What are Citations for Iowa Nursing Home Violations?

Many nursing homes in Iowa have been in violation of health and safety standards. In fact, in 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services discovered that almost all nursing homes in the U.S. have been given citations for health and safety violations.

Most of the violations that year resulted from malnutrition, patient neglect, medication mishaps, infected bed sores, and patient abuse. The investigation discovered that most of the violations occurred because of poorly trained nursing home staff as well as not enough staff for a proper staff-to-patient ratio.

What are the penalties and citations given to the nursing homes that violate health and safety standards?

The Iowa State Board of Health makes policy for the Iowa Department of Public Health, and it does impose disciplinary action on nursing homes that are in violation of the law. The penalties given by the board may vary depending upon the severity of the nursing home actions and may include:

• Citation and warning
• Monetary civil fines
• Suspension of license for a specific time period
• Revocation of license
• Permanently prohibit taking on specific tasks 
• Probation
• Reexamination 
• More training or education of staff
• Mental evaluation of staff

The board may issue other penalties, fees, and citations that may be appropriate depending upon the nature of the Iowa nursing home violation. For example, the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals caught the Emeritus at Silver Pines falsely portraying itself as an assisted living facility rather than what it is - a residential care facility. They were fined $13,000, and received 17 other citations.

If you have found that your loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse due to health and safety violations, contact the Iowa nursing home abuse attorneys at Brady & O'Shea for a free, no-obligation consultation at (319) 866-9277.