BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - The Bay State has shut down two nursing homes following a major investigation.
Investigators looked into seven different nursing homes across the state, finding what they call systematic failures.
“Our mother would not want anyone to die in the manner she did,” said Candi Hitchcock whose 89-year-old mother died after her 20th fall at a nursing home in Westboro. “She died an unnecessarily painful death.”
The attorney general’s office says staff at the facility failed to contact her nurse or give her pain medication.
Her case was part of a year’s long, statewide investigation into nursing homes across Massachusetts.
Seven different nursing homes are forced to pay half a million dollars in total penalties due to what the attorney general called systemic failures sparked by allegations that led to the injury and death of residents.
“These stories are heartbreaking and they demonstrate systemic breakdowns and issues that have put lives at risk,” Attorney General Maura Healey said.
Synergy Health Centers, the owner of two of the nursing homes, Woodbriar Health Center in Wilmington and the now-closed Braemoor Health Center in Brockton, has also been banned from operating in the state for seven years.
In Wilmington, Healey says a resident died after a fall and a series of miscommunications and delays in their care.
In Brockton, staffers failed to resuscitate a resident when he became unresponsive while eating.
Healey said, “While our settlements focus on seven facilities, we’re also sending a clear message about the standards of care that we expect at all facilities in this state.”
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)