MADRID, Iowa (AP) – A central Iowa nursing home faces federal fines of at least $64,000 for care problems found during inspections. The Des Moines Register says state inspection reports that led to the fines suggest many of the issues cited stem from staffing shortages at the Madrid Home for the Aging. A lawyer for the nursing home denied the allegations and says the owners are appealing the fines.

Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals spokesman David Werning says the nursing home was hit with unusually strong punishment because inspectors had found similar problems there within the past year. In August the home was sued by a woman who says she found her 74-year-old mother naked and soiled on the floor of an unfinished room at the facility. Her mother has since died.