This week’s news round-up includes an update on the nursing home wrongful deaths in Broward County, Florida as well as breaking news on facilities being suspended, including Floridian Gardens Assisted Living Facility in Miami, Florida. Additionally, we highlight Boulevard Manor Nursing Home in Boynton Beach, Florida who dealt with similar wrongful deaths due to lack of air conditioning.
NURSING HOME WRONGFUL DEATHS IN BROWARD COUNTY: 12 RESIDENTS
- Tragically, the number of deaths at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is now at 12. According to the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, Dolores Biamonte, age 57, died following the power outage at the facility. To date, nobody has been criminally charged but investigations are still on-going, including wrongful death nursing home neglect lawsuits. Will criminal charges be filed? Check out our prior post on what has to be proven for that to happen as we continue to wait and see what comes of this horrific event.
ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY IN MIAMI: SUSPENDED BY THE STATE
- The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is moving to close an Assisted Living Facility that is owned and operated by Dr. Jack J. Michel who is the Miami physician who also owns the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills where the 12 residents died following Hurricane Irma. According to reports, the “Floridian Gardens Assisted Living Facility” has received a notice from AHCA stating that the agency intends on pulling the facility from the State’s Medicaid Program. Regulators have previously taken steps to deny a license renewal to Floridian Gardens Assisted Living Facility. Lawyers for Floridian Gardens Assisted Living intend on challenging the state’s actions in Court as they believe the state is wrongfully imposing these sanctions against the facility.
BOULEVARD REHABILITATION IN BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA
- Palm Beach County nursing homes have also dealt with residents overheating and causing their wrongful death. Shockingly, it has been discovered that similar nursing home neglect and wrongful deaths occurred at Boulevard Manor Nursing Home located at 2839 S. Seacrest Blvd. in Boynton Beach, Florida. According to reports, 5 people died at Boulevard Manor Nursing Home in 1976 due to the lack of air conditioning in the facility. Reports state that a malfunctioning compressor caused excessive heat where patients showed fevers, lethargy, and weakness. The facility initially thought it was due to a “mystery virus” but the CDC confirmed that the residents died of heat stroke. Once the air conditioning was fixed, those who were still alive regained their health. According to NextGen Injury’s Safety Score, Boulevard Manor (also known as Boulevard Rehabilitation Center) has a 67.0% Safety Score with over 13 lawsuits filed against them. Other nursing home negligence claims against them were for falls leading to fractures and for patients who had bed sores on their coccyx which led to sepsis and their death.
- State Representative Emily Slosberg held an emergency roundtable meeting in Delray Beach, Florida on how to adequately prepare for emergencies within nursing homes and assisted living facilities in South Florida. The Palm Beach County Director of Emergency Operations Center stated that they “should have been having this conversation two years ago” rather than after the wrongful deaths of nursing home residents in Broward County, Florida. A big problem with evacuating residents was there were no places to place them and everything was done “last minute” as 80 percent of the residents came to shelters right before the storm hit South Florida. A resident at Gran Villa West senior living complex in Delray Beach, Florida also stated that the facilities need more batter-operated fans as there were none for over 300 residents for five days. Seymour Grebow stated that the “majority of our residents were ready to collapse.”
- A group, LeadingAge Florida, has filed a challenge to the State’s requirement to have generators by the deadline imposed by the Governor due to the nursing home neglect in Broward County, Florida. The group is claiming that the deadline is impossible to meet and that the current hurricane seasons is ending. We will keep an eye on whether the group prevails in their challenge.