CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

EDITORIAL: Allegations against Albion nursing home are a shocking tale of greed

Buffalo News - 11/30/2022

Nov. 30—If the allegations in New York State's lawsuit against Albion's Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center are true, this is one of the worst nursing home scandals the state has ever seen. Essentially, the facility's owners are accused of treating the Villages as little more than a cash machine since they purchased it in 2015, draining it of resources as its patients suffered from neglect and worse, as follows:

—An active 59-year-old man died in a hospital nine months after he lived in the Villages. He had lost 40 pounds as well as his ability to walk or speak.

—A resident who has since died was found lying on a bare mattress wearing only a diaper when his wife came to visit him. His wife moved him to another facility, stating she "wouldn't put a dog in Villages."

—A patient was not treated for a pressure sore — it ultimately became untreatable — and was also prescribed psychotropic and various other medications without documented clinical need. She was eventually found unresponsive and died in the hospital seven months after moving into the Villages.

At the Villages, patients seem to have been regarded as little more than collateral damage in an overall strategy aimed at reaping the largest profits possible from the facility.

Attorney General Letitia James' suit asks that the owners return the $18.6 million they have diverted from resident care — by converting Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement payments for their own use — and stop admitting patients. She wants a receiver and financial monitor to be appointed.

If even a third of the horrifying charges in this lawsuit are proven in court, these owners should never be allowed to operate any nursing facilities anywhere and the Villages should be carefully monitored until proper leadership is identified.

It's worth noting that three of the 12 owners — Sam Halper, David Gast and Ephram Lahasky — own hundreds of other nursing homes across the country. The suit asks that these three be removed from any ownership of the Villages. Many of the owners appear to be multi-millionaires, and none lives in Western New York.

New York's nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been the unhappy focus of numerous investigations over the past three years, often accompanied by fines and other penalties. Many were struggling before the pandemic and were overburdened during it. Now continuing staffing shortages and inflation-related budget woes are straining their resources further.

But this case isn't about the pandemic — though the Villages was was hit with a $66,632 fine for Covid-19 related violations in 2020 — or any other special circumstances that could provide an iota of mitigation.

The current owners of the Villages took it over in January 2015. At that time, the facility had a five-star quality rating from New York State. By April 2015, that rating plummeted to one star. In 2020, the facility incurred an "Immediate Jeopardy" designation from the state for violating Covid-19 protocols. In 2021, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designated The Villages as a Special Focus Facility, a designation reserved for the poorest performing nursing homes in the country.

New York law requires all of its nursing homes "to assure the highest practicable quality of life" for each resident and to provide its residents with the necessary "care and services."

That was far too high a bar for the Villages, where, according to the lawsuit, residents often lacked hygiene, prescribed medications, meals, phones and hot water.

If these charges were not documented with detailed illustrations from patient histories — drawn from interviews of residents and employees, analysis of medical records of residents and other evidence — they would seem incredible even within the often-troubled world of nursing facilities. As it is, the sheer amount of documentation draws damning conclusions. The only light at the end of this shocking and distressing tunnel might be that the situation at the Villages, according to the lawsuit, began when parasitic owners took it over.

If the remedies demanded by the lawsuit are applied, perhaps it can live up to its former five-star assessment once more.

In the meantime, those who survived mistreatment there — and the families of those who didn't — deserve justice.

----What's your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

___

(c)2022 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News