Nursing Home Sued for Years of Fraud and Resident Neglect: The lawsuit alleges that the owners of Cold Spring Hills diverted of tens of millions of dollars of government funding while engaging in repeated incidents of nursing home malpractice and slashing staffing to dangerously low levels at the 588-bed facility.
A lawsuit has been filed against a Long Island nursing home by the New York attorney general after an investigation revealed years of fraud and multiple incidences of nursing home malpractice resulting in resident neglect and harm. According to the website for the New York State Office of the Attorney General, on December 16, Attorney General Letitia James announced she is suing Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation as well as its owners, senior managers, and related businesses for allegedly engaging in repeated fraudulent financial schemes and violating numerous laws designed to protect New York nursing home residents.
According to the investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the owners of Cold Spring Hills used a number of deceptive schemes to divert to themselves over $22.6 million in Medicaid and Medicare funds from resident care between 2017 and 2021. To hide these profits, the operators used a complex network of 13 companies that appeared to provide services to Cold Spring Hills. The companies acted to conceal who the true owners of the home were.
Meanwhile, according to Cold Spring Hills staff and resident family testimony, residents were subjected to filthy, deplorable conditions, broken equipment, and treatment that amounted to nursing home malpractice, such as being left unbathed and in soiled undergarments and not receiving proper bedsore preventive care or wound care or proper nutrition and medication. Specific allegations of nursing home malpractice listed in the lawsuit include the following incidents at Cold Spring Hills:
- A diabetic resident with mobility issues was given a wheelchair lacking footrests. As a result of his dragging feet, the resident developed sores on his right foot that developed into severe infections requiring a partial toe amputation. Shortly after returning from the hospital, the resident died. The man’s co-guardian was informed neither of his amputated toe nor of his death.
- A man admitted to the home for rehabilitation after a car crash was subjected to such rampant neglect as to lose nearly 30 pounds and to have a preexisting bed sore severely deteriorate. He was admitted into the hospital for severe malnutrition and dehydration, a stage 4 pressure ulcer on his sacrum, and a bone infection (osteomyelitis) in his right foot.
- A woman with complications from a stroke was given just three showers during her five-month stay at the home. Her hygiene was so neglected that her untrimmed fingernail on her paralyzed hand cut into her palm. The woman’s daughter reported she was left in the same soiled brief for several hours. Complaints by the daughter to the administrator went ignored.
Beyond the aforementioned incidents of nursing home malpractice, Cold Spring Hills also actively engaged in dangerous understaffing in order to save $1.6 million in expenses. The cuts were made in February 2020, in spite of official Department of Health notifications to prepare for a possible pandemic. As a result of this act of nursing home malpractice, says the website, residents needlessly suffered during the pandemic. Between March 1, 2020 and June 4, 2020, 98 residents died from COVID-19. Cold Spring Hills fraudulently underreported the death count by 51 people.
As the nursing home is being sued for years of fraud and resident neglect, the attorney general seeks to eject existing owners from their roles, to prevent the acceptance of new residents, and to secure the installation of monitors for operational and financial oversight.
Fighting Against Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death
As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy tirelessly fights to uphold the health and safety of residents in Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes. You should feel confident that your loved one living in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home will receive the highest possible quality of care. After years of experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes, Brian Murphy has a successful track record resolving nursing home malpractice cases. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.
