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NURSING HOME’S NEGLECT OF RESIDENT AT THE EMERALDS AT FARIBAULT CAUSES DEATH

By Joel Smith / October 10, 2022

The Emeralds at Faribault failed to provide proper care for a resident according to an investigation report released by The Minnesota Department of Health (“MDH”) and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”).

The Emeralds at Faribault is a for-profit 90-bed nursing home located in Faribault, Minnesota, which is in Rice County.  The facility is operated by Monarch Healthcare, which is a for-profit business entity.

On July 12, 2022 the resident admitted to The Emeralds at Faribault after being hospitalized for a fractured leg and thigh hematoma.

In August the MDH and CMS determined that The Emeralds at Faribault failed to:

  • Notify the physician of a change in the resident’s condition. A staff member of The Emeralds at Faribault charted that he/she had performed a weekly skin assessment and documented the resident’s skin was warm, dry and intact.  The next day, a wound care specialist came to review the resident’s skin and was required to perform a bedside debridement (cutting away of infected or dead tissue) from a wound that had developed from the hematoma.   Staff did not notify the resident’s representative of this procedure and in fact, every day when she visited was told by staff her that her father’s leg was healing.
  • Provide quality care. The Emeralds at Faribault staff were supposed to monitor skin integrity daily at every shift during cares and during a weekly inspection by a nurse.   The medical record did not show monitoring or comprehensive assessments were done in accordance with the care plan and physician orders between July 12 and July 20, other than a progress note on July 18 that a skin check had no issues and the July 19 debridement procedure.   The nurse practitioner issued an order on July 20 to clean the wound, apply salve, cover with a special dressing, and change every day if saturated.  Between July 20-26 the record showed the wound was assessed just one time.
  • Adequate and proper nursing care. The Emeralds at Faribault staff failed to ensure that comprehensive assessments and monitoring were done, failed to follow physician orders for monitoring and reporting changes in skin condition, and failed to provide required wound care after the resident developed an infection in the wound.

Medicare issued a “Much Below Average” overall rating to Nursing Home, which is the lowest possible rating, due to nursing home’s poor performance on its health inspections, staffing, and quality measures.

The government has issued 27 deficiency citations between March of 2020 and August of 2022. This number of citations is substantially higher than the national average of health citations (8.4) and the state average (6.2).

Medicare reports that the federal government has issued 19 fines to The Emeralds at Faribault between March of 2020 and April of 2022, totaling $343,680.00.

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. If you believe your loved one has been harmed due neglect or abuse in a nursing home or other care facility, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (763) 746-7800 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.