Nursing Home to Pay Fine

Bay Harbor Rehabilitation Center administrators have agreed to pay a $12,000 fine and bring in a nursing consultant to settle civil charges of improper patient care at the center, a Torrance nursing home.

From November, 1987, until January, 1989, county health inspectors reported a number of problems at the nursing home, including incorrect administration of medicine, failure to properly track patient conditions and poor hygiene, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Rod Leonard.

The settlement, in which the nursing home will pay a $1,000 fine each month for the next year, is not an admission of guilt, said Bay Harbor attorney Bob Gerst. The nursing home maintains that the charges were the result of differing opinions between inspectors and hospital employees about record-keeping.

The special consultant required by the settlement already works for the hospital under a contract to review nursing practices, Gerst said. Under the settlement, the consultant will submit written recommendations every 30 days for review by county inspectors.

Leonard said conditions at the nursing home have improved significantly since charges were first filed in October, 1988, and that county officials have given Bay Harbor a clean bill of health in recent inspections.