Nursing Homes

In an elder abuse case described by one investigator as the most outrageous he has ever seen, three former top managers at a Kern County nursing home have been arrested in the deaths of three residents who allegedly were given needless doses of psychotropic medications. The state attorney general's office contended in a criminal complaint that more than 20 residents at a skilled nursing center run by the Kern Valley Healthcare District were drugged "for staff convenience."

The Motion Picture & Television Fund -- a charity started by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and other Hollywood luminaries to care for entertainers who fell on hard times -- said Wednesday that it was closing a hospital and nursing home by year's end. With more than 500 hospital admissions last year and about 100 long-term residents, the Woodland Hills facilities have been a $10-million annual drain on the fund's budget for the last four years.

The longtime secretary to the most powerful man in Hollywood said he "would roll over in his grave." Melody Sherwood, who served as Lew Wasserman's executive assistant for nearly three decades, said that the legendary studio mogul who died in 2002 would have strenuously opposed the decision to shut down the long-term-care facility known as the "motion picture home," a fixture of the entertainment industry for more than a half a century.

State officials have fined two nursing homes in Orange County for providing care so inadequate that it led to the deaths of two patients. In one case, a woman died from dehydration. In the other, staff failed to provide CPR to a man suffering a heart attack because they mistakenly believed he was under orders not to be resuscitated.

The Bush administration said it would put in place a rating system for nursing homes by the end of the year. It's designed to give consumers another tool to consider when shopping for a nursing home. The ratings would be placed on a government website. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would seek comment from the industry and consumers to determine what criteria to use. Federal officials also unveiled new regulations that would require all nursing homes to have sprinkler systems by 2013.

California nursing homes bolstered their bottom lines with much of the $590 million that state lawmakers provided them to better tend to the poor, while patient care declined by several key measures, according to a study to be released today. A law boosting reimbursements from Medi-Cal, the state's healthcare program for the poor, passed in 2004.

An investigation sparked by a suspicious death at an upscale senior living facility in Calabasas has expanded to include the alleged abuse of three more elderly residents, including a 78-year-old woman who was allegedly body-slammed into her bed, according to court records and interviews. Keith Stubbs said he was told by authorities that a caregiver at Silverado Senior Living rousted his sleeping mother out of bed by "jumping on her chest." When she tried to defend herself, "he picked her up W.

About 22% of the nation's nearly 16,000 nursing homes received the federal government's lowest rating in a new five-star system unveiled Thursday, while 12% received the highest ranking possible. A home could obtain up to five stars based on criteria such as staffing and how well it fared in state inspections. The lowest ranking possible was one star. Such a simple rating for so complex a task as caring for the elderly has led to much anxiety in the nursing home industry.

Hunched in wheelchairs, the ladies of West Valley Healthcare Center perked up as Chris Taylor began strolling among them, crooning "Beautiful Dreamer." Luisa Federovsky, 90, didn't let the moment slip by, even if she had forgotten to put in her dentures that morning. As Taylor passed, the great-grandmother from Argentina grabbed his hand and locked eyes for an impromptu duet. "Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day," she belted out in a strong and clear soprano.