BREAKING: Doylestown Nursing Home Added To Legal Action By AG

Authorities in Pennsylvania have expanded a legal complaint against a nursing home company with 36 locations statewide for failing to provide basic services to “elderly and vulnerable” residents, the Pennsylvania Attorney General said Wednesday.

Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane has added 11 more Golden Living Centers locations, including one in Doylestown, to the legal action.

A total of 25 Golden Living Centers are now named in the legal action.

Kane alleges residents at Golden Living Centers were left in soiled diapers for extended periods of time, were at risk for bedsores and were not routinely bathed, among other allegations. The attorney general also alleges that residents were often not escorted to meals as required, sometimes missed meals entirely and staff falsified records.

Kane said the suit was amended after hundreds of additional complaints came to her attention since the original filing on July 1.

“The new allegations detailed in the amended legal action support and expand many of the claims that were included in the original filing. They resulted in part from interviews with residents’ family members and former certified nursing assistants who worked at Golden Living facilities,” a statement from the Attorney General’s office said.

The Attorney General has filed legal action against Golden Gate National Senior Care LLC, which manages and operates Golden Living Centers. The legal action, filed in Commonwealth Court in the form of a complaint in equity and petition for permanent injunction, asserts Golden Living violated the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law by deceiving consumers through its marketing practices.

The allegations include the following, according to the Attorney General:

• Continent residents left in diapers because they were unable to obtain assistance going to the bathroom.
• Incontinent residents left in soiled diapers, in their own feces or urine, for extended periods of time.
• Residents at risk for bedsores from not being turned every two hours as required.
• Residents not receiving range of motion exercises to maintain mobility and flexibility.
• Residents not receiving showers or other hygiene services as required.
• Residents being woken at 5 a.m. or earlier to be washed and dressed for the day to accommodate staff stretched too thin.
• Residents not being timely dressed in order to attend their meals.
• Residents not being escorted to the dining hall and sometimes missing meals entirely.
• Long waits for responses to call bells or no responses at all.
• Staff, under the direction of management or fear of management, falsifying records to indicate residents received services when in fact they did not.
• Improved staffing when state inspections occurred, leading to deceit about the true conditions at the facility.

The company operates 300 locations nationwide in 22 states. Pennsylvania locations include Doylestown, Phoenixville, Lansdale and more. Click here for a full list.

A company spokesperson called the claims baseless. “Golden Living is confident that claims made by the Attorney General are baseless and wholly without merit,” Neil Kurtz, president and CEO of Golden Living, said in a statement. “We plan to vigorously defend the reputation of Golden Living and its employees.”

The legal action seeks permanent injunctive relief prohibiting Golden Living from engaging in the allegedly deceptive and unlawful business practices it is accused of, the attorney general said.

The Golden Living facilities added in the amended complaint are:

• Golden LivingCenter — Doylestown (Doylestown)
• Golden LivingCenter — East Mountain (Wilkes-Barre)
• Golden LivingCenter — Lancaster (Lancaster)
• Golden LivingCenter — Mansion (Sunbury)
• Golden LivingCenter — Reading (Reading)
• Golden LivingCenter — Rosemont (Rosemont)
• Golden LivingCenter — Scranton (Scranton)
• Golden LivingCenter — Shippenville (Shippenville)
• Golden LivingCenter — Uniontown (Uniontown)
• Golden LivingCenter — West Shore (Camp Hill)
• Golden LivingCenter — Murrysville (Murrysville).

Those named in the original complaint are:

• Golden LivingCenter — Blue Ridge Mountain (Harrisburg)
• Golden LivingCenter — Camp Hill (Camp Hill)
• Golden LivingCenter — Clarion (Clarion)
• Golden LivingCenter — Gettysburg (Gettysburg)
• Golden LivingCenter — Hillview (Altoona)
• Golden LivingCenter — Lansdale (Lansdale)
• Golden LivingCenter — Monroeville (Monroeville)
• Golden LivingCenter — Mount Lebanon (Pittsburgh)
• Golden LivingCenter — Phoenixville (Phoenixville)
• Golden LivingCenter — Stenton (Philadelphia)
• Golden LivingCenter — Summit (Wilkes-Barre)
• Golden LivingCenter — Tunkhannock (Tunkhannock)
• Golden LivingCenter — Western Reserve (Erie)
• Golden LivingCenter — York Terrace (Pottsville)