Life Care Center of Michigan City: Bowel Care Failure - IN
The resident had been on Miralax twice daily. A progress note from October 17 recorded one medium soft bowel movement. Three days later, on October 20, she was complaining of increasing abdominal pain and had still not had a bowel movement. A nurse practitioner was notified and ordered a Fleet enema.
The enema didn't work. The pain got worse. The resident said she felt like she could have a seizure. At that point, 911 was called.
She was admitted to the hospital on October 21 with proctitis, an inflammation of the anus and the lining of the rectum, and constipation. The CT scan taken the night before showed large volumes of stool throughout the colon and rectum, mild wall thickening of the rectum with adjacent inflammatory changes consistent with proctitis, and findings that did not exclude stercoral colitis, a rare inflammatory condition that develops when impacted fecal material distends the colon.
The facility's own bowel protocol, reviewed as recently as September 15, required nursing staff to document every bowel movement in the electronic health record and to implement standing orders when a resident went without one. The Director of Nursing told inspectors on October 28 that interventions were supposed to begin if a resident had not had a bowel movement in three days. She was unable to find documentation showing that happened here.
Between the October 17 note recording a single bowel movement and the October 20 note documenting her pain and failed enema, there is no documented intervention, and no documented bowel movement.
The resident was in the hospital by morning.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Life Care Center of Michigan City from 2025-10-28 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Download the official CMS inspection PDF from Medicare.gov
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 19, 2026 · Our methodology
LIFE CARE CENTER OF MICHIGAN CITY in MICHIGAN CITY, IN was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 28, 2025.
The resident had been on Miralax twice daily.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.