A highly-rated Catholic nursing home in Newbury Park has agreed to pay $345,000 and will undergo spot inspections of health records in the settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging patients were being given powerful drugs without required consent. The long-awaited settlement was approved by a Ventura County Superior Court Judge last month and involves a nonprofit convalescent and nursing hospital and family members of former residents of the facility. It calls for the nursing home to use procedures to ensure doctors explain the benefits and risks of psychotherapeutic drugs to residents or their legal representatives.
Those discussions encompass drugs that carry black box warnings of extreme side effects and increased death risks for patients with dementia.
The nursing home has a five out of five stars rating from the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid, and plaintiffs said the facility’s high rating attracted them. But, they alleged that doctors at the nursing home prescribed powerful drugs without discussing the impact of the drugs to residents, family members or people with power of attorney designations.
The lawsuit alleged nursing home staff members filled out forms stating they confirmed the doctor received consent when they knew it was untrue.
