Nursing Home Lawsuits

Nursing Home Abuse and Cracked Sidewalk Safety

2010-11-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

An Iowa nursing home must pay the wife of a short-term patient who died because of a crack on the sidewalk.

The 89 year old deceased victim was only at the nursing home for a short-term stay receiving rehab for a hip repair. The man was ordered to the hospital for some tests. The ambulance crew strapped him in a gurney and was wheeling him out when one of the gurney's wheels dropped into a crack in the walkway.

The gurney flipped over and the victim's head hit the pavement. He went into a coma and never regained consciousness. He died leaving his wife of 64 years.

A jury awarded her almost half a million dollars. Both the nursing home and the ambulance company were sued with the burden on the nursing home.

The nursing home was aware of the cracks but didn't see the need to fix it until after someone died.

The nursing home has a history of regulatory violations.

More Nursing Home Abuse Cases in Pennsylvania

2010-08-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Pa. nursing home terminated for alleged patient abuse

In less than one month, two employees have been terminated from a Pa. nursing home for abuse and the third employee for failing to report the abuse in a timely manner.

The most recent employee was arraigned for stuffing a sock in the mouth of a wheel-chair bound patient with dementia.

The first employee who has a criminal record was was allegedly pulling the hair of a patient.

Nursing home management claims that the incidences are not related and patient safety is very important with a zero tolerance abuse policy. The Pa. nursing home abuse cases are under investigation.

Nursing home sued for wrongful death, negligence

2010-02-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

A man is suing a nursing home because he claims the defendants failed to protect his mother from avoidable accidents and failed to develop an adequate prevention plan.

He claims his mother suffered urinary tract infections, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, multiple falls, and a head wound as well as dehydration and adequate nutrition.

He claims his mother suffered systemic abuse and neglect leading up to her death almost 3 years after being in the nursing home.

He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for nursing home negligence and wrongful death.

Nursing Home Abuse: Unspeakable Behavior from Employees

2010-02-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

Young nursing home assistants have demonstrated unspeakable behavior against nursing home patients with Alzheimer Disease and dementia.

And nobody tried to stop them nor monitor their behavior. Either the nursing home management was lax or just turned a blind eye to terribly bad behavior which further exacerbates their crimes.

What were these young girls thinking? Each are facing about a dozen criminal charges each.

Investigators claim these bad girls may have played a part in the abuse of up to 15 patients, over a period of several months in 2008.

Their cruel sexual, emotional, and physical abuse has been recorded on video tape while the patients are screaming and the girls are laughing.

Did the nursing home do a proper job training, supervising, and establishing policies? The nursing home should be held accountable for the bad behavior of its employees.

Nursing home abuse lawsuits are being filed by many family members including some for patients who died during that time.

Restraining financial abuse in nursing homes

2010-01-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

Financial abuse is one of the fastest growing areas of elder abuse.

Usually a simple legal document like a power of attorney designates a person to oversee an elderly person's finances.

In some cases, an offspring didn't even know he or she had been named in the document until the a parent or grandparent became unable to take care of day-to-day financial affairs. Such secrecy generally led to confusion down the road, with the appointee often woefully ignorant of the principal's state of affairs.

Or worse, a healthcare aide or housekeeper or neighbor with ulterior motives might procure a POA and persuade a gullible senior to sign it. The signature of the elderly person was basically all that was required.

In New York, it's a lot tougher now

One safeguard is a multiplicity of signatures. Now both the elderly principal and the agent/offspring/neighbor must sign the POA, and each signature must be notarized.

The document specifically states that when you accept the authority to act as agent, you create a special fiduciary relationship with the principal that imposes legal responsibilities until you resign or the power of attorney is terminated.

Another important provision of the statute is the right of the principal/elderly to appoint a monitor, like a trusted accountant, to oversee the activities of an inexperienced agent or a family member to ensure that an agent acts according to the principal's wishes.

The POA must now keep records and account for every penny, which was not a requirement under the previous law, The new law makes it easier to bring a civil suit against an agent who has acted inappropriately.

Hopefully other states like Pennsylvania will adopt these tougher POA standards to minimize financial abuse for the elderly and in nursing homes.

