The first lawsuit brought by a group of residents of a Maryland nursing home could be advanced by a district court judge, and residents' complaints felt “sufficient to meet the requirements of position.”
The Maryland U.S. District Court has denied the state Department of Health's attempt to dismiss the case. Nursing home residents violated lesser known federal laws by claiming that state officials violated the Disability Act and lesser known federal laws, and by not holding nursing homes liable through daily surveillance.
Court documents released Tuesday explain the conditions plaintiffs faced after the facility went for years without inspection.
“The complaints detail each plaintiff's experience at a Maryland nursing facility and its reliance on basic needs, including relocation in and out of beds, regular relocation in beds, personal hygiene, nutrition, nutrition, medication management, moving to common events, and attending community events,” wrote Judge Matthew J. Maddox. “The defects in the quality of care and protection of the rights of residents at these facilities are at risk for plaintiffs, pressure ulcers, skin infections, falls, psychosocial harms, and other medical complications.”
Maddox added that some plaintiffs had been locked up in beds and rooms for several months. As of the initial complaint filed in May 2024, the most recent investigation conducted at any of the facilities was conducted in November 2022, with one facility not being investigated since November 2020.
Residents alleged that when the state conducted annual investigations and regularly investigated complaints, they discovered and corrected many violations.
But like other states, Maryland nursing homes face a backlog of rigorous investigations that have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 situation.
In fact, Kevin Heffner, president of the Lifespan network, told McKnight's Long-Term Care News earlier this month that the state research agency was three to five years behind in the investigation.
A report by the U.S. Senate Special Committee Aging Committee found that few states were caught up in regular testing after a Covid-led backlog, and the latest Senate investigation found that one of nine U.S. nursing homes had not received annual testing in at least two years.
The history of Maryland's expiration investigations dates back to 2002, when federal watchdog agencies discovered staff cuts “a little less systematic than originally planned.”
The original complaint stated that residents were represented by the Public Judicial Center for Aging and the Judicial Department, with the state missing out on annual examinations for more than 70% of nursing facilities.
