Vermont Reaches Settlement with Nursing Homes After Fatality

Vermont’s attorney general announced a settlement with three of the state’s nursing homes over allegations of neglect that resulted in serious injuries to three residents and the death of a fourth.

The settlement with the three Genesis Healthcare subsidiary-operated nursing homes requires the centers to pay more than $740,000 in damages and penalties to the state, according to a release Thursday from the Office of Attorney General T.J. Donovan.

The centers also have to create a new Patient Care Coordinator position and engage the services of an independent monitor to review each facility’s quality of care as part of the settlement.

Donovan attributes the injuries and death to inadequate staff training and orientation, the use of visiting or third-party contractors, and the failure to adequately document and monitor the delivery of resident care services.

Officials said the complaints first surfaced in December 2018 when investigators found residents who had received the wrong meals, which resulted in hospitalizations, and in one case, death. In another case, officials found lower leg ulcers of a patient were not properly treated.

The incidents took place at Burlington Health and Rehab, St. Johnsbury Health and Rehab and Berlin Health and Rehab.

Genesis operates six other Vermont facilities that were not the subject of any complaints, officials said.