Sun Healthcare Systems

Sun Healthcare Systems is a major provider of nursing home services with 199 locations in 25 states. While they are one of the larger companies, Genesis Healthcare bought them in 2012. The facilities provide a range of services, including independent living, behavioral health, rehabilitation and hospice care. However, their major focus is on nursing homes.

Medicare Rankings

Like most nursing home facilities today, Sun Healthcare Systems provides care to Medicare and Medicaid patients. As a result, they are ranked by Medicare based on inspections. However, since their acquisition by Genesis, their rankings are now included with those facilities, and are under different names.

Sun Healthcare Lawsuits

Sun Healthcare Systems has obviously had some issues in the past with the care they provide in their facilities. There have been considerable neglect lawsuits filed against some of the nursing homes based on improper care of the patients.

• In 2013, a West Virginia man filed a lawsuit against Sun Healthcare after his wife, who was in the facility for less than one month, suffered from pneumonia, neutrophilia, sepsis and respiratory failure during her stay. In addition to the negligence, the suit also alleged that the nursing home violated the Consumer Credit and Protection Act by making false promises and using deception. The man is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.
• Another incident in 2013 involved a 96-year-old patient who was mentally impaired and terminally ill in a facility owned by Sun Healthcare. The patient died when staff members put her in the shower. While no lawsuit was filed against the facility, regulators in the State of Florida classified the death as abuse, and forced the facility to wait 14 days before taking new patients.
• A lawsuit was filed against Sun Healthcare in 2013 by a man whose father died while in one of their facilities. The resident suffered from bedsores, aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition and dehydration, which ultimately led to his death. The son is claiming the facility was negligent in providing care, and failing to assess, monitor and treat changes in the resident’s health in a timely manner.
• In a case that was decided in 2010, a resident of a Sun Healthcare nursing home facility in Kentucky stayed in the location for just nine days before dying. The cause of death was dehydration, even though the 92-year-old resident had a feeding tube. Jurors in the case awarded the man’s family $42.75 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the neglect.

The nursing home chain has also seen other lawsuits as well, including fraud and class action lawsuits concerning forcing employees to work overtime without compensation. In this class action, it was brought to light that workers were aware that they would be reprimanded if they worked overtime, but were given so many duties that they had to work past their shifts in order to provide humane care to the patients.

Nursing Home Neglect

Nursing home neglect is a serious issue in facilities across the country. Whether due to understaffing, or simply poor quality training and care, negligence can have serious and often deadly consequences in the elderly. While neglect is often hard to detect at first, repeated falls and injuries, bedsores, weight loss and even errors in medication are all significant signs that negligence may be occurring at a facility.

If your loved one is suffering from neglect, or you feel he or she died as a result of it, you need to speak to a qualified nursing home neglect attorney to determine your or your loved one’s rights so that they can receive compensation for the suffering he or she has endured.

Sources:

http://wvrecord.com/news/258701-man-sues-sun-healthcare-group-for-negligent-care

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130320/ARTICLE/130319541

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/19/1531255_family-awarded-43-million-in-nursing.html?rh=1

http://wvrecord.com/news/258042-son-blames-sun-healthcare-group-for-fathers-death

http://www.hbsslaw.com/newsroom/sun-healthcare-groups-care-skilled-nursing-company-compromised-patients-for-profits-suit-claims