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Florida nursing homes are regulated by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Licensing (AHCA). AHCA also licenses and regulates Florida’s hospitals, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, and ambulatory surgery centers. As of 2020, AHCA certified and regulated over 48,000 Florida providers.

On November 14, 2023, at 5:00 p.m., AHCA officials suspended the license of Cape Coral’s  Woodlands Assisted Living Facility.  All residents were required to be moved because the facility not only ignored a sexual assault but also had many others failures. AHCA records showed that Woodlands had a history of complaints since September 2019.

AHCA officials said the emergency license suspension was issued because the facility failed to meet even the minimum license standards for residents’ protection against abuse and did not provide a safe environment.

Woodlands’ failures necessitated taking action specifically because of such things as:

• Failing to report to ACHA and the family of abuse of a resident with dementia by another resident.
• Failing to fix water-damaged moldy ceiling panels that could fall.
• Failing to provide hot water for most of the residents. Ninety-eight residents had to take cold showers or use communal showers in another hallway. Residents say they skipped taking showers because of the conditions.
• Providing unsafe conditions that caused a resident to fall through a glass window in the lobby.
• Allowing a resident to escape when the front door was left open by a staff member after a delivery. No one realized the resident was missing for two hours.
• Failing to pay food vendors and home health care vendors could have led to a stoppage in service.
• Operating with dysfunctional emergency equipment and inadequate resident supervision.
• Failing to comply with regulations.

Nursing Home and Assisted Living Facility Residents Need Our Assistance.

Fort Myers Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Randall Spivey said, “When we entrust our family members to the care of nursing homes and assisted living facilities staff, we expect our family members to be safe and well cared for. The suspension of services at the Woodlands Assisted Living Facility is an example of negligence that is unacceptable. Florida state laws dictate the level of care that facilities are to provide these vulnerable loved ones.”

What Are the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse?

The U.S. Department of Justice's “Red Flags of Elder Abuse” sites the following warning signs of abuse:

• Bruises, black eyes, welts, lacerations, or rope marks
• Bone fractures, broken bones, or skull fractures
• Open wounds, cuts, punctures, untreated injuries in various stages of healing
• Sprains, dislocations, or internal injuries/bleeding
• Broken eyeglasses/frames, physical signs of being subjected to punishment, or signs of being restrained
• Laboratory findings of medication overdose or under-utilization of prescribed drugs
• An older adult’s sudden change in behavior
• The caregiver’s refusal to allow visitors to see an older adult alone
• An older adult’s report of being hit, slapped, kicked, or mistreated

Who Can Bring a Lawsuit on Behalf of Abused Facility Residents?

The state of Florida gives the victim and family members including spouses, children, and parents the right to bring personal injury lawsuits on behalf of their loved one.

Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. is available 24/7 to assist nursing home victims and their families when they are abused and/or neglected. Please contact the firm at 239.337.7483, toll-free at 1.888.477.4839, or online at SpiveyLaw.com. There are no costs or attorney fees until a monetary recovery is made for you.