Eadie Hill Trial Lawyers Files Suit Against Cooper’s Trace in 41-Year-Old’s Death

Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation is an underperforming nursing home in Cincinnati, Ohio that is part of Hillstone Healthcare’s corporate chain of nursing homes. Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation is rated by Medicare as 1-Star, meaning it is considered “much below average’ in staffing, quality measures, and inspections.

Eadie Hill Trial Lawyers, on behalf of the Estate of Holly Marie Howes, have filed a wrongful death action against the defendants Blue Ash Healthcare LLC, dba Blue Ash Care Center aka Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation, Hillstone Healthcare Inc., HC Consulting/Management LLC, AmeriWound LLC, Robert Bogi, D.O., Stephanie Siegtrist, NP, Arvind Modawal, M.D., and Arvind Modawal, M.D., Inc.

Holly Howes was a 41-year-old residing at Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation. She had limited mobility due to her medical history of multiple sclerosis, which made her dependent on the staff at Cooper’s Trace for medical care and her daily activities.

While residing at Cooper’s Trace, Holly developed numerous infected bedsores, infected bone, malnutrition, and sepsis that ultimately led to her agonizingly painful death.

Because of her condition, Holly was at increased risk for skin breakdowns, as she and other who suffer from her condition are limited in how much they can move.

She was left to develop several large infected bedsores while under the care of Cooper’s Trace, including Stage 4 ischial ulcer, sacral ulcer, and ulcers to her hips, buttocks, and heels. Later, she would develop an infection of her bone because of these bedsores.

Further, while a resident at Cooper’s Trace, she became so malnourished. This prevents healing and causes bedsores. She was prescribed methadone for her extreme pain, which the defendants withheld from her, causing her to be in agonizing and unnecessary pain.

She also was permitted to fall several times. She fell on April 20^th, 2018 where she was left on the floor over five hours before staff responded.

Holly Howes died on July 16, 2018 as a direct result of the poor care she received at Cooper’s Trace.

You can read the full complaint here.

Underlying Causes: Misleading Advertising and Understaffing

The defendants in this case, specifically Blue Ash Healthcare, LLC, Hillstone Healthcare, Inc, and HC Consulting/Management LLC, fail to inform the public of their participation in an often times deadly strategy that nursing homes often participate in—Understaffing.

Understaffing is the systematic practice of keeping a nursing home understaffed in order to increase profits. The intent and outcome of this misleading practice is to cause residents, their families, and external care providers to believe the nursing facility is much better staffed than it is.

According to the complaint, these companies purposefully did not inform people of the following:

1. Staffing Ratings– Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation is a 1-star facility

according to Medicare’s staffing ratings, meaning that it has the worst rating for nursing care staffing possible.

1. Registered Nurse Staffing- The national and state average for registered nursing time available in a particular day for each resident is 40 and 38 minutes, respectively. This means that for the average nursing home facility in Ohio or across the country, if you take the total amount of hours registered nurses are paid to work during a given day and divide that time by the number of residents in the facility, there would be approximately 50 minutes of time registered nurses could spend with each resident per day. But at Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation there is only on average 18 minutes of registered nursing time available per day for each resident. The amount of registered nursing time available at Cooper’s Trace is actually less than 18 minutes per resident each day because these figures take into account all time nurses are being paid—including breaks, vacations, holidays, and personal time off—and is not limited to the time they are actually at Cooper’s Trace providing nursing care.
2. Nursing Assistant and Aide Staffing- Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation also falls far short 
in the amount of nursing assistant or aide time available for its residents. The national and state average for nursing assistant or nursing aide time per resident is 2 hours and 19 minutes (national) and 2 hours and 6 minutes (Ohio) per day. This means that if you take the total amount of time all nursing assistants or aides worked per day and divided it by the total number of nursing home residents in the facility, the state and national average is close to two-and-a-quarter hours of nursing assistant / aide time available for each resident per day. But at Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation there is only 1 hour and 37 minutes of available nursing assistant / aide time available per resident per day—approximately half the national average.
3. In addition to having severely deficient staffing levels, Defendants Blue Ash Healthcare, LLC, Hillstone Healthcare, Inc., HC Consulting/Management, LLC also fail to mention that the amount they pay those staff members is nearly 30-40% less than the industry average meaning not only is Cooper’s Trace severely understaffed, the available staff is underpaid and overburdened. 


These practices endanger the lives of nursing home residents and is done solely to maximize profits.

Where are facilities run by Hillstone Healthcare located?

Hillstone Healthcare is a foreign, for-profit corporation, with its principal place of business in Lewis Center, Ohio that describes itself as a provider of medical and nursing care: providing rehabilitation, skilled nursing care, and nursing services to nursing homes in Ohio.  Who is Hillstone Healthcare LLC?

Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation 4900 Cooper Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242

Hillstone Blossom Healthcare 370 E. Howard Street Willard, OH 44890

Blue Creek Healthcare 11239 Waterville Street Whitehouse, OH 43571

Bowerston Hills Nursing & Rehabilitation 9076 Cumberland Road
Bowerston, OH 44695

Colonial Nursing Center 201 Buckeye Street Rockford, OH, 45882

Crystal Care of Coal Grove 813 1⁄2 Marion Pike
Coal Grove, OH 45638

Crystal Care of Franklin Furnace 4734 Gallia Pike
Franklin Furnace, OH, 4562

Danridge’s Burgundi Manor, Maranatha Drive, Youngstown, OH 44505

Garden Court Nursing & Rehabilitation 4911 Covenant House Drive
Dayton, OH 45426

Harmony Center for Rehabilitation & Healing 164 Office Park Drive
Xenia, OH, 45662

Heritage Manor Nursing Center 24 North Hamilton Street Minster, OH, 45865

Hospitality Center for Rehabilitation & Healing 1301 North Monroe Drive
Minster, OH, 45865

Isabelle Ridgeway Care Center 1520 Hawthorne Ave Columbus, OH 43203

Hudson Elms Nursing Center 563 W. Streetsboro Road Hudson, OH 44236

Lima Rehab & Nursing Center 599 Shawnee Street
Lima, OH 45804

Rocky River Healthcare of West Park 4650 Rocky River Drive
Cleveland, OH 44135

Roselawn Gardens Nursing & Rehabilitation 11999 Klinger Avenue
Alliance, OH, 44601

Toledo Healthcare
2051 Collingwood Boulevard Toledo, OH, 43620

White Oak Manor 1926 Ridge Ave Warren, Ohio 44484

What’s the Purpose of a Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

The family has instituted suit against Blue Ash Healthcare LLC, dba Blue Ash Care Center aka Cooper’s Trace Nursing and Rehabilitation, Hillstone Healthcare Inc., HC Consulting/Managemetn LLC, AmeriWound LLC, Robert Bogi, D.O., Stephanie Siegtrist, NP, Arvind Modawal, M.D., and Arvind Modawal, M.D., Inc.  A wrongful death lawsuit in Ohio is brought on behalf of the surviving family members. The family hopes that this lawsuit will bring awareness to mistreatment at nursing homes and will prevent future injuries and assaults on nursing homes residents.

The family has hired nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers Michael Hill and William Eadie of Eadie Hill Trial Lawyers.