The New York attorney general is suing a large nursing home operator, alleging that its owners pocketed more than $83 million from Medicare and Medicaid that was intended for patient care while neglecting residents at their facilities across the state.
The lawsuit is against the for-profit company Centers Health Care along with its individual owners and a web of their family members and related limited liability companies involved with the nursing home network. The alleged pattern of neglect – which includes unsanitary conditions and instances of patients being left to sit in their own urine and feces for hours – took place over several years at the Beth Abraham Center in the Bronx as well as three other facilities in Buffalo, Queens and White Plains.
“People, and particularly vulnerable New Yorkers, deserve better,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said at a press conference about the lawsuit on Wednesday. “We will do everything in our power to protect our most vulnerable because no one should be treated this way.”
Jeff Jacomowitz, a spokesperson for Centers Health Care, said the nursing home operator will fight the allegations.