Nursing home sued for wrongful death

A lawsuit filed in Sutter County Superior Court claims a Yuba City nursing home caused the death of a 79-year-old patient.

The wrongful death action against Yuba Skilled Nursing Center, 521 Lorel Way, formerly Emmanuel Health Care Center, was filed Feb. 19 by the daughter and son of Yuba City resident Shirley Marion Renner, who died in November 2007, about a month after being transferred to a nursing home in Lincoln.

Although a Placer County death certificate lists a heart attack and lung problems as causes of death, poor care at the Yuba City facility — including improperly treated bedsores, malnutrition and dehydration — was a contributing cause, said Yuba City attorney Kenneth Swenson, who is representing Renner's daughter, Valeree Espinoza, and son, David Vestal, both of Yuba City.

No autopsy was performed, he said.

Renner suffered neck and spine injuries, severe bedsores, broken and missing teeth, "physical and emotional pain, desperation, abandonment, feelings of helplessness, anguish, shock, fear of imminent death, and death," according to the lawsuit.

Renner, who suffered from dementia and Alzheimer's disease, spent about two years at the home. During that time her weight dropped from about 110 pounds to about 92, her daughter said.

The now-defunct Pleasant Care Corporation operated the home as Emmanuel Health Care Center until August 2007, when it was acquired by Yuba Care & Rehabilitation Center Inc., doing business as Nazareth Health Care. Renner's daughter and son removed her about two months after the change.

Helen Richardson-Davis, president of Yuba Care & Rehabilitation Center and Nazareth Health Care, said this week she wanted to make it clear that Renner died after being discharged.

Although ownership changed in August 2007, the new owners did not truly take over management until about three weeks before Renner left, she said.

"We recognized the need for further care" and sent her to a hospital for treatment of the bedsores, Richardson-Davis said.

Espinoza said she did not know about the bedsores until the outside provider sent a letter.

Swenson responded this way:

"The new owners assumed responsibility to care for the residents when they took over the facility. They also agreed to comply with all applicable legal requirements for running a skilled nursing facility, including the existing plans of correction for deficiencies in the care at the facility."

The son and daughter were not informed of changes in Renner's condition — including bedsores, missing teeth and bruises on her arms and legs — as required by law. By the time she was removed, a neck injury prevented her from holding her head up, Swenson said.

Although medical records have not yet been subpoenaed, Renner apparently was given inappropriate psychotropic medications, he said.

Espinoza said she didn't know if her mother feared she would die at the home.

"She cried a lot. She couldn't vocalize," she said.

During her final month of life at the Lincoln nursing home, Renner "became more with it" after being taken off the medications, Espinoza said.

Richardson-Davis said care has improved under the new ownership. A new administrator and heads of some departments have been hired, although the same director of nursing remains, she said.

Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Web site gives Yuba Skilled Nursing Center two stars out of five, or a below-average rating. Richardson-Davis said ratings come out only at two-year intervals and that she expects Yuba Skilled Nursing Center's rating to improve.

According to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, which rates nursing homes, complaints against the home dropped from 48 in 2007 to just eight in 2008 under the new owners. Deficiencies cited by the state Department of Public Health dropped from 36 to four.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.