The State Journal-Register had an interesting article about how Illinois is challenging a decision by a Sangamon County Judge Zappa that puts a $10,000 limit on nursing home fines, but the ruling already has affected dozens of cases statewide. Zappa issued his ruling in a case involving Peoria’s Rosewood Care Center, which had appealed a $25,000 fine stemming from the death of 95-year-old Katherine Martin in 2006. Zappa found that the department violated state law and bypassed administrative rules when it began to impose fines of more than $10,000 several years ago. He barred the department from enforcing fines of more than $10,000 in past cases that remained pending and any future cases.
Public Health officials believe state law allowed them to boost fines to $50,000 whenever they determined that bad care directly caused a resident’s death. The department in 2006 also began issuing fines of at least $20,000 when residents sustained serious injuries connected with bad care. High fines rightly punish and deter bad behavior, and promote better care.
Fines involving 40 Illinois nursing homes have been reduced, with the facilities agreeing to pay $10,000 or less, since the Feb. 13 decision. I bet the facilities jumped at the chance to pay less than $10,000. State officials are considering reducing individual fines that exceed $10,000 in more than 80 other cases going back to 2006.
The Department of Public Health hasn’t decided yet how to proceed in a pending case against Woodstock Residence, now known as Crossroads Care Center, in which the Woodstock nursing home was fined $300,000 — a record level — in May 2008. State regulators have investigated five suspicious deaths there, as well as a former employee who allegedly used drug cocktails on residents.
The article cited a few examples of cases in which fines against nursing homes have been reduced to $10,000 by the Illinois Department of Public Health because of Sangamon County Judge Leo Zappa’s order in February. These cases remain pending, and a final amount to be paid hasn’t been negotiated:
* Maryville Manor, Maryville: Original fine was $40,000, stemming from an Aug. 6, 2007, inspection that detailed a range of problems including multiple bedsores and pressure sores on residents, a lack of recreational activities and a situation in which a nurse’s aide resigned after injectable anti-anxiety medicine prescribed for a resident was found in the aide’s possession.
* Evergreen Nursing and Rehab Center, Effingham: Original fine was $25,000, stemming from a March 22, 2006, investigation into the June 22, 2005, death of an 84-year-old resident who suffocated after becoming caught in a bedrail that had a piece missing.
* Dearborn Court, Kankakee: Original fine was $30,000, stemming from a Sept. 4, 2007, investigation into the alleged physical assault of a 64-year-old female resident by two employees of the nursing home on Aug. 15, 2007. The employees allegedly hit the resident with plastic hangers, tied her up with a belt, punched her in the head and stomach and tried to choke her.
* Peachtree Estates, Jonesboro: Original fine was $20,000, stemming from a July 15, 2008, inspection that said the facility failed to obtain prompt medical attention for a 73-year-old female resident who fell and sustained a head injury June 19, 2008. About a month before that injury, the resident had fallen and broken her left arm; she also fell on June 20, 2008.