Charges Filed Over Care at Nursing Home

A nursing home company and two of its executives have been named in a 31-count criminal complaint alleging repeated violations at a Los Angeles facility, the city attorney’s office reported Wednesday.

Patients at the Good Hope Convalescent Home at 2000 W. Washington Blvd. were repeatedly subjected to improper care and unsanitary conditions, the complaint asserts.

Named as defendants are Elizabeth Enterprises of Upland, operator of 21 nursing homes statewide; its president, Barrett Speck, and Good Hope’s administrator, Nola Nell Turrell. Arraignment has been scheduled for June 19.

Deputy City Atty. Gary Rowse said that inspections by the county Department of Health Facilities between June, 1985, and January of this year revealed that the nursing home was not maintained in a sanitary condition and failed to keep patients clean, failed to prevent formation or worsening of bedsores and failed to follow therapeutic diet plans.

An attorney for Elizabeth Enterprises said inspectors and prosecutors were “overreacting” to the conditions at Good Hope. “They are taking what are normally non-compliance and for some reason turning them into a criminal complaint,” lawyer Bob Gerst said.

Gerst also said ‘it seems unfair” that Speck and Turrell are targeted for blame when nurses actually provide the care for patients.

Each of the 31 misdemeanor counts carries a maximum penalty of a $2,500 fine and a six-month jail term. However, Rowse said it is unlikely that prosecutors will press for jail sentences in the case.