‘Horrific’ Care Mounts in Florida’s Nursing Homes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Brian Lee, Executive Director of Families for Better Care, blasted the state’s nursing home industry for failing to protect elderly and disabled residents from “horrific neglect and abuse.”

“Residents were dropped, bruised and battered. Some residents suffered catastrophic brain damage while others died from botched care.”

“Graphic inspection reports describe unimaginable resident agony,” Lee explained. “Residents were dropped, bruised and battered. Some residents suffered catastrophic brain damage while others died from botched care.”

Over the past two months, 15 more nursing homes were tacked onto the Agency for Health Care Administration’s extensive watch list (1 in 5 nursing homes are already on the list) for not abiding by minimum care standards or for failing to properly correct identified problems.

New watch list facilities included:

Nursing home	City	Watch List Days
Bartow Center	Bartow	30
Carnegie Nursing Center	Melbourne	3
Casa Mora Rehabilitation and Extended Care	Bradenton	10
Cypress Village	Jacksonville	31
Desoto Health and Rehab	Arcadia	39
Emory L. Bennett Memorial Veterans Nursing Home	Daytona Beach	62
Metro West Nursing and Rehab Center	Orlando	30
Miracle Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center	Tallahassee	86
Palm Terrace	Clewiston	47
Plantation Key Nursing Center	Tavernier	46
Regents Park	Sunrise	29
Rio Pinar Health Care	Orlando	41
Sandy Ridge Health and Rehabilitation	Milton	15
South Campus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center	Leesburg	30
St. Augustine Health and Rehabilitation Center	St. Augustine	34

“Nursing home owners have the resources to dramatically curb resident abuse and neglect,” Lee commented. “The industry is riding an historic ‘bull market’ that has manifested record profits and high valuations.”

“A proven way for nursing homes to stay off the state’s watch list is to reinvest some of those hefty earnings into employing additional staff,” Lee said.

“More staff, better care — it’s that simple,“ remarked Lee.

For the complete nursing home watch list, visit http://bit.ly/FLNHWATCHLIST22113

For a searchable map of the watch list, visit http://bit.ly/FLNHWATCHLISTMAP22113

Families for Better Care, Inc. is a citizen advocacy organization dedicated to quality resident care in nursing homes and other long-term care settings. Executive Director Brian Lee served as Florida’s State Long-Term Care Ombudsman for most of the past decade.