Relatives of Patients at Beverly Nursing Home Chain Say Penalties Not Enough To ‘Force’ Reforms
Relatives of patients who "suffered substandard care" at Beverly Enterprises Inc. nursing homes in California said Friday that a $2 million civil penalty levied against the company will not be sufficient to "force real reforms," the Los Angeles Times reports (Ragland/Wolcott, Los Angeles Times, 8/3). Last week, Beverly officials pleaded no contest to charges of felony elder abuse that led to two patients' deaths at a facility in Santa Barbara. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to make "wide-ranging" quality-of-care improvements at its 60 nursing homes in California, pay $2 million in civil penalties and reimburse the state government $500,000 in investigative costs (California Healthline, 8/2). Nancy Parsons, whose father died after Beverly employees improperly inserted a feeding tube in his abdomen, called the fine a "Band-Aid effect -- $2 million is nothing to these people. The fact that they would not admit their practices were horribly felonious makes me think things will be back to business as usual within the next two months" (Los Angeles Times, 8/3).
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