Anyone else ever see commercials that resemble this? http://articles.centralkynews.com/20...home-ad-states

During a meeting of team leaders at Golden Living Center Friday morning, executive director Jennifer Thompson felt compelled to address a matter that had riled up the staff at the Stanford nursing home.

“I told them we were not going to let this distract us from our mission,” Thompson said later.

The staff at Golden Living Center was unhappy with an advertisement appearing in this week’s Interior Journal by the law firm Wilkes & McHugh listing 17 deficiencies found during inspections of the nursing home.

Wilkes & McHugh, based in Florida but with an office in Lexington, has been running similar full-page ads in The Advocate-Messenger targeting Danville Centre for Health and Rehabilitation in Danville. Like Thompson, the Danville Centre’s executive director is perturbed.

“These misleading ads are an attempt by the law firm to find clients for their services,” Robert Hollins said in a statement.

Both Danville Centre and Golden Living are part of national nursing home chains. They both have about 100 beds and are near capacity.

The claims made in the ads are true and cite deficiencies found during federal and state inspections of the facilities — which are conducted annually — going back as far 2007.

Some of the deficiencies common to both facilities include “failure to make sure staff wash their hands when needed;” “failure to make sure there is a program to prevent/deal with mice, insects and other pests;” and “failure to give services that meet a professional standard of quality.”

After listing the deficiencies, the ad states, “If you or someone you love is or has been in the past a resident, call the law firm of Wilkes & McHugh for a free consultation.”

What the ads do not mention is that all of the deficiencies listed are relatively minor, rated as “minimal harm or potential for actual harm” in terms of severity. The ads also fail to note that all of the deficiencies were corrected when inspectors returned.

“It’s unfortunate the marketing tactics used by these lawyers to try to drum up clients and create alarm in our community that is unwarranted,” Thompson said.

Rich Circeo, an attorney at Wilkes & McHugh’s Lexington office, said the law firm runs the advertisements as a way to raise public awareness, not neccesarily to find clients for lawsuits.

“It’s essentially for informational purposes. Folks my be concerned about a loved one in a nursing facility,” Circeo said. “This points out a list of issues at the facilities and concerns can arise from issues arising over a number of years.”

“Residents have a right to a dignified existence,” he continued. “This gives people access to information and if there are any concerns, our phone number is there.”

Bernie Vonderheide, founder of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, declined to say whether he thought such ads are misleading or unfair. He did say he assumed they were legal.

Vonderheide said he was familiar with Wilkes & McHugh, describing them as “nationally known and pretty well respected nursing home litigators.” He noted that while the deficiencies listed in the ads were minor, they should not be overlooked.

“They are called deficiencies for a reason,” Vonderheide said. “We pay attention to deficiencies no matter how ‘minor’ they are because what seems like a minor deficiency can become a major problem if not corrected.”

In a press release issued Thursday, Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform noted that 20 of the state’s long-term care facilities had 10 or more deficiencies during surveys of 109 nursing homes conducted by the Office of Inspector General during the last quarter of 2010. Three facilities had as many as 20 deficiencies.

During its last state inspection in August, Danville Centre for Health and Rehabilitation had three minor deficiencies in the areas of pharmacy service, quality care, and nutrition and diet.

The nutrition deficiency came from grease being visible on a can opener in the kitchen, according to the OIG citation. All three deficiencies were corrected by September, according to the OIG.

“We had a very good year last year,” Hollins said, pointing out a banner awarded by the state for having so few deficiencies in its last inspection.

Golden Living had six deficiencies, all rated “minimal harm or potential for actual harm,” in its last inspection in April. Three of the deficiencies were environmental, including one for “failure to get rid of garbage properly.” Two were quality care and one resident assessment. All were remedied by the June follow-up survey.

Thompson was not critical of the inspection process but noted that inspectors drop by unannounced. Meeting all the requirements of a rigorous surprise inspection in the complicated and busy environment of a nursing home is almost impossible, she said.

“We’re not a perfect center all the time,” she said. “We look forward to the surveys as a chance to address our weaknesses and provide the best care for our residents that we can.”

Perfection is difficult, Vonderheide said, but it can be achieved. He noted that four nursing homes in the state completed their most recent inspections without a single deficiency. One of them was the nursing home at James B. Haggin Memorial Hospital in Harrodsburg.

In the end, Vonderheide said ads run by law firms are not the best ways to gauge the kind of care provided by any individual nursing home.

He suggested using state and federal rankings and inspection reports that can be found on the Internet, making in-person visits to the facility to talk with staff and residents, and talking with others who have family members residing there.