Nursing home patient prescribed 67 drugs

2010-01-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

In the Johnson & Johnson Omnicare whistleblower kickback case, one nursing home patient was prescribed 67 drugs.

Did the patient actually take all those drugs? Was Medicaid over-billed for all those drugs?

Nursing home abuse runs rampant on so many, many levels.

Some of these drugs included Cipro (an antibiotic used to treat infections of the lower respiratory tract), Neurontin (anti seizures), Heparin (anti coagulant/prevent blood clots), Pepcid (treat & prevent stomach ulcers), Oxycodone (moderate to severe pain reliever/may be habit forming) and Seroquel (schizophrenia/bipolar disorder) or their generics, according to the complaint.

You can see the full list here:

Omnicare, the country’s largest nursing home pharmacy chain, paid $98 million to settle the case.

In September 2005, Johnson & Johnson received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, seeking documents related to sales and marketing of eight drugs to Omnicare. Several employees of the J&J's pharmaceutical subsidiaries were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in connection with the investigation.

In April 2009, Johnson & Johnson was served with the complaints in two civil qui tam cases relating to marketing of prescription drugs to Omnicare, Inc.

Over drugging nursing home patients is abuse

2010-01-12T00:20:00.000-08:00

One nursing home director is faces criminal charges for over drugging or chemically restraining three nursing home patients who died as the result.

Reasons for over drugging is not due to medical causes but allegedly as a way to restrain patients who looked at the director for too long.

The nursing director was fired from a previous job for the same reason but nobody bothered to tell the new facility for fear of a lawsuit.

How many nursing home patients do administrators have to injure or harm or kill before someone or some agency speaks up for vulnerable nursing home patients?

Others -- the nursing home administrator and staff doctor -- are also being charged while the pharmacist can plea bargain if she testifies for the prosecution.

It has been estimated that nursing homes give anti-psychotics to one in every four patients. These drugs replace physical restraints, which are now illegal except as a last resort.

Nursing home abuse: Criminals in the corner

2009-12-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

Nursing homes have enough problShow allems with neglect and now there's a fairly new problem doggedly reported by a major newspaper -- that of felon patients on the premises.

In this case the state nursing home residents were the felons not the employees. Felons were wanted for all kinds of crimes including a sex offender who failed to register.

This is so sad and scary because legitimate nursing home residents are already vulnerable and putting felons into the mix just breeds more crimes and abuses against the elderly.

While criminal background checks are required for patients in state nursing homes, these felons had warrants from other states which didn't show up in the localized database.

Nursing Home Abuse - Caught in the Act

2009-12-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

It took a video camera to prove that a nursing home employee was abusing an elderly woman. The former employee only received a 20 month jail sentence. Does that seem enough?

Here's what happened:

On two separate occasions the nursing home employee was caught on tape abusing a 77 year old woman. The first time the wife's right arm was grabbed and twisted forcefully then she was struck three times in the same arm. The second time the wife was roughly shoved in bed and hit her head on the headboard.

Because of the wife's mental state she could not identify her abuser which is why her husband set up the video camera and brought it to the police.

Worst performing nursing homes

2009-12-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

The state of Kentucky has a lot of things in the plus column but nursing homes is not one of them.

According to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Ten Kentucky nursing homes are among the most poorly performing in the United States.

According to this government agency, the nursing home receiving the worst scores in Kentucky was also the second most poorly performing nursing home in the United States. However, the report did not say which of the Kentucky 10 was the worst, and GAO official could not provide the name.

According to the report, 15 states had more poorly performing nursing homes than Kentucky.
Once again officials are taking these concerns seriously.

A nursing home industry group — the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities — is providing education and training to the institutions on the list and to other Kentucky facilities to improve the quality of care.

These cited nursing homes have also been cited by state inspectors previously for putting residents at risk.

Records show that some of the Kentucky nursing homes named in the report as being the worst had also been cited by state inspectors for creating a substantial risk of death or serious physical harm to residents.

Nursing home abuse and violations

2009-11-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

What happens when you think your grandfather or grandmother is relatively safe in the nursing home only to learn that he or she is being house with ex offenders and mental patients?

