Skilled Healthcare Group Inc., an Orange County nursing home operator with facilities in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California, has been hit with a $671-million fine for failing to provide adequate staffing, the Daily Breeze reports. Understaffing or lack of adequate staffing is considered to be one of the leading causes of nursing home negligence and abuse in the United States. The civil judgment was issued by a jury this week in Humboldt County. A class-action lawsuit filed against the company alleged violation of a state law that requires nursing homes to provide 3.2 nursing hours per patient each day. The complaint represents about 32,000 patients in 22 facilities and covers a time period from 2003 to 2009.

Damages and Restitution

The company is planning to appeal the civil penalty. The Humboldt County jury awarded plaintiffs $613 million in statutory damages and $58 million in restitution. This is the maximum allowed fine under California law. The punitive damages in this case are still to be determined.

The complaints against the nursing homes included many involving quality of care and treatment, as well as the nursing services. In 2004, one of the company's facility in Torrance was cited for a "level three" violation, which means the negligence or deficient care could have resulted or did result in serious personal injuries to residents.

The Problem of Understaffing in Nursing Homes

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report in 2003 stated that at least one in five of all nursing homes in the United States are plagued by serious deficiencies that place nursing homes residents in immediate danger or cause them actual harm. According to this report, quality of care in these nursing homes drops dramatically when residents receive less than three hours of the nurse’s and nurse’s aide’s time per day. Sadly that’s the case in about 54 percent of nursing homes.

Understaffing in nursing homes occurs largely in for-profit nursing facilities that aim to boost profits at the expense of their residents' well-being. These are companies that put profits over the safety of the vulnerable seniors they serve. I commend this jury in Humboldt County for the absolutely necessary and fair decision. The evidence in favor of the plaintiffs' claims was clearly overwhelming in this case. I can only imagine that jurors saw the direct impact of understaffing on the residents of these nursing homes. I hope the jury also awards punitive damages in this case to send a clear message to other nursing home operators that they cannot afford to jeopardize the safety of their residents for the sake of profit.

Do you have a loved one in a nursing home? What are your biggest concerns about the type of care they receive?

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