Corona Nursing Home Sued over Resident’s Death

By Daniel Hawn

Published on April 12, 2007

Corona’s Pleasant Care Convalescent & Assisted Living faces allegations of wrongful death and elder abuse following the death of 86-year-old resident Maria Ybarra on Feb. 17. According to attorney Stephen Garcia, representing Ybarra’s daughter Rachel Freeman, Ybarra had been transferred from the facility’s 24-hour inpatient area to its less supervised assisted-living area despite the fact that she had several serious medical conditions. The facility’s decision to move her may have been motivated by concerns about Ybarra’s insurance running out, according to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform attorney Prescott Cole.

The lawsuit claims Ybarra suffered from osteoarthritis, spinal fractures, degenerative joint disease, depression, psychosis, and other mental and physical conditions. Her death was determined by Corona police detectives to be a suicide. On Feb. 17, she was found with severe burns on her body and trauma to her forehead. She had apparently been set on fire; Corona police Lt. Jerry Rodriguez said he did not immediately know how the fire began.

Other similar lawsuits have recently been filed against Pleasant Care Corp. and its Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Bernabe. Gegett A. Mike, of Montclair, filed a suit claiming that Pleasant Care allowed her grandmother, Ida Mae Davis, to fall at least eight times before she was hospitalized with a broken hip in 2006.

Pleasant Care, based in La Canada, filed for bankruptcy last month in Los Angeles County. Its facilities continue to operate.

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