Scary.

Nursing home patients reported being attacked by ex convicts and the mentally ill when they were all housed together in state nursing homes.

Is this a civil right violation against Grannie or the the ex convicts and mentally ill to separate them?

Unfortunately the consensus is that safety in nursing homes cannot be guaranteed and that the families of residents demand proper care especially as the population ages.

Nursing Home Abuse Rating Plummets

2009-11-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

Going, going gone. That's what happened to a nursing home that plummeted from five stars to one. Going from excellence to being on the most needs to improve list.

What went wrong?

First there were the numerous complaint investigations, among some of them: An 86 year old resident felt violated when a male nurse placed his hand on her vaginal area. He claimed he was checking for a urinary tract infection. He was fired but the problem was the alleged sexual abuse incident was not timely reported to the state. A 76 year old resident fell five times in one month eventually developing a hematoma; procedures were not in place to prevent falling Shower stalls were soiled with feces.

Part of the problem cited is the rapid change of administrative and supervisory employees and the prevalent use of temporary staff who doesn't know the patients. .

The nursing home has two years to improve its rating.

Nursing home employee sexually abuses patients

2009-10-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is the saddest of all nursing home abuse scenarios.

An employee at a nursing sexually abused two different patients. One nursing home victim was mentally impaired and the other. physically disabled.

An eye witness reported the crimes to the police even though the perp employee tried to stop her.

There have been other nursing home abuse allegations at the same home but none have been verified. Lack of adequate management and supervision is an ongoing problem.

The employee was arrested; he has worked as a nursing assistant at this nursing home since 2005 and has worked at other nursing homes in the area.

The Dept of Children & Family Services is looking into the matter to see if it's an ongoing problem or an isolated event. Either way it's a crime against the helpless and must stop.

The perp remains in jail on $500,000 bond.

Prescription Drug Errors & Nursing Home Abuse

2009-09-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Warning: Nursing home patients are victims of prescription drug mistakes

A recent British study conducted by the Department of Health suggests that unwilling nursing home residents are the victims of prescription drug errors ranging from clerical errors to life altering mistakes.

These mistakes were made by pharmacists, nursing staff, and doctors.

Researchers visited 55 residential and nursing homes over 2.5 years and surveyed 256 residents. Amazingly, the average patient takes 7 or 8 medicines.

In some cases, doctors prescribed the wrong medication or failed to consider how a newly prescribed drug would affect the existing medications. Failure of a doctor to better monitor medications could be caused by the lack of connectivity for when a patient comes back from the hospital with new drugs and that information is not disbursed timely or at all with the resident doctor.

Clerical errors such as putting the decimal in the wrong place has also caused serious to life threatening drug reactions.

Nursing Home Sex - Is it Abuse?

2009-09-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

Is it permissible for a nursing home resident and staff to participate in sex together?

According to the chairman of the board of nursing home administrators the answer would be yes.

Whether the chairman of the board has done his duty to license, investigate, and discipline nursing home admins for nursing home abuse is also in question.

The board's is supposed to serve and protect the thousands of residents of nursing homes.

Last week it was reported that a 20-something aide had repeated sex with a 29-year old brain injured male. Co-workers reported the incidents to supervisors but the chairman did little to even investigate much less take actions. He felt their relationship was meaningful and did not actually harm anyone; others feel this describes nursing home sexual abuse.

In the state of Iowa where the act occurred, a professional caregiver who engages in sex with a nursing home resident can be criminally charged with dependent-adult abuse.

Nursing Home Abuse Thrives When Lack of Penalties Prevail

2009-09-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

Lack of action by one state's board of nursing home administrators breeds nursing home abuse.
In Iowa, the board of nursing home administrators is composed of almost all healthcare professionals. Board members are appointed by the governor. It makes for a relationship like the rooster that guards the henhouse.

The board is designed to help protect 24,000 residents of Iowa nursing homes, many of whom have no family members or friends to oversee their care. The board licenses and reviews the conduct of facility administrators who are ultimately responsible for meeting the needs of the residents. They fail at their mission.

