According to a recent online article at philly.com, some residents at the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Darby, Pa. have allegedly been subjected to senior abuse and neglect. The article indicates that four residents died prior to the facility’s inspection in late summer 2017.

The inspection report for the nursing home did not discuss the deaths, but their occurrence helped to spark the revocation of the nursing home’s operating license. The Department of Health investigators reported poor care being given to the residents resulting in wounds such as bed sores.

Details regarding the residents’ deaths were released alleging that at least two of the four decedents had wounds that revealed open bone. Evidence of senior abuse and neglect due to improper wound care was reportedly found during a random examination of elderly patients residing at St. Francis. Out of 28 people under St. Francis’ care,  inspectors reported that 11 were found to be living with substandard care tantamount to senior abuse.

The Department of Health did not specifically connect the four residents’ deaths to anything but deficient care, and there was no mention of the deaths in the associated report. However, in addition to the license revocation, the facility was fined over $600,000.

Precursors to Findings of Alleged Senior Abuse and Neglect

St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare is one of a half-dozen eldercare facilities purchased from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2014. The head of these nursing homes and 19 others in the states of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Center Management Group, Charles-Edouard Gros. Mr. Gros purportedly paid $145 million for the Archdiocese properties.

The St. Francis eldercare facility has appealed the license revocation and fine associated with allegations of senior abuse and neglect. Currently, the nursing home is running with a provisional license, and the company is reportedly making significant improvements to its procedures.

Reports suggest that on June 30, 2014, the end of the fiscal year and just prior to the transfer of the property to Mr. Gros, the registered nursing staff fell nearly 50 percent, from 28 registered nurses down to 15. Generalized care staff also dropped at this time by about 20 percent. In 2017 the ratio of dollars spent on patients in daily care dropped to less than $100 a day from a previous high under archdiocese management of $165 per day.

Shortly after acquiring the property in 2014, Mr. Gros commentwed that he felt the facility needed adjusting to be within a normal range of expenditure in order to compete in the marketplace.

If your loved ones have been subject to similar senior abuse at the hands of the facilities entrusted with their care, you may be able to joint a free nursing home lawsuit investigation.