. Keith Carl “K.C.” Balbuena, 3, No. 05-05953.
It was a perfect storm: A drug-abusing dad with more than 30 prior convictions, an inexperienced social worker and an 11-year-old girl, buffeted in the middle.
While Sacramento citizens committees examine child abuse and neglect deaths, focusing on the most extreme cases, a number of children who don’t die have their own hazardous brushes with the system. This is the story of one such child.
The girl’s case comes to light only because she sued Sacramento Child Protective Services and two social workers for what happened to her in August 2001 — five years after the death of 3-year-old Adrian Conway, and the county’s promise to place child safety over “family preservation.”
Neglected dependent secures substantial recovery from board and care and nursing home
April 18, 2008 — Mr. Dudensing has secured a collective recovery of $1.85 million on behalf of a dependent adult as the result of reckless neglect she suffered at a board and care home followed by a nursing home. “This is a tragic case, in which the mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy entrusted her daughter to a board and care while the mother travelled to see her family in Mexico. As a result of the neglect the victim suffered, she now is on life support and unable to communicate to the outside world. She will never be able to return home.”
Elder abuse by nursing home chain results in large recovery
April 20, 2007 — Dudensing Law announced that it secured a $2.5 million recovery on behalf of plaintiffs against a nursing home chain for the reckless neglect of an elder. The decedent suffered Stage IV pressure sores on both heals that resulted in a double amputation and death. During his investigation, Mr. Dudensing uncovered widespread falsification of records.
An appellate court Wednesday breathed new life into a taxpayer lawsuit that challenged the $6 million paid by KB Home/Bakewell for the 107-acre plot on which the Seaside Highlands subdivision stands.
The 6th District Court of Appeals decision means the case will be sent back to Monterey County Superior Court for trial, reopening a controversial chapter in the city’s past. Attorneys for Seaside resident Benjamin Kaatz are seeking to force KB Home/Bakewell to pay the city more than $100 million for the property.
Kaatz had sued the city and developers KB Home/Bakewell in May 2003 alleging the city had violated numerous statutes. The lawsuit alleged that the property was not made available for affordable housing and that it was sold for far below its market value. Kaatz alleged the property was worth between $94 million and $115 million.
Recovery against health care provider for elder abuse
August 4, 2006 — Plaintiff has secured a recovery of $1.45 million against a large acute health care provider and an affiliated nursing home relating to the neglect of an elder, announced Ed Dudensing, attorney for plaintiff. “This is an important recovery because it affirms that acute health care providers, not just nursing home operators, will be held accountable if they neglect the elderly, who are among the most vulnerable members of our population.”
Settlement against national nursing home chain for elder abuse
July 28, 2005 — The plaintiffs in a nursing home elder abuse action venued in San Joaquin County have settled out of court with a nationwide nursing home chain for $1.35 million. During the litigation, plaintiffs demonstrated that their mother was severely neglected, resulting in her acquiring a large Stage IV pressure sore on her sacrum, as well as being dehydrated and malnourished. “This case sends a message to nursing homes that when they neglect an elder it is not just business as usual,” noted Ed Dudensing, the attorney for the plaintiffs.
A 22-year-old North Highlands man was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison for the hit- and-run collision that killed a nurse who weeks earlier had lost his daughter in another car crash.
