State reduces fine for nursing home charged with ‘life-threatening’ injuries

State regulators have reduced the fine imposed against a Des Moines care facility after mistakenly tripling the penalty due to a previous regulatory violation.

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing has cited Scottish Rite Park Health Care Center, a Des Moines nursing home located on Woodland Avenue, for failing to safely transfer a resident into her bed while using a mechanical lift.

According to the state inspectors, that failure resulted in “severe harm” to the resident, who on April 29 fell from the lift “and sustained life-threatening injuries,” including a subdermal hemorrhage, which is a surface-brain bleed; a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is an inner-brain bleed; a broken neck bone; a broken collarbone; and a broken thigh bone in one leg.

The inspectors’ written report indicates the resident was taken by ambulance to a hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit for consultation with a neurosurgeon.

One employee of the nursing home reportedly told inspectors she didn’t examine or check the lift straps or hoops on the mechanical lift to ensure they were securely attached before attempting to transfer the resident. She allegedly said that when the woman fell, she struck the floor with her face.

As a result of the incident, the inspections department initially assessed a $7,750 fine and then tripled that to $23,250 due to it being the second resident-safety citation in the past 12 months.

However, state records show the facility had last been cited for a resident-safety violation in January 2025, which was 15 months before the April 29, 2026, incident — outside the 12-month window for tripling the fine.

Last week, after the Iowa Capital Dispatch asked DIAL whether a separate resident-safety violation had been cited in the past year but not publicly disclosed, the department checked its records and reversed course on the tripling of the 2026 penalty, bringing it back down to $7,750.

DIAL’s records show the January 2025 penalty against Scottish Rite Park was itself a tripled fine due to the repeat nature of the violation. Originally, Scottish Rite was to be penalized $5,000 for injuries sustained by a resident who fell and fractured an ankle while being the staff was transferring her to a recliner.

Because the home had been cited in July 2024 for a similar safety violation involving a resident transfer, the January 2025 penalty was then tripled from $5,000 to $15,000.