Steve is on top of this….Gov. Jack Markell is backing legislation that would allow Alabama-based HealthSouth Corp. to build a rehabilitation hospital in Middletown without a state review, despite a legal challenge and claims that the governor exerted improper political influence to move the deal forward. That would be excusable if HealthSouth Corp was a pristine company.  One that truly benefited all those fortunate to come into its good graces… But it isn’t….

Several separate lawsuits filed by private parties and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) claim that HealthSouth Corporation (“HealthSouth”) and others provided investors with false and misleading information that artificially inflated the value of HealthSouth securities, in violation of federal securities laws….….

They were guilty of…” failing to make and keep books, records, and accounts,”   Obviously there is a good reason this company does not want a regulatory body looking over its shoulder.

Its court decision in 2006 cost it $215 million and its insurance companies $230 million. This was on top of the $325 million paid to the US Government.to settle its Medicare Fraud claims, and the $100 million paid to the SEC for its $2.7 committed in fraud....

Fifteen former HealthSouth executives pleaded guilty in the fraud, and five finance chiefs who worked under their former CEO Scrushy testified that he directed the scheme. Obviously there is a good reason this company does not want a regulatory body looking over its shoulder.

Additional suits, not included above were filed for…  “bad faith for wrongful failure to provide coverage.”

Obviously there is a good reason this company does not want a regulatory body looking over its shoulder…

It is still undergoing a lawsuit based on its subsidery versus a Michigan firm, seeking  $376 million….

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

Just yesterday, April 30th, 2013,  HealthSouth Corporation announced that the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama denied the Company’s motion to vacate the decision of the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA”) panel which, on December 18, 2012, dismissed the Company’s claims against Ernst & Young. This firm litigates like crazy. And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

It was sued by its very own employees who held that “the fiduciaries to the ESOP breached their duties to loyally and prudently manage and administer the ESOP and its assets in violation of sections 404 and 405 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (“ERISA”), by failing to monitor the administration of the ESOP, failing to diversify the portfolio held by the ESOP, and failing to provide other fiduciaries with material information about the ESOP. HealthSouth Corp. and its insurers agreed to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits by workers over losses in their company retirement fund, .

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

Here are some of the wrongful death ruling decided against Health South Rehabilitation. The exact same firm coming into Delaware that Governor Markell, wants to change Delaware’s existing statutes so this company will have no regulatory body overseeing it…..

“Mr. Darling, the patient who is suing HealthSouth, said that practice caught him by surprise. “I was under the assumption that everybody in the building was licensed. “It turns out that the man who put the weights on my leg is called a technician. They were all wearing identical polo shirts with HealthSouth logos and the same ID badges.HealthSouth’s business plan at the time encouraged clinics to use unlicensed employees to perform physical therapy. That allowed their licensed therapists to perform more expensive tasks, bringing in more money at clinics.” Growing Concerns on the Health of HealthSouth New York Times September 19, 2002

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

A South Carolina jury sent a message to Health South, a rehabilitation nursing home hospital, by awarding $12.3 million in damages to the family of a man whose stage four bedsores contributed to his death. The home’s conduct was so outrageous that the jury awarded consisted of $8 million in punitive damages.

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

Two months after falling and breaking his hip while a patient at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Center-Beaumont, Roland LeBoeuf died..“While a patient at Healthsouth,  LeBoeuf sustained a fall during physical therapy and broke his hip,” the suit says.  He never recovered. The suit also accuses the center of the following: • Failing to actively perform ongoing nursing assessments on the patient to be aware of potential problems • Failing to put care plans into place for the patient • Failing to put in bed and chair alarms

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

Meyers was reportedly moved to HealthSouth in June, where her symptoms progressed. Doctors at this institution also allegedly discussed neurological testing but never ordered any tests, the news provider reports.   The lawsuit claims that a doctor finally ordered an MRI in July when Meyers began to lose movement in her legs.   The MRI procedure allowed doctors to discover a tumor on the woman’s spinal cord, and she allegedly needed to have it removed through a surgery that left her paralyzed.   There was a two month delay of failing to do what they recognized they needed to do all along,” Feller said. “It was just never ordered for her, despite the doctors attending to her saying, ‘We need to rule it out,’ they just never performed it.”

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

A Richland County jury awarded a Batesburg-Leesville woman $12.3 million Friday in a nursing malpractice case against Columbia’s HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital.

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

My mother was transferred to Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital. The arrangements were made by Bone and Joint Hospital. While at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital, my mother, Edd Robbins, was conscious and complained all the time of great pain, in the area of the surgery. Her wound from the surgery was draining. I trusted Dr. Tkach, McBride Clinic, and Healthsouth and Bone and Joint Hospital to provide the proper care to my mother. A few days after my mother was transferred to Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital, I observed her when I came in to visit sitting unattended in a wheelchair saturated from the waist down from drainage coming from her surgical wound. I was upset and pointed out this condition to the staff at Healthsouth. My mother was in agony from her pain.

And we want to let this company come into Delaware and perform health work without any regulatory body looking over its shoulder… 

So… can anyone out there tell me… WHY?  we replaced the board that first disallowed them into Delaware, and who then later resigned in protest instead of allowing this same company to enter Delaware, and why Rep. Quinn Johnson is now filing a bill that exempts just this one company from every single  rule and regulation that have been in place for ages to insure that those in medical treatment centers remain safe?

Markell has said the hospital should be built, claiming it would create 80 permanent jobs and encourage health care competition.

Really?  Really?

So we are going to force our current rehabilitation homes to go out of business, because they have to compete with a company that does not have to play by ANY rules…

Really?  That is what we call encouraging competition these days?

If the HealthSouth came in to abide by Delaware;s long term rules and regulations, and competed on a level playing field, … well, that’s just plain competition.  I’d be good with that.  But to hurt Delawarean patients by bringing and a company known for neglect, known for malefeasance, misfeasance, and nofeasance,  so they can undercut those local firms doing medical care correctly, is nothing short of  criminal.

In fact it IS criminal, until you change the law so it is no longer a crime…