Golden Living Center Neglect Lawsuit

Click here to read the complaint

The Golden Living Center nursing home chain was recently named in a lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General. The suit alleges that severe and intentional understaffing of various Golden Living Center facilities in the state of Pennsylvania led to low levels of basic care for residents. The suit further claims that Golden Living Center was deceptive to consumers in advertising which promised that residents’ needs would be met in a comfortable and home-like environment. The understaffing of fourteen facilities statewide prevented these marketing claims from being a reality in Golden Living Center locations named in the suit.

The suit names Golden Living’s parent entity, Golden Gate National Senior Care, LLC as a defendant. This company manages all 14 centers named in the lawsuit. The Attorney General claims that this parent entity restricted staffing in an attempt to boost profits and that this had a terribly devastating effect on resident care. This understaffing meant that those licensed nurses and nurses’ aides working did not have enough time to provide necessary care to all the residents for which they were responsible. The nurses were responsible for a great number of residents during the day and an even higher number at night, making proper preparation for the next day nearly impossible. Residents often went without showers for an extended period of time, did not have assistance eating food and were left alone in odd places for long periods of time, as a result of the nurses’ responsibility for so many people on any given shift.

CNAs at various Golden Living Centers acted as confidential witnesses in providing observations and reports about what went on at the nursing homes on a daily basis. One observation reported by many CNAs was the tendency of the facilities to boost staffing numbers during periods in which they expected a Department of Health evaluation. During this time, facilities would often hire extra CNAs for some shifts and require existing employees to work extra shifts to make the appearance of a well-staffed nursing home. Thus, the DOH did not get an accurate picture of what went on in these nursing home facilities on a day to day basis.

Some problems reported by confidential witnesses at Clarion included:

• Failure to provide basic care; family members would visit and take on the responsibilities
• Failure to reposition residents to prevent sores
• Failure to be properly staffed
• Failure to properly watch over residents; witness saw residents sleeping in the bathroom
• Failure to properly care for sick residents and provide proper positioning when sleeping

Golden Living Center Violations

In addition to negative observations reported by a confidential witness, the Golden Living Center facilities were in violation of a number of federal and state nursing home regulations. These violations included:

• Failure to maintain proper clinical records
• Failure to address resident grievances
• Failure to assist a resident with an ordered restorative eating program
• Failure to allow proper sleep schedules; CNAs would wake up residents at 5 am, dress them, and make them sleep in their wheelchairs in the hallway

Contact Our Nursing Home Neglect Lawyers Now

The attorneys at Fellerman and Ciarimboli Law Firm have years of experience in handling nursing home neglect cases. If your family member has suffered from neglect at a Golden Living Center location, we urge you to contact our firm as soon as possible. Our passionate lawyers work to provide justice for victims and loved ones of victims who have experienced nursing home neglect.

The harm caused by neglect at Golden Living facilities affects both mental and physical health for victims and their families. Basic care at Golden Living Center was severely limited and substandard due to intentional understaffing. If you witness nursing home abuse, it is very important that this abuse is reported. You can report nursing home neglect or abuse in Pennsylvania by calling 877-888-4877 to contact the Health Care Helpline.

Fellerman & Ciarimboli’s Experienced Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys

If you think that you or a loved one may have been harmed as a result of nursing home neglect, contact our office today. An experienced nursing home neglect attorney at Fellerman and Ciarimboli can help to provide you with the best possible outcome on a nursing home neglect case.

Call us today at (877) 989-4878 to schedule a free consultation related to claims of nursing home neglect.