State Sen. Edith Prague said she will re-introduce a bill this year that would make it easier to hold the owners of nursing homes criminally responsible for abuse and neglect of patients in their facilities.
"You can't sue the state, but the nursing home owners who cut back on staffing I feel should be held responsible," she said. The bill passed the state Senate last year, but died in the House.
Prague said a public hearing will be held in front of the Select Committee on Aging on Feb. 16 in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The time and room have not been set yet.
Stretched thin
Chris Godialis, supervisory assistant state's attorney and director of the Medicaid fraud control unit, said his office is responsible for policing all the fraud, abuse and neglect in Medicaid cases in Connecticut; he has four investigators.
"If I had 14 people, we'd have more cases, believe me," he said.
At any given time, the office handles an average of about 75 active cases.
Prague's bill would require the Department of Public Health to include a notice in nursing home applications telling owners they could be held criminally accountable for abuse and neglect of residents by their employees.
Godialis said one issue is that many nursing homes in Connecticut are owned by people who live outside the state and believe they can't be responsible for neglect if they don't see it or participate in it.
They can, he said. But it would help in prosecuting a case to have a notice such as the one the bill proposes, showing that nursing home owners were warned.
The bill also would require criminal background checks of nurses who care for people in their homes, he said.
Kyle Wininger, whose father, Robert Wininger, died with gangrene in both his legs after staying at Haven Health Center of Norwich, said she would support the bill.
Wrongful death suit
She said she "would hope that it would lead to some self-policing on the part of owners" of nursing homes. The Winingers filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctors responsible for Robert Wininger's care. The suit also names Public Health Commissioner J. Robert Galvin and Haven CEO Raymond Termini as defendants.
Philip Anthony, Griswold's first selectman, whose mother was a resident of Haven Health Center of Jewett City, said holding nursing home owners accountable is necessary.
Public policy should also make state agencies liable for failing to correct violations they discover in nursing homes, he said.
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