Health facility targeted in lawsuit

<p>A Petaluma seniors health-care facility is among several facilities that are being targeted in a large class-action lawsuit for alleged nurse under-staffing.</p><p>Golden Living Center Petaluma, at 101 Monroe St., is one of the facilities mentioned in the suit that claims the required 3.2 hours of nursing hours per patient each day has not been provided from November 2006 to the present.</p><p>A Eureka law firm — Janssen, Malloy, Needham, Morrison, Reinholtsen, Crowley & Griego — is handling the class action lawsuit, and is representing thousands of people who have stayed at the facilities during the period of more than 4 1/2 years. Crowley says that the facilities have reaped large profits by not providing the required number of nursing hours, and that as a result, patients have not receive proper care.</p><p>“Patients haven't been cleaned or fed properly and haven't been transported then they need to be,” he said. “Part of the purpose of the lawsuit is to change corporate culture and behavior.”</p><p>Based on statistics compiled by the California Department of Health Services, facilities generally were understaffed 20 percent to 25 percent of the time, Crowley said.</p><p>The defendants include Beverly Hills and Rehabilitation Services, which holds the skilled nursing facility license for Petaluma Golden Living Center and 26 other Golden Living Center facilities in California.</p><p>The claims made in the lawsuit are being challenged by the defendants, and San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer is reviewing whether the legal challenge should go forward. The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24.</p><p>Connie Smith, senior executive director of Golden Living Center Petaluma, could not be reached for an interview, but sent an e-mail to the Argus-Courier in which she lauded the facility's staffing and patient-satisfaction levels.</p><p>She said that the Petaluma facility is one of only 438 nursing homes to receive the American Health Care Association's Bronze Commitment to Quality national award out of more than 1,000 eligible facilities.</p><p>Smith also pointed to three other positive indicators.</p><p>“The Department of Health Services conducts regular surveys, and the deficiencies reported (at the Petaluma facility) were reduced to three in 2010. The state average number of deficiencies for nursing homes is 12,” she wrote.</p><p>Also, the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services Quality Five-Star rating for staffing at the facility is four on a scale of five, she said.</p><p>“Our focus is on providing appropriate care for patients while striving every day to be the health care facility of choice in our community,” Smith said.</p><p>She also noted the results of a patient-satisfaction survey, which showed that positive responses increased from 79 to 91 percent in 2010.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>