A troubled Florissant nursing home and its owners are being sued for the wrongful death of an 85-year-old man.
Ronald Taylor developed bed sores and died at Rancho Rehabilitation Healthcare Center in 2022 due to negligence and inadequate care he received at the skilled nursing facility, according to a lawsuit filed last week in St. Louis County Circuit Court by his sister.
Rancho Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, located at 615 Rancho Lane, is owned by Jack Wolf, who is referred to in court documents as Jack Wolf, who is accused of creating “budgets and staffing strategies that minimized the number, quality, safety, training and oversight of employees in order to maximize profits.”
According to the lawsuit, Taylor was admitted to the facility in March 2022. Her condition deteriorated and she developed staged pressure wounds, or bed sores, in September. Staff failed to address Taylor’s condition, and Taylor died at Rancho Rehabilitation Healthcare Center on Nov. 15, 2022, the lawsuit alleges.
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“(Taylor) was subjected to abusive and negligent treatment and Defendants made no or inadequate changes to his care to protect him from injury,” and his injuries and death were foreseeable, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also names New Jersey-based management companies Luxor Healthcare LLC, Rancho Propco LLC and MO Operations Holdings LLC, all of which provide health care services at the Florissant nursing home and have ties to Wolf.
In 2021, Luxor Healthcare acquired Rancho Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, Beauvais Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in the Shaw area, and Hillside Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in the Baden area.
Union workers at three facilities in the Luxor area have been in a stalemate for months with the operator over a new contract, with the original agreement expiring in May.
All three of Luxor’s nursing homes have received one-star ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and state inspectors have given each facility an “immediate hazard” warning, the most serious level, in the past year.
The report cited issues including residents not receiving their medication on time, nurses and doctors not examining residents properly, expired medication in the medication room, raw food being served, inadequate pest control and damaged and dirty floors and walls.
Luxor’s website does not list which nursing homes the company is involved with, but in addition to the three facilities in the St. Louis area, CEO Wolf and President Asher Marx also have stakes in eight other nursing homes in Missouri, according to CMS records.
Neither Rancho Rehabilitation Healthcare Center nor Luxor Healthcare immediately responded to requests for comment.
Taylor’s sister, Joyce Carpenter, is suing the Florissant nursing home for both wrongful death and loss of chance for recovery and survival. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographers captured hundreds of images in August 2024. Here are just a few. Edited by Jenna Jones.
