The Forest Hills Healthcare Center nursing home is a 138-bed nursing home located at 8700 Moran Road in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is part of the CommuniCare Health chain of nursing homes.

The Forest Hills Healthcare Center nursing home received a federal fine on May 14, 2024 in the amount of $16,801.00. It is owned by Buckeye Opco LLC.

Here at The Dickson Firm we have significant experience with the CommuniCare chain of nursing homes as well as the various individuals and entities involved in the ownership of this facility.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of one of the residents of the Forest Hills Healthcare Center nursing home. Authorities are looking into allegations of patient abuse and assault inflicted upon 84-year-old Robert Meyer who died on September 6, 2025 according to an incident report. The report clearly indicates that the incident happened at the Forest Hills Healthcare Center on Moran Road. The Hamilton County Coroner's Office indicated that Meyer's death was ruled a homicide and the incident is being investigated by the coroner's office and the sheriff's office. The report lists the suspect or suspects as unknown.

Police say the alleged assault happened between August 27, 2025 and September 6, 2025. The man's body was exhumed for an autopsy after his daughter called attention to the assault. Meyer had been a resident at the nursing home since July. He was taken to a hospice facility in Blue Ash and died shortly thereafter. A doctor at the hospice signed off on the death certificate which noted the death was from natural causes.

Meyer's daughter told the staff at the nursing home and the hospice that her father was assaulted. She took photos of Meyer's injuries including bruising to his neck. She believed that her father had been strangled. After his funeral and his burial the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office ordered that Robert Meyer's body be exhumed for autopsy. In the weeks preceding his death Meyer had called 911 four times complaining that he was being hurt at the nursing home.

According to the Hamilton County docket this nursing home has been sued for wrongful death three (3) times since 2014. One of those cases was settled in 2016 and another was dismissed in 2024. A lawsuit filed in 2025 is still ongoing.

The facility was also cited in 2023 for failing to investigate allegations of physical abuse and failing to report those allegations to state officials promptly.

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at The Dickson Firm at 1 800 OHIO LAW as we would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.

This story raises a number of issues that we at The Dickson Firm see on a regular basis.

First and foremost, everyone should know that only the coroner for the various counties can rule a death accidental. This means that no matter what the circumstances are surrounding a person's death if anyone other than the coroner fills out the death certificate they do not have the authority to rule the death accidental. Therefore, if someone you love has died in a nursing home or died under any circumstances, and you think the death was accidental whether the result of an assault or the result of a fall or the result of anything other than natural causes, it is imperative that you contact the coroner in your county so that they can do a proper investigation and if appropriate rule the death accidental.

We handle cases all the time where a person's death is clearly not caused by natural causes. We handle cases where someone has suffered a horrific bed sore which has ultimately caused their death. We handle many cases involving falls that ultimately results in the resident's death. An elderly person who suffers an orthopedic fracture is unlikely to live for an additional year after a fracture. Many things happen after a fall. People can suffer pneumonia because they are now inactive. They can develop bed sores because they are no longer able to move around. They can suffer a variety of complications from the surgery which ultimately causes their death.

There is a specific statute in Ohio which clearly articulates a number of circumstances when the coroner is supposed to be notified. We often handle cases where the nursing home failed to notify the coroner. In those cases, we take it upon ourselves to notify the coroner. Often the coroner then investigates the person's death. The coroner will then issue a supplementary medical certification. We often work with various coroner's offices throughout the state of Ohio. We obtain a supplementary medical certification from them and ultimately have them testify for us at trial. I recently concluded a jury trial where the coroner was one of the key witnesses. The Defendants hired an expert to contest the cause of the person's death. The coroner's report clearly refuted what the Defendants' hired expert said. The conclusion regarding cause of death in the coroner's verdict and the death certificate signed by the coroner are the legally accepted cause of death. It creates a rebuttable presumption. The paid testimony
of a witness hired by the Defendant is not sufficient to rebut the presumption relative to the cause of death as determined by the coroner.

This story also raises an issue that nursing homes are often not forthcoming with family members. A nursing home has a legal obligation to contact a resident's family any time they experience a significant change in condition including any time they suffer a fall or an injury. A nursing home has an obligation to immediately contact a resident's doctor any time the resident has a significant change in condition including a fall and/or an injury. It is clear from the story above, that the decedent called 911 four times. It is likely that he was complaining to the nursing home about what was happening to him. Tragically, nursing homes often reject complaints made by their residents.

We recently handled a case where multiple people in a nursing home were tragically raped by one of the staff. Each one of the residents who was assaulted, reported the assault to the nursing home. Each one of those reports was ignored by the nursing home. Each one of those reports was accurate. Each one of those residents was assaulted in the nursing home in what is essentially their home.

In the case reported above, the nursing home continues to deny any wrongdoing despite the fact that the coroner has now concluded that Mr. Meyer's death was a homicide. Somebody killed Mr. Meyer. Somebody apparently strangled him to death and yet the nursing home is still claiming that they did nothing wrong.

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at The Dickson Firm at 1-800-OHIO LAW as we would be happy to talk with you and to help you in any way that we can.