Pine Acres Rehabilitation Center in West Des Moines. (Photo via Google Earth)
A West Des Moines nursing home is facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of a man who wandered away from the home last October.
The family of the late Richard M. Cox is suing Pine Acres Rehabilitation Center in Polk County District Court, alleging the care facility was negligent in the care provided to Cox.
According to the lawsuit, Cox, 89, had a history of wandering from the care facility and wore a WanderGuard bracelet designed to activate an alarm when he approached or passed through the building’s exit doors.
The lawsuit alleges that on Oct. 21, 2024, Cox was able to exit the Pine Acres building unattended and without detection. He then sustained severe injuries in a fall about two blocks from Pine Acres and on Nov. 4, 2024, he allegedly died as a result of those injuries.
The Cox family is seeking unspecified damages for negligence. Pine Acres has yet to file a response to the lawsuit, and the home’s administrator, Michael Ewalt, declined to comment on the case.
State records indicate Cox had been admitted to the home in November 2022, was later diagnosed with dementia, and that the staff documented “exit seeking behaviors” by him throughout 2024.
According to state inspectors, the Pine Acres staff first learned of Cox’s absence on Oct. 21, when ambulance crew members came to the home and stated they had found him outside, about two blocks away, after a neighbor saw him lying on the ground and called 911.
“Staff stated they had no idea the patient had left the facility,” the inspectors stated in their report. Cox’s injuries from the fall included two fractured vertebrae in his neck, according to the report.
State officials proposed a $8,250 fine for failing to keep residents safe. That amount was then tripled to $24,750 because it was a repeat violation, with Pine Acres having been cited for similar issues two weeks earlier. The fine was then held in suspension so that officials could determine whether a federal fine would be imposed.
The earlier safety violation was also cited as a repeat offense, resulting in a tripled fine of $23,250, also held in suspension by the state. Federal records indicate the most recently imposed federal fine against Pine Acres was in August 2023, when the facility was fined $160,935.
In late 2023, Pine Acres was cited for 62 violations, one of which was tied to a resident who contracted gangrene in the home and had to have a leg amputated.
Currently, the for-profit facility has one-star ratings for quality measures and inspection results on the five-star quality scale used by the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
According to federal records, Pine Acres is owned and managed by a New York-based group of investors that includes Akiko Ike, who has a 60% ownership stake in the facility. Other investors include Yisroel Kaplan, who has operational control of Pine Acres and a stake in another Iowa care facility, the Prestige Care Center in Fairfield.
One of Kaplan’s partners is Ephram Lahasky, who is the husband of Ike, Pine Acres’ primary owner.
In Vermont last year, regulators raised concerns about who was behind the proposed purchase of care facilities in that state — Lahasky or his wife. Ike was the officially designated buyer, but it was Lahasky’s name that appeared on the loan documents.
Lahasky has been sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has accused Lahasky and others of defrauding the government of more than $18 million while understaffing and neglecting residents at The Villages, a 120-bed facility in northwestern New York.