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A joint investigation conducted by the Office of Attorney General and Darby Borough Police Department revealed that Chaim “Charlie” Steg, former Regional Director of Operations at St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, ignored staffing deficiencies that repeatedly endangered residents, according to the Office of Attorney General.
The initial investigation began in August 2017 after staff at the Mercy Catholic Medical Center’s Mercy Fitzgerald Campus notified the Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging of concerns they had for the poor condition of several residents transferred from the facility, officials said.
Residents suffered conditions including, pressure wounds, sepsis, dehydration, and bowel obstructions before their deaths, officials said.
22 witnesses told the 44th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury that they tried to fix staffing issues at St. Francis but were denied by Steg, authorities said.
Steg, in the summer of 2017, discouraged or forbid agency staffing as it is more expensive than in-house staffing, despite in-house staff not being able to cover open shifts, according to the criminal complaint.
A former Director of Nursing testified that she disobeyed Steg, and used an agency nurse to cover shifts because "[I] need to be able to sleep at night when I go home. So [I] did what I had to do."
“Every resident of every nursing home deserves to be safe, they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and they deserve to be heard,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.
“It is the law to uphold the obligation to keep residents safe. If a facility cuts staff to the point that they can’t give residents the care they need — we’re going to find out, and we’re going to hold them accountable.”
Steg pled to three counts of recklessly endangering another person. He will be sentenced to six to 23 months of house arrest followed by three years probation, which says he cannot staff, manage, own, or operate the nursing, clinical, or medical services of any skilled nursing facility for five years, officials said.
He will also be required to pay a $15,000 fine and restitution to the families of the victims.
A $1 million settlement with St. Francis' operators,1412 Lansdowne Operating and Catholic Facilities Operating requires the facility to "maintain an increased minimum staffing level and undergo an additional year of monitoring to ensure compliance through quarterly audits by the Department of Health," the AG's office said.
The companies agreed to pay $600,000 into an escrow account for the care of St. Francis residents and $100,000 to a non-profit group, Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, authorities said.
These payments come after fines of $550,000 already paid to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services and the Department of Health.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Mark Levenberg and Deputy Attorney General Benjamin McKenna. OAG Special Agent Jen Nutter and Detective Brian Pitts of the Darby Borough Police Department led this joint investigation
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