Pleasant Care Bankrupt After Numerous Nursing Home Violations and Fines
Posted by
Laura BlattJune 29, 2007 12:23 AMLast week, I wrote about Emmanuel Health Care, a California nursing home that was fined $80,000 in the death of one of its residents. Now, its parent corporation, Pleasant Care Corporation, is selling 30 California nursing homes, including Emmanuel, as part of a bankruptcy proceeding (Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 23, 2007). The auction will take place this coming Monday and Tuesday, July 2 and 3.
The standard of care at Pleasant Care is not pleasant, and the corporation is no stranger to fines and penalties. Two residents died at Pleasant Care nursing homes in Ukiah and Novato, allegedly due to neglect and negligence. Last year, Pleasant Care agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit with the state alleging that it provided inadequate services to its residents. It also owes $242,000 in back licensing fees to the state, according to the Press-Enterprise. And to make matters worse, three of its nursing homes lost their status to accept Medicare patients.
The big question is--what will happen to the residents in Pleasant Care facilities? Theoretically, residents must receive written notice 30 days before a nursing home closes. Also, the facility must submit a relocation plan for the residents to the California Department of Health Services. But one wonders how the quality-of-care issues will be addressed while the nursing homes are being sold and thereafter under new owners. If the facilities are not sold, what will ensure that residents are taken to decent facilities?
"It just make me angry that these poor people who live in these facilities have to put up with this," commented Pat McGinnis, executive director of a consumer group, California Advocatees for Nursing Home Reform. "I think it's disgusting. Pleasant Care has been in trouble with the state for years, and they think they can file bankruptcy and walk away" (Inland News, June 25, 2007).