Nursing Home Company Sentenced for Patient Neglect

A nursing home company headquartered in Nisakyuna has been sentenced by the Attorney General for patient neglect, the Attorney General's office announced Thursday.

Highgate LTC Management was convicted last October on six misdemeanor counts of willful violation of health laws and three misdemeanor counts of falsifying business records.

The company was sentenced Thursday to pay $15,000 in fines, shut down its business and accept responsibility for patient neglect.

A hidden camera investigation at Highgates' Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility in Cortland, NY, showed several workers neglecting an elderly patient and then falsifying paperwork to cover it up.

The camera footage showed workers at the Northwoods facility leaving a comatose 59-year-old patient in his own waste for hours at a time while suffering from skin lesions.

"The resident - whose family consented to the camera being installed in the patient's room - was not turned and positioned every two hours as required to prevent pressure ulcers, but the nursing home's patient chart falsely stated that he was," said a statement from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"In one 18-hour period, the patient was never repositioned," the statement continued. "There were over 40 occasions when the resident was not washed after an incontinent epsiode, and his oral care was sporadic."

Five Highgate employees were convicted last year for patient neglect and falsifying records.

During the trial, the former director of nursing for Cortland Northwoods admitted that the facility was consistently understaffed.

Highgate also owns facilities in Troy, Rensselaer and Niskayuna, but the centers are now being operated by Long Hill Alliance under a receivership order.

The Niskayuna nursing home also made headlines last year after a nurse, Kimberly Kozakiewicz, 32, of Schenectady, was arrested in July 2007 for stealing narcotics from the nursing home and then falsifying records to conceal her theft.

The trial was the first time in New York that patient neglect was proved by hidden-camera recordings.