Judgement Against HEB Nursing Center

NEWS RELEASE, October 17, 1998 - The Dallas Morning News
Reform advocates hail nursing home judgment - Award signals dangerous trend, industry says
By Vikas Bajaj, Christy Hawkins

BEDFORD - Nursing home reform advocates hailed a court ruling this week against HEB Nursing Center as a victory for residents of nursing homes, while industry representatives warned that "emotional" verdicts will limit Americans' care choices.

Lawyers for HEB Nursing Home in Bedford said the $250 million in punitive damages awarded Thursday by a Fort Worth jury to a Roanoke woman whose father starved to death at the center would be limited to $200,000 by state law.

Although the damages in this case will be paid by the center's insurance company, the award signals a dangerous trend in litigation, said Tim Graves, deputy director of the Texas Health Care Association. The Austin-based trade group represents 80 percent of the state's nursing homes, including HEB Nursing Center.

"It's an indication that the plaintiff's attorneys are seeing this as a way to line their pocketbooks," he said.

Mr. Graves said his organization is looking at ways to improve the quality of care for residents by focusing on improving funding for the nursing homes. He said Texas is ranked 45th in the nation in nursing-home funding.

Carol Rhodes, who won this week's judgment on behalf of her father, Brian Sellers, said the settlement had nothing to do with money.

"All I wanted was an admission of neglect and an apology," she said.

Mr. Sellers, 80, died in October 1995 because of malnutrition and other factors. While he was at the Bedford facility, she said, her father was paralyzed and suffered from dementia.

Rosemary Patterson, spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Human Services, said Friday that documents show that HEB Nursing Center currently is in compliance with state regulations.
But the agency has made frequent visits to the home to check on its status, she said.

"We're in there about every month....It has had some problems in the past that we will monitor carefully," she said. "I have not seen any immediate jeopardy, which is what you look for in a facility that is in really bad shape. Starting from about 1995, they have had deficiencies cited, and we've recommended penalties for them."

In April, the agency recommended that Medicaid funding for current residents be terminated and that funding for new patients be denied after finding several deficiencies.

Ms. Patterson said the citations included mechanical problems, inadequate training for nurse's aides, medication errors and failure to treat bed sores properly. A visit to the home again in June found that the deficiencies had been corrected.

Don King, president of Sensitive Care Inc., the home's parent company, said Friday that the facility will remain open and that internal quality-control programs will be re-examined.

"We do not admit any negligence in this case but we want to be vigilant to provide the best care as possible to our residents," he said.

Mr. Sellers entered the home in a state of extremely frail health, and the facility did a good job of taking care of him in a difficult situation, Mr. King said.

"I can only assume that the jury was trying to send a message to the nursing home industry or society," he said. "All nursing homes are going to have to be able to communicate to the residents and the families better. We are going to have to provide a higher level of comfort."
Ernie Snoyer, a volunteer court-appointed guardian for three of the nursing home's residents, said Friday that he has never witnessed any improper care at the home.

"The people are old, and many of them are in a lot of pain," he said. "They take good care of them."

Mr. Snoyer, who visits the center at least twice a week, said the residents he cares for enjoy living at the center. "I get a call in the middle of the night if one of them falls," he said.

Jeff Rasansky , a Dallas attorney whose firm has represented plaintiffs in more than a dozen nursing home cases, said such civil suit awards are important steps in reigning in negligent nursing home companies.

"As people age and live longer, it's become readily apparent that more people will be living in nursing homes," he said. "Children of older adults are having to make tough decisions."

But even the threat of monetary damages isn't always enough to cause nursing home companies to change their ways, Mr. Rasansky said, because often insurance companies pick up the tab.

Amy Witherite, a Dallas lawyer who represented the home, said companies do feel the pinch of such lawsuits through higher insurance premiums, attorneys' fees and bad publicity.

And, she said, contrary to the popular notion, nursing homes don't make astounding profits. Sensitive Care makes 2 cents to the dollar, she said.

Most patients at such nursing homes are there through federal programs that contribute meager sums toward the care of senior citizens, she said.

"When it gets down to the real issue, there is very little money made available from Medicare and Medicaid for elderly care," she said.

Staff writer Kelly Ryan contributed to this report.

Jeff Rasansky is licensed to practice before all state courts in Texas, the United States District Courts in the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas and the Fifth United States Circuit Court of Appeals.

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