Ex-nurse exec sues Keene nursing home

Monday, January 10, 2011

The former director of nursing at Langdon Place of Keene says she was forced to leave after she charged that the assisted living facility administrator knew about Medicare fraud and did nothing to stop it, according to a lawsuit moved last week to U.S. District Court in Concord.

Lori Dwyer, a Lempster resident who worked at the facility since 2004 and became head nurse in April 2006, is represented by Concord attorney Chuck Douglas, who first filed the suit last month against Sunbridge Healthcare Corp., the Albuquerque, N.M.-based national chain that owns Langdon, and Langdon’s administrator Darrell Carlson, who lives in Vermont.

Dwyer's suit says Carlson allegedly told Dwyer she “had thrown him under the bus” for fingering him in December 2009, and harassed her for four months until Dwyer was “constructively discharged” in April 2010.

Carlson says the nursing home would “vigorously defend itself” against the lawsuit.

Carlson’s alleged harassment began shortly after Christmas in 2009, following an investigation into charges that the nursing home clinical case manager had allegedly been “unlawfully backdating” Medicare authorization forms required for federal reimbursement of patient care.

Dwyer says Carlson told her to “handle it” while he was on vacation, and Dwyer says that she found that the allegations were true, leading to the suspension and eventual resignation of the case manager, according to the lawsuit, which did not reveal he case manager’s identity.

But the suit also says that “Carlson had knowledge of the back dating practice but did not put a stop to it.” It was then that Carlson made the statement “to the effect the plaintiff had "thrown him under the bus."

The lawsuit does not state that the fraud allegations were reported to state or federal authorities. No one at Langdon Place has been publicly charged with Medicare fraud. A spokesperson for the Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C. – which normally investigates Medicare fraud -- said it would neither confirm nor deny any investigation of the facility or its employees.

In the following months, according to the suit, the demeanor of Carlson, who previously had a close working relationship with Dwyer, became “threatening and angry,” and he “persistently and belligerently badgered her” on trivial matters, such as who she ate lunch with, excluded her from meetings, wrongfully accused her of lying and at one point “abruptly snatched a piece of paper from her” in front of her co-workers. At one point, she says in the suit, she “feared for her physical safety.”

On March 9, she wrote to human relations department of Sunbridge that “I am fearful that he might strike out at me” and asked for an investigation, but “nothing meaningful” was done to resolve the situation, the suit says.

Instead, Carlson retaliated by putting her on a “performance improvement plan” and gave her additional job responsibilities and then criticized her job performance, the lawsuit charges.

When asked to comment, Carlson issued the following statement:

“Other than to say that the center will vigorously defend itself as this case proceeds, we cannot comment on the pending litigation. The center complies with all state and federal regulations, including those relating to Medicare, and requires all employees to abide by a strict “Code of Conduct” to ensure proper reporting and investigation of any concerns. I want to assure our residents and our community that our first priority is to provide our residents with a safe and caring environment and we strive to do so with integrity.” -- BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW

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