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BY JERRY DAVICH
Times Staff Writer | Friday, October 15, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
Freddie Woods couldn't swallow food after suffering a stroke this past spring. Doctors ordered a feeding tube.
His daughter, Jo-Anne Woods, unable to care for her 81-year-old father, placed him in June at the Clark Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Gary. His nursing orders were clear, she said: No food by mouth.
On July 17, Clark nurses noted that Freddie Woods was "unresponsive, cool and clammy." They called 911.
Emergency room personnel at The Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary noticed Woods struggling to breathe. They tried to insert a breathing tube in his mouth.
Food got in the way.
Woods, who also suffered from dementia, spent weeks hospitalized. He died Aug. 20.
Jo-Anne Woods, of Gary, filed a complaint with the Indiana State Department of Health. Then she found a lawyer, Donald Wruck of Crown Point, whose office specializes in lawsuits against nursing homes.
This week, Wruck and Woods filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Clark facility, seeking unspecified damages.
"It's not about the money," said Woods, holding a photo of her father. "It's about not letting the Clark home think they can get away with this. They can't."
Clark Nursing is owned by Care Centers Inc., an Evanston-based company. It also owns a handful of other facilities in this region and Illinois.
Clark's administrator, Mike Brown, said no one from his staff ever fed Freddie Woods by mouth, only through a feeding tube. Brown also said he was unaware of any lawsuit or even Wood's death.
Christopher Herrmann, the region's long-term care ombudsman, said he has not received any serious complaints against the Clark facility, and he was unaware of this case.
An Indiana State Department of Health report stated that Clark violated federal law and issued corrective orders, plus a $100 daily fine, called a Civil Money Penalty.
The report also noted that a Clark nursing aide initially said she witnessed a Woods family member feeding food to Freddie on July 17, the day he went to the hospital. The aide later denied seeing this when questioned by her supervisors.
"We knew better," Jo-Anne Woods said.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site, the Clark facility was cited in March for failure to "give proper treatment to residents with feeding tubes to prevent problems, such as aspiration pneumonia."
Freddie Woods died of complications from aspiration pneumonia, Jo-Anne said.
The Clark facility is on the recently published Consumer Reports watch list, based on an analysis of nursing home inspection records from January 1999 to March 2003.
Like most families choosing a nursing home or assisted living facility, Woods said she based her decision more on convenient location than researched selections.
"I'd never do that again," she said. "But it's too late now."
Jerry Davich can be reached at jdavich@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-3376.
Other region facilities operated by Care Centers Inc.
The following are other care facilities in this region owned by Care Centers Inc., which owns the Clark Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Gary. Care Centers Inc. also has facilities in Illinois and other parts of Indiana.
*Dyer Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Dyer
*Lake County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, East Chicago
*North Lake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Merrillville
*Sebo's Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Hobart
*Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation Center, Valparaiso
Background checks for nursing homes
To find more information on local nursing homes and long-term care residential facilities -- including health survey deficiencies and inspection results -- visit www.medicare.com.
Click on the link "Nursing Home Compare," which allows users to search for a specific facility by name, address location or general proximity.
Also on the site is a "Nursing Home Checklist," listing what consumers should look for in a quality facility.
Here is an example of inspection findings about the Clark facility from this site:
Complaint Investigations During: 05/01/2003 - 07/31/2004
Total number of health deficiencies for this nursing home: 10
Average number of Health Deficiencies in Indiana: 6
Average number of Health Deficiencies in the United States: 7
Or visit the Indiana State Department of Health Web site at www.in.gov/isdh/ and click on "Nursing Home Report Cards."
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