Facing an imminent shutdown by federal health-care authorities, the troubled Somerset Place nursing home in Uptown filed a civil lawsuit Thursday to stop the government from administratively shutting it down this weekend.
Somerset officials were not immediately available for comment Friday morning. A hearing was scheduled for 11 a.m. before U.S. District Judge M. Dow Jr. at the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago.
State and federal authorities last month notified Somerset that it will be shut down unless it remedies serious safety breaches that put “the health and safety of … residents in immediate jeopardy.” Somerset officials said in the court filing that they have submitted a plan of correction.
The actions follow recent Tribune reports on violence and abuse at the facility, as well as repeated citations from the state Department of Public Health and complaints from 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith and Uptown community groups.
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, has warned the facility that it will face termination from the federal health care programs unless those problems are corrected.
Federal inspectors were in the building at 5009 N. Sheridan Rd. on Wednesday and Thursday, records show, and the state Department of Public Health has assigned a monitor to ensure that residents are protected during any potential transition.
“Whatever happens, the present situation can no longer be tolerated. It has been an abuse and a danger to the community and residents of the community,” Smith said.
Smith said she would prefer that Somerset remain a nursing home — but under different management. “We want to ensure that the residents have the best chance at healthy lives and healthy recoveries. And we want to ensure that the people who have been inflicting this harm on the residents and the community get out of the business,” Smith said.
Federal fines of $6,050 per day also are accruing against the facility. And separately, the state public health department last month began the process of revoking the facility’s state license. Somerset has requested an administrative hearing to contest that state action.
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