Neglected: Florida's largest nursing home chain survives despite legacy of poor patient care

They told Billy Seigler he’d never walk again. Not because of his broken pelvis or busted right leg, but because his nursing home refused to provide the therapy he so desperately needed.

Seigler relied on Governors Creek Health and Rehabilitation in Green Cove Springs to help him return to the independent life he lived before a 2010 attack and attempted robbery. Each time Seigler pleaded for physical therapy, the nursing home's rehabilitation director told the 45-year-old his government benefits didn't pay for it.

But that was a lie.

The state paid the Jacksonville-area nursing home a flat rate to provide Seigler care, including his needed therapy. But Governors Creek routinely denied treatment and services to patients like Seigler, according to a 2011 federal whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former nurse.

"I think it's all about money," Seigler's older brother Philip said. "I think profit and money and benefits come before patients."

Read more: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2018/05/31/neglected-fraud-and-abuse-nursing-homes-florida/660371002/