Special investigation: Worst nursing homes continue to fail the frail despite lawsuit, promises

Nov. 15--They were some of the worst nursing homes in Pennsylvania.

The complaints ran the gamut: Poor training. Medication errors. Staffing so low that residents were left lying for hours in their own waste.

In some cases, as documented by state inspectors, residents died from care-related errors. A woman in a Lancaster home choked to death in 2013 after being given food in violation of her diet plan. A woman in a Waynesburg home suffocated in 2014 after becoming wedged between bed rails that should never have been on her bed.

Despite a state attorney general's lawsuit in 2015, ownership changes, and promises of a crackdown by Pennsylvania Health Department, an eighth-month PennLive investigation has found most of those homes haven't gotten any better -- and, in some cases, they've gotten much worse.

The ultimate result, advocates and experts say, is that state regulators are still failing Pennsylvania's frailest citizens.

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