Personal Injury Law

Long-Term Health care Hospitals Face Less Scrutiny

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Long-term acute care hospitals have been in operation nationally for the first 25 years. There are more than 400 long-term facilities nationwide. Most are owned by for-profit companies and few of them have doctors and staff. Two large owners of nursing homes are Select Medical Corporation and Kindred LTC hospitals. Many of these companies are plagued with medical malpractice lawsuits and poor state inspections. For example, in 2007 and 2008 Select?s hospitals were cited at a rate almost four times that of regular hospitals for Medicare violations. In the last three years, inspectors have found 22 violations of care standards at 12 Select hospitals. This could lead Medicare to ban those hospitals from admitting Medicare patients.

Long-term care hospitals have a higher incidence of bedsores and infections than regular hospitals. Many of the patients that reside in these hospitals are extremely sick. Despite the fact that they are in stable condition, they tend to be on dialysis or need a ventilator. If they require emergency care, they must be transported back to a general hospital. To learn more about the problems associated with long-term care, check out the New York Times article.

Kindred Health Care owns a number of long-term facilities in Illinois including locations in Sycamore and Northlake. These hospitals may fall into the problems associated with long-term health care facilities such as an emphasis on profits over patient care. If you believe that your loved one is being neglected at a long-term health care center, please consult a medical malpractice lawyer.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on February 15, 2010 (boomark / email).