After an Albany pediatric nursing facility reached a settlement with the New York State Attorney General’s Office, one father says his daughter experienced neglect while staying at the facility.
Phillip Studtmann’s daughter was born severely premature, weighing 1 pound 4 ounces with “brain bleed.”
Studtmann says the circumstances surrounding Emma’s birth led to her developing hydrocephalus – an abnormal buildup of fluids within the brain that can cause brain damage.
In May 2019, Emma, who was seven at the time, was admitted to St. Margaret’s Center on Hackett Boulevard. The nursing facility provides services to chronically ill and disabled children insured by Medicaid.
It didn’t take long for Studtmann to become concerned about his daughter.
“By July, I was like completely on full alert, because they were not doing what they were supposed to be doing,” Studtmann said.
St. Margaret’s – an affiliate of Center for Disability Services – has agreed to pay $1.3 million to Medicaid after an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General revealed that St. Margaret’s endangered its vulnerable residents, including children.
The AG’s office also said the facility was consistently understaffed and neglected its young residents, jeopardizing their health and safety.
But John Queenan, a partner at the law firm representing St. Margaret’s Center – says some of the AG’s comments are misleading.
In a Tuesday statement, Queenan, with the law firm Rivkin Radler, confirmed a settlement had been reached, but said some of the attorney general’s comments on issues like consistent understaffing are not reflected in the negotiated agreement.
He wrote: “St. Margaret’s Center remains committed to the agreed upon resolution, but it cannot accept such public attempts to re-negotiate or distort the settlement agreement.”
Studtmann says Emma stayed under the care of St. Margaret’s Center for about three years before she was released in December 2022. During that time, Studtmann says he noticed bruises and other possible signs of neglect. In one instance, Emma broke her femur while under the facility’s care.
“The report that I received from the nurse was that the aide was working with her and felt a pop,” Studtmann said.
Despite the signs, Studtmann says he was unable to pull his daughter out of the center at the time due to circumstances surrounding a recent divorce.
“As she was there, she degraded -- very, very quickly. And it got to where she was on oxygen at least 50% of the time and she had kind of a revolving door at Albany Medical Center because they were not maintaining her airways,” Studtmann said.
According to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, “one inspection conducted by New York’s Health Department found that the facility had failed to supervise three children.”
Studtmann recalls a similar experience he had when visiting his daughter.
“I would hear the alarm going off, and I would walk down the hall towards her room, past the nurses’ station. The nurses and aides would be sitting there on their phones just laughing and joking and I would get to Emma’s room and it would be her alarm going off. And she would be choking, a mouthful of secretions, unable to breathe, gasping for air, thrashing, in full panic mode,” Studtmann said.
More than $707,000 of the $1.3 million will go directly to New York state. The remainder will be paid to the federal government. In addition to the monetary penalty, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Office of the Inspector General will oversee the care and conditions of the facility for five years.
Studtmann hopes St. Margaret’s changes its ways.
“I really hope that they take this seriously and that it’s not just ‘we’re going to fix this because people are looking at us now,’ but that it brings about some lasting change,” Studtmann said.
Studtmann says Emma is doing well at home after being removed from the facility.
