The Central Coast Nursing Center, a Santa Barbara, California area nursing home, faces hard times after state officials have discovered an array of health and safety violations. Additionally, two former employees have been arrested on sexual battery and elder abuse charges. The facility has recently changed owners in an effort to fix old problems and rebuild their reputation as a quality facility. As nursing home abuse lawyers, we see facilities change ownership frequently. Sometimes, this causes crucial elements of care to slip through the cracks, allowing residents to suffer. But, as is often the case, change can also be for the best, and new owners committed to fixing the problems in a negligent nursing home is definitely for the best of the residents and their families.
Former CNAs Arrested for Sexual and Physical Abuse
Brian Watt, a 29-year-old sex offender and former certified nursing assistant at the facility, was arrested on September 9. He was charged with felony lewd act upon a dependent adult, felony sexual battery on an institutionalized victim, and misdemeanor dependent adult abuse for an incident that occurred on September 4, 2010. If he is convicted on all of these counts, he may face up to six years in jail. The other former employee of Central Coast facing charges is 32 year-old Hugo Rendon, who was arrested on October 6 and charged with four misdemeanor counts of battering an elder for two separate incidents that occurred on May 13 and May 17, 2011.
Compass Health, Inc. took over control of Central Coast Nursing Center on September 1, 2011. The new parent company operates six other nursing homes and has a very good record. Their challenge now is to clean up the facility’s problems and establish a new reputation through high quality service. Compass Health’s Chief Operating Officer Darren Smith explained that the problem with the old owner was that they were “not consistent” and there was “little experience or understanding” among the officials. “We want to create an atmosphere of respect and appreciation for the business that’s being operated here,” said Smith.
Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If you have witnessed any questionable conditions or abusive behavior in a nursing home, directed towards your loved one or even another resident, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation. You may also call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Sandy Pasch originally wrote the bill in an attempt to disallow courts to consider healthcare provider’s apologies, but since the bill became more expanded, she elected to vote against the bill. Pasch, a nurse, was quoted as saying,
Richard Lee Wallace, 57, is standing trial this month for charges of elder abuse and neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in death. Paramedics found his 86-year-old mother, Elise Wallace, dead in the home they shared on April 18. They found her body on the couch of the messy home covered in maggot-filled bedsores, gangrene, and surrounded by hundreds of flies. The paramedics testified that she had been dead no more than an hour when they arrived. The cause of death was determined to be a 
According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Diane Hallman, her mother’s death was the result of neglect by the Regent Care Center where the elderly woman was living. Rachel Mohr, 78, was found on March 4 yelling for help on the floor next to her bed. The lawsuit says that Mohr was put back in bed after she suffered head trauma and bleeding. “She was neurologically alert, coherent and in severe pain. She was placed back in bed and was later discovered nonresponsive,” the lawsuit claims. She was taken to the hospital where she died from the severe and fatal neurological injuries she suffered during the fall.
Carle has served as an advisor on a project by the GTX Corporation to develop location-tracking shoes with a GPS in the heel. They were developing the shoe for marathon runners and children when Carle “pointed out why this was an ideal technology for people with dementia who wander.” There has been GPS pocket devices, wristbands, and bracelets and pendants with names and contact numbers on the market but these were easily lost or removed. The wearer is much less likely to remove their shoes. The shoe’s technology will allow a family member to set a perimeter such as the house and yard that the wearer can move around freely, “But if he breaks the fence, Google maps pops up on my computer or my phone to show me where he is,” Carle explained. When it comes out on the market, the shoe is going to cost about $300 with a $30 to $40 monthly subscription fee.
Edna Lena Morales, 48, was arrested for the second time on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 for suspicion of