Fines & Sanctions

Three Nursing Homes Fined Following Lapses In Care

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Three nursing homes have been fined by the state in connection with residents who developed pressure sores or fell and sustained injuries. Bishop Wicke Health & Rehabilitation Center in Shelton was fined $2,160 on April 27 in connection with a resident who fell and was later hospitalized with inoperable bleeding on the brain. The DPH citation said that the resident’s head was hit during the fall on Oct. 24. As the resident became fatigued, a doctor treated the resident for a possible infection but reported never being told about the fall, the citation said.

Fines & Sanctions

Branford Psychiatrist Agrees To Give Up Medical License

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A Branford child psychiatrist who paid $30,000 to settle a Medicaid fraud allegation with the state last year has agreed to give up his medical license when it expires Aug. 31. On May 24, the state Department of Public Health reached an agreement with Dr. W. Blake Taggart that he will voluntarily agree not to renew or reinstate his license. His action will be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank and the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Though the allegations against him were not mentioned in the agreement, Taggart was in the news last year when he paid the fine to resolve allegations of fraudulent claims for payments to Cornerstones P.C., a Branford outpatient behavioral health clinic for children, according to press release from Attorney General George Jepsen.

Jepsen said that Taggart, who had been the medical director of Cornerstones, and social worker David M. Meyers, the former president of Cornerstones, had filed false claims for reimbursement from the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program, which is the state’s Medicaid program.