Blossom South Nursing Home Sued

Rochester, NYA lawsuit has been filed against the owners of the Blossom South Nursing and Rehabilitation Center by the family of a 92-year-old former resident. The lawsuit alleges that the staff had not properly treated a bone fracture, which led to the amputation of the patient's right leg in December 2007.

According to her granddaughter, Gloria Boyd, the patient, Ruby Myers, had been a resident of the Blossom South Nursing Home since 2005. In September, Myers had fallen out of bed and the fall fractured her leg below and above her right knee cap. To treat the injury, Myers' leg was placed into a brace that was soft and removable, but her ankle had developed pressure sores and those sores had become infected.

In December, Myers was taken to Highland Hospital where surgeons had to amputate her leg below her knee because of the infections she had developed. The lawsuit alleges that those infected sores were due to the negligence of the nursing home. The suit claims they were not treating her leg or bathing her properly, which could have prevented or maintained the infections.

This lawsuit comes on the heels of a fine in the amount of $149,500 that Blossom South faces because a Medicare inspection conducted in 2005 found a number of state and federal violations that risked the health of the patients. These violations also put the safety of the patients in "immediate jeopardy." This fine does not have anything to do with the Myers case. However, at the time of this inspection, the nursing home operated under the name Arbor Hill Care Center and had a different owner, GMR Living Centers. It was in 2006 that a new owner, Compassionate Care Network renamed the nursing home and took charge of its operations.

One of the owners of Compassionate Care Network has stated that incredible improvements had been made to Blossom South after it took over in 2006. They did retain all of the staff and did such tasks as put in new floors, a new roof, and new windows to fix the smell of urine that was in the air of the facility. He has also stated that dozens of beds within the facility are being replaced with ones that can be shifted closer to the ground to prevent hard falls that can result in bone breakage.

However in December, an investigation was conducted as a result of a complaint that Boyd filed with the Department of Health. Medicare inspectors found that the nursing home was not taking the correct measures to prevent pressure sores. Between the dates of October 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007, there were a total of 24 health and safety issues found by inspectors. There were also eight fire hazards found at the facility. The state only allows six health issues and two fire issues within a facility.

As for Boyd, she has said that she never noticed any kind of neglect or abuse when visiting Myers for the two years in which Myers was a resident of the nursing home. However, the pressure sores were hidden and her grandmother was too medicated to bring her granddaughter's attention to them. Myers is now living with her granddaughter and her grandson, Willie Jones. Both say she is recovering, but is nowhere near the woman she was before entering the nursing home in 2005.

The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount of money for legal fees and damages. Boyd's attorney is going to ask the Monroe County District Attorney to file criminal charges, but it has been recommended that such criminal charges should be handled by the state.