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Nursing Home License Case Slated For January

Police surround the Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills, Fla., which had no air conditioning after Hurricane Irma knocked out power, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. Several patients at the sweltering nursing home died in Hurricane Irma's aftermath, raising fears Wednesday about the safety of Florida's 4 million senior citizens amid widespread power outages that could go on for days. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Police surround the Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills, Fla., which had no air conditioning after Hurricane Irma knocked out power, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. Several patients at the sweltering nursing home died in Hurricane Irma's aftermath, raising fears Wednesday about the safety of Florida's 4 million senior citizens amid widespread power outages that could go on for days. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

An administrative law judge will hold a multi-day hearing in January about a state move to revoke the license of a Broward County nursing home where residents died after Hurricane Irma.

Judge Mary Li Creasy is scheduled to hear arguments Jan. 2 to Jan. 5 in Fort Lauderdale and Jan. 8 to Jan. 12 in Tallahassee, according to a notice posted Friday on the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings website.

The state Agency for Health Care Administration on Oct. 3 filed an administrative complaint to revoke the license of The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, which lost its air-conditioning system Sept. 10 as Hurricane Irma hit the state.

Eight residents of the sweltering nursing home died Sept. 13, and six more died later after evacuation. In part, the state complaint alleged that the nursing home “failed to recognize the potential health risk of the rising internal facility temperatures and humidity, affecting vulnerable elderly residents.”

The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills on Oct. 6 challenged the license revocation, saying it denied “any negligent or intentional misconduct related to the allegations stated in the administrative complaint and, in fact, took reasonable and appropriate steps to care for the residents during the absence of power after Hurricane Irma.”

The News Service of Florida is a wire service to which WUFT News subscribes.