27°
Those were just some of the horrors experienced by residents at a New York nursing home stemming from a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme, according to a lawsuit from Attorney General Letitia James.
The suit, filed Tuesday, Dec. 13, alleges that the owners of Long Island’s Fulton Commons Care Center, located in East Meadow, exploited New York’s Medicaid program to enrich themselves, leading to insufficient staffing levels and significant resident neglect and abuse.
An investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that between January 2018 and December 2021, the 280-bed facility received $105.8 million in funding from Medicare and Medicaid for resident care, yet only $47.3 million went to its intended purpose, the lawsuit alleges.
Investigators said more than $34 million was used to pay inflated “rent” that far exceeded actual property expenses.
In all, the owners of Fulton Commons paid themselves $14.9 million through fraudulent rent payment while evading disclosure and approval by the Department of Health, the lawsuit claims.
The facility’s principal owner, Moshe Kalter, also paid fraudulent “salaries” to his eight children, who were each 1 percent owners of Fulton Commons, for no-show jobs, according to investigators.
Kalter’s children reportedly received more than $1 million between 2018 and 2021, bringing the total amount of wrongfully taken money to more than $16 million, the lawsuit alleges.
“If the owners had instead used those funds to provide care to residents as intended, Fulton Commons could have provided nearly 10,000 additional hours of direct care,” James’ office said in a statement.
Instead, the lawsuit alleges that inadequate staffing levels led to a “heinous record” of abuse that saw residents’ cries for help go unanswered by staff, along with unexplained injuries and missed medical treatments.
With not enough employees on hand, some residents were illegally restrained, both physically by being tied to their wheelchairs, and chemically by drugging with psychotropic medication, according to the lawsuit.
James said one woman was admitted to Fulton Commons for rehabilitation after having her foot amputated due to diabetes. When she rang her call bell, it would often go unanswered, leading her to miss doses of medication or sit in her soiled underwear for “prolonged periods of time.”
In January 2020, the woman’s remaining foot became infected, eventually progressing to the point that her entire foot turned black from necrosis.
When her healthcare proxy showed up on the day she died in November 2020, Fulton Commons staff told her the woman’s condition was “not severe enough” to merit an in-person visit, James’ office said. The woman died two hours later.
The attorney general’s office said another resident, who suffered from dementia, was found by her son tied to her wheelchair with what appeared to be a piece of clothing. The man also discovered a large bruise on his mother’s forehead that nursing home staff could not explain.
Another resident, a 53-year-old man, was admitted to the facility after suffering a series of strokes. According to the lawsuit, staff members regularly ignored his call bell, eventually causing him to defecate himself.
When staff finally came to his room, they berated him for soiling himself, James’ office said. The man subsequently attempted to reach the bathroom on his own, resulting in several falls.
“Fulton Commons failed its residents and denied them the basic right of receiving comfortable, competent, and respectful care at the facility entrusted to serve them,” James said in a statement.
“Rather than honor their legal duty to ensure the highest possible quality of life for the residents in their care, the Fulton Commons owners allegedly maintained insufficient staffing so they could take more money for their own personal gain.
The lawsuit also claims that Fulton Commons misled residents’ families early in the COVID-19 pandemic, falsely claiming that there were no virus infections at the facility.
Fulton Commons later knowingly underreported its COVID-19 deaths to the Department of Health by as much as 45 percent, according to the lawsuit.
Investigators said even at the height of the pandemic, when one-third of residents on a single unit died over a 72-hour period, only one was reported to health officials because the resident had tested positive at a hospital after their family demanded they be transferred.
The attorney general’s lawsuit is seeking a number of remedies, including ordering Fulton Commons to remove its current medical director and replace him with a qualified physician.
It also seeks to prohibit the nursing home from admitting any new residents unless and until staffing levels meet appropriate standards, as well as require the facility to engage and pay for a financial monitor to oversee its financial operations.
James also wants Fulton Commons to pay for a healthcare monitor to oversee the facility’s healthcare operations, have all respondents fully disclose all funds that were wrongfully received, and reimburse the state for the cost of the investigation.
Tuesday’s lawsuit comes after a separate suit was filed in November 2022 alleging that Daniel Persaud, a former licensed practical nurse at Fulton Commons, sexually assaulted a female resident in the fall of 2020.
The lawsuit claims that the facility’s director of nursing, Carol Frawley, later intentionally lied on internal records instead of accurately reporting the multiple complaints that were made against Persaud by residents and staff.
A Nassau County grand jury charged Persaud with multiple crimes, including sexual abuse, endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, as well as willful violation of public health laws and forcible touching.
The grand jury charged Frawley with two counts of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, multiple counts of falsifying business records, and willful violation of public health laws.
They, along with a representative from Fulton Commons, are due back in court on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Attorney General James encouraged those who suspect nursing home abuse to file a confidential complaint online or call (833) 249-8499.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Poughkeepsie and receive free news updates.