State records show that since 2001, the board of nursing home administrators has disciplined only nine of Iowa's 750 licensed administrators and the discipline has no effect because personnel are retired or in prison.

Infractions were treated as minor when a nursing home admin failed to report repeated sexual abuse by a caretaker.

The board only meets quarterly and has stacks and stacks of reports to review.

There clearly needs to be a better system with more responsible and responsive participants.
Delays in making decision go back 3, 4, and 5 years then impose probation (if the guilty is still around) and minimal fines.

Complaints are kept confidential. Cases like these have resulted in no action: A resident was found dead with her head between the rail of her bed; a resident who choked on food was falsely reported to have a seizure; an administrator illegally transferred residents because she didn't like them; and an administrator put her friend on the payroll and siphoned money to her illegally.

Woman dies from infected bed sore at nursing home

2009-09-12T03:45:00.000-07:00

Woman Dies from Bed Sore at Nursing Home

Bedsores are lesions caused by unrelieved pressure on the skin. Once bedsores become infected, they become fatal. Bedsores are preventable if patients are moved every two hours.

The woman's daughter said, "You could put your whole hand down in her back. "You could see the bones and spinal cord. It was like raw meat."

The 73 year old woman had 15 grandchildren, many who visited her daily. The family complained that there was only one nurse who would run between floors and had no time to check the patients.

Bedsores are an example of nursing home abuse negligence.

The family wanted to take their mother home but each request was met with denials.
By the time the family saw the bedsore, it was horribly infected and caused the patient much pain.

There is no systemwide recordkeeping of bedsores, so patients or families comparing nursing homes can make informed decisions.

Caught in the Sex Act: Nursing Home Sex Abuse

2009-09-02T02:08:00.000-07:00

The recreational leader of a nursing home was caught in the act by another employee who walked in on her as she was engaging in sexual contact with a 60 year old male patient who has diminished mental capacity and is not able to give consent.

The 29 year old staff member was charged with felony second-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person and misdemeanor second-degree sex abuse.

The police are in the dark at this time as whether this was a one time sex act or has happened before or has happened to other patients as well.

Victims are hard to find because of their lack of mental acuity and/or dementia status.

Nursing Home Abuse and Nude Photos

2009-08-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Two 20-something year old women were arrested because they allegedly took pornographic photos on their cell phones of nursing home residents without their consent.

The two women were employed by the nursing home but were fired when the misdemeanor crime became known.

An anonymous tip led to the investigation which led to the warrants.

Both women turned themselves in to police and deny the allegations.

The incidents happened between April 1 and July 15.

The nursing home claims that the rest of the staff does a job well done and the nursing home should not be judged by two bad apples.

Nursing home patient victimized by bully nurse

2009-08-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

A former certified nurse assistant plead guilty to endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person.

The male assistant abused an 88 year old nursing home resident admitting he struck the bedridden woman in the face, grabbed her arm, and roughly pushed her into the wheelchair. She suffered a broken collarbone and severe facial bruising.

Nursing home staff noticed the woman's injuries the next morning and notified nursing home officials, who reported the incident to the state Department of Health. The matter was then referred to the Attorney General's Office for investigation. Nursing home officials fired the employee the day after the incident.

The assistant was charged with endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person in the second degree, a felony; endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, a misdemeanor; and willful violation of health laws, a misdemeanor.

A judge ordered the perp to time served (two months in jail after his arrest) and to take an anger management class.

Is that enough of a punishment?

Getting physical with nursing home abuse

2009-08-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

A state inspection report indicated that residents at a for-profit skilled care facility complained about an aide’s misconduct for weeks. Although several staff members observed, knew about, or suspected the physical and mental abuse, they failed to quickly report the situation to their superiors.

The state police are examining claims that a nurse's aid threatened to cut a 68-year-old man’s throat, slapped a woman in the face, taunted and insulted other disabled and sick adults, and took food away from a hungry resident of a senior care center.

Allegations abound that the incidents went on for several months before being reported to an administrator.

The senior care center was levied with $20,000 in fines against the 113-bed nursing home. The care center is fighting the fines saying they responded quickly to the problem. However, the state says the fines were levied because of the staff's failure to report the abuse.

