Over the past four years, the Franklin Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing received 26 citations from the New York State Department of Health. All of these citations related to violations concerning the treatment and health of the senior citizens at the Queens nursing home. Compared to the state average, this facility received approximately the average number of citations. However, residents of this facility were more likely to be physically restrained (4.6 percent of all residents) and more likely to have a catheter inserted (1.4 percent of all residents), according to the New York Department of Health. In addition to these issues, the government agency cited the elder care facility for the following violations:
1. The nursing home failed to adequately prevent pressure sores.
Franklin Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing did not adequately protect its residents from pressure sores, or bed sores in violation of Section 415.12(c)(2) of the New York Code. Under this New York regulation, each nursing home in New York must ensure that their residents do not develop pressure sores while at their facility, unless unavoidable.
For residents who enter the nursing home or elder care facility with pressure ulcers, or bed sores, the nursing home must provide “necessary treatment and services to promote healing, prevent infection, and prevent new sores from developing.”
Franklin Center violated this regulation when one of the residents, with a stage-four pressure ulcer, the most severe type, did not receive necessary treatment. Specifically, the health examiner noted that the nurse applied a “dressing appliance that was too small, and she dried the wound using improper technique.” When asked by the health examiner to explain her actions, the nurse admitted she should have “patted the wound dry instead of wiping in order to prevent tissue damage.”
2. The nursing home failed to ensure a patient’s body weight remained healthy.
In 2016, Franklin Center received a citation for allowing a woman to lose 26 pounds over the course of a single month. According to the New York Health Department, this violated two regulations applicable to New York nursing homes. First, Franklin Center violated Section 483.25(i) of the New York Code requiring each nursing home to “ensure that a resident maintains acceptable parameters of nutrition status, such as body weight… unless the resident’s clinical condition demonstrates this is not possible.” Second, Franklin Center violated Section 483.40(b) of the New York Code requiring a physician to review each resident’s total program of care whenever there are significant changes in health. According to the health examiner, a physician did not even review the elderly resident’s health – even after a stunning amount of weight loss in a short period of time.
The attorneys at the Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC take pride in their representation of the elderly population. Contact us to discuss your potential case.
