Nursing Home Class Action Claims Negligent Hurricane Evacuation
As Hurricane Ida brought destruction to Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, long term care facility operators feared the worst. Recalling the awful nursing home death toll that occurred in Florida during Hurricane Irma, facility management decided to relocate residents in case of a power outage. However, a new class action lawsuit against the facilities alleges that the emergency evacuation plan was deficient and caused harm to the vulnerable, elderly residents.
Class Action Lawsuit Against Nursing Home Ownership: Allegations
Seven skilled nursing facilities that shared a common owner/manager decided to evacuate nearly 800 residents out of the nursing homes. Management chose to evacuate the elderly patients to the Waterbury Cos. warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish.
Seven nursing home residents died after being taken to the warehouse, and other residents are claiming serious injury. The facility ownership, including Bob Dean, denies these allegations.
On 9/7/2021, the Louisiana Department of Health revoked the licenses are the 7 nursing homes and ended their Medicaid provider agreements.
Which Nursing Homes are Involved in the Class Action Suit?
The skilled nursing facilities that are named in the class action lawsuit are:
River Palms Nursing and Rehab, Orleans Parish
South Lafourche Nursing and Rehab, Lafourche Parish
Maison Orleans Healthcare Center, Orleans Parish
Park Place Healthcare Nursing Home, Jefferson Parish
West Jefferson Health Care Center, Jefferson Parish
Maison De Ville Nursing Home, Terrebonne Parish
Maison Deville Nursing Home of Harvey, Jefferson Parish
Nursing Homes Need to Prepare for Natural Disasters and Hurricanes
Federal and state regulations place a legal duty on nursing homes to prepare for the worst. This includes natural disasters, like hurricanes. With global warming and climate change increasingly causing weather disturbances, intense storms are foreseeable. Skilled nursing facilities need to have an evacuation plan ready, to avoid wrongful death and widespread chaos.
Failing to plan for the inevitable is an example of negligence. And unfortunately, vulnerable nursing home residents require intensive care and medical equipment. Some patients are literally kept alive by ventilators and oxygen machines. Most suffer from confusion or dementia, and do not do well in an unfamiliar environment. Transporting 100+ high acuity residents from one facility to a new location is a difficult task in normal times, let alone in the midst of a hurricane or natural disaster.
For all of these reasons, it is imperative that a nursing home has an emergency evacuation plan ready before a storm bears down on the facility.
Get Legal Help Now After Nursing Home Negligence
At Senior Justice Law Firm, nursing home negligence is our primary practice area.
Although we are not handling the above case, our firm narrowly focuses on nursing home litigation. Let our nursing home abuse attorneys help your family after a loved one suffers injury, harm, or death inside a long term care facility. We have considerable experience in handling multi-claim cases, like the above class action, as well as individual injury cases, like those involving bedsores, falls, physical and sexual abuse, and wrongful death.
Call us or live chat with us today for a completely free case consultation. We are here to help.
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