Nursing Home Severely Elderly Abuses its Patients

Written by Adam Peck Category: Elder Law January 26th, 2013 3 min read

A Fort Worth nursing home company left some residents’ wounds untreated for so long that maggots infested them or amputations were required . At times, its staff didn’t bathe, adequately feed or provide toileting for people. And it cheated Medicare, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Cathedral Rock, at 306 W. 7th Street, and its founder will pay the government more than $1.6 million in criminal and civil penalties, but otherwise won’t be punished. Despite an admission of defrauding Medicare, the company will apparently continue to receive taxpayer healthcare payments.

The lawsuit and fraud concerned five homes in Missouri. Prosecutors said Thursday that company founder C. Kent Harrington, 60, of Fort Worth, also entered into a criminal deferred prosecution agreement for a two-year period.

Harrington, who earned an MBA from TCU in 1985, was charged with defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by submitting false statements and claims for the “the grossly deficient care” at nursing homes, according to the news release.

Cathedral, which says on its Web site that it puts “Integrity first, service above self and excellence in everything we do,” also operates five facilities in Texas, one of which was found in July to have put residents in immediate jeopardy of harm. The problem was corrected, state officials said.

Michael S. Evans, Cathedral’s executive vice president, spoke on behalf of Harrington and the company. He said he didn’t know the source of the allegations of maggot-infested pressure sores and related amputated feet and legs says California Elder Abuse Attorney Steven C. Peck.

“On this issue with the maggots, that I think was something that was alleged against the building during a prior operator’s tenure. … I wasn’t familiar with that piece of it,” he said. Cathedral has leased the Missouri homes since July 2001. In a statement, the company said the case was based on allegations made by former employees 6Â½ years ago.

Evans also said the company was bound by an agreement with the government to remain silent. In plea agreements, the company admitted:

â– Staffing at nursing homes was, at times, insufficient to provide adequate care.

â– Wound care was sometimes not provided.

â– Residents often did not receive their medication.

â– Medical records were falsified, including during a “charting party” to make it appear all medications had been properly given by filling in records.

â– Fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare and Missouri Medicaid were for services that weren’t provided or were worthless.

Cathedral and Harrington are not listed as being excluded from receiving Medicare funding, according to online U.S. Department of Health and Human Services records. Instead the company has a “corporate integrity agreement” that effectively gives it a second chance to play by the rules. The company must adhere to federal regulations for five years.

If Harrington abides by the conditions of his deferred prosecution agreement, the felony complaint against him will be dismissed.

“The government recognized it was in the best interest of justice that Cathedral Rock be allowed to continue to implement and maintain a rigorous compliance and ethics program,” the company statement said, adding that it appreciates recognition “of the contribution that the company.

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Written by Adam Peck

Expertise: Personal Injury

Adam J. Peck, ESQ is a principal with Peck Law Group, APC. In 2008, Mr. Adam Peck received his Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School where he graduated Cum Laude. His practice is primarily dedicated to representing Elders, Dependent Adults, along with their loved ones and family members, who have suffered horrific personal injuries.