Kosieradzki Smith Case Prompts Investigation into Edgewood Vista Facilities

By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm / March 27, 2014

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, news of the rape of Kosieradzki Smith’s client has prompted a state investigation of incidents that have occurred at facilities operated by Edgewood Management Group.

According to the report, a review of hundreds of pages of inspection records suggests that maltreatment and neglect have been persistent issues at Edgewood Vista facilites. A Star Tribune analysis found a history of incidents from the seven states where Edgewood operates:

• Three aides at an Edgewood Vista senior home in Virginia, Minn., slapped, pinched and taunted residents over a period of months. One dressed an elderly man up in a clown wig for a social event while others threw balls at residents.
• Residents at Edgewood homes in South Dakota and Minnesota wandered away unnoticed; one was found two blocks away in cold weather without a coat, while another was discovered outside on the pavement in a pool of blood.
• Staff at an Edgewood home in Cheyenne, Wyo., failed to conduct required health assessments of six residents despite “significant declines” in their physical and mental abilities. One resident was not reassessed even after she hit another resident with a knife.

Edgewood, which is based in Grand Forks, N.D., and has 50 assisted-living communities in the Midwest, was not sanctioned or fined for these and dozens of other violations.

“This is a systematic problem,” said Dr. Robert Kane, a chairman of long-term care and aging at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. “The more we have these national [assisted-living] companies, the more we need to hold them accountable… and not just treat these as isolated incidents.”

To read more about Edgewood Vista click here.

The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care, including the failure to protect vulnerable adults from sexual abuse. If your loved one has been harmed due neglect or abuse in a care facility, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.