On December 3, 1996, the United States Department of Justice wrote a letter to the County Executive of Hamilton County Tennessee regarding its plan to investigate the Hamilton County Nursing Home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Department of Justice had received information indicating that residents and their families were afraid to speak out about poor conditions in the facility out of fear of retaliation.

The facility had been cited by the Health Care Financing Administration (NCFA) for deficiencies and had its Medicaid admissions temporarily suspended. Information received from the NCFA and the local Long Term Care Ombudsman indicated that residents were being subject to unnecessary physical restraints, suffered actual harm due to inadequate medical care, did not receive adequate nutritional care, and were subject to unnecessarily invasive medical techniques. The physical plant was dangerous and unsanitary. The Nursing Home was also failing to determine whether residents were in the most integrated setting to meet their needs.

There is no further information available about this investigation.

Angela Heverling - 05/21/2007


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