Bankruptcy Court today that a trustee should be appointed to immediately take over the operation of all Haven Healthcare nursing homes to enhance patient care and prevent top managers from further misappropriating funds. After the nursing home chain filed for bankruptcy protection last week, Blumenthal announced he would seek to have a trustee appointed and alleged Haven Healthcare had diverted nursing home funds to invest in unrelated entities, such as a Nashville recording company. Haven Healthcare Management’s chief financial officer, Michael Lipnicki, asserted in court documents that Haven Healthcare operates profitably, with pretax earnings for 2007 estimated to come in at $17 million. Haven Healthcare, in court documents, said the bankruptcy filing was precipitated by a combination of defaulting on a major pharmaceutical debt, the settlement of a negligence lawsuit, strong indications the state was considering placing some or all of its homes into receivership, and negative publicity from a three-day Courant investigative series on the firm. read more