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Minnesota Extendicare Properties Face Class Action

Vulnerable elderly patients misled, mistreated, suit charges

October 31, 2008

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Extendicare properties in Minnesota are named in a class action lawsuit that alleges the long-term care facilities violated consumer fraud laws by engaging in false or deceptive advertising.

The lawsuit also charges that the 10 nursing homes are cheating their residents and misrepresenting themselves to prospective residents.

The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis by the Garcia Law Firm of Long Beach, Calif., which is also suing Extendicare facilities in Washington state.

"Extendicare facilities sound warm and fuzzy on paper. The type of place that you would want your parents or grandparents to be if they needed care you couldn’t provide them yourself," said plaintiff's attorney Stephen M. Garcia after filing the Washington action.

"The reality is that these facilities have a long record of excessive and repeated citations by the Washington Department of Social and Health Services for providing substandard care and care that violates the rights of residents," Garcia said.

The Minnesota complaint also alleges that the corporate-mandated admissions contract given to incoming residents violates state law.

In Minnesota, Extendicare operates care facilities in Golden Valley, Minneapolis, New Brighton, Richfield, Robbinsdale, Roseville, St. Louis Park and St. Paul.

The complaint was filed by the Garcia Law Firm on behalf of “all residents who lived in a Minnesota Extendicare facility from Oct. 29, 2002 through Oct. 29, 2008.”

The Washington complaint alleges that Extendicare tells the public and prospective clients that it is operated in such a way that it meets the needs of its elderly and vulnerable adult residents by providing a certain standard of care. The complaint contends that in spite of the claims made on Extendicare’s websites and in its brochures and in other promotional materials, it is, in fact, cheating its residents and misrepresenting itself to prospective residents.

The complaint charges that the corporate officers, directors and managers of the company and of the homes deliberately keep the budgets so tight that appropriate staffing cannot be provided so that residents do not receive the care they need and should be getting, and for which they are paying.

Extendicare uses false advertising to lure in unsuspecting prospective residents, thereby increasing its profits by charging for services that are not provided, Garcia said.

"Basically, we believe that Extendicare’s corporate strategy and policy is to maximize profits at the expense of the elderly and vulnerable people it claims to serve," says Garcia. "We all know that there is a direct correlation between elder abuse and staffing levels. In my opinion, the Extendicare facilities in Washington are elder abuse cases waiting to happen. It’s just a matter of whose parents or grandparents are going to be the victims."

Extendicare Homes, Inc. is a subsidiary of Extendicare Health Services, Inc. and is the licensee of a number of long-term nursing facilities. In the United States, Extendicare Health Services, Inc., (EHSI), based in Milwaukee, Wisc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian company Extendicare Real Estate Investment Trust (Extendicare REIT). The company (symbol: ALC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Extendicare Health Services, Inc. operates, according to its website, 191 senior care facilities in the United States with approximately 19,200 beds.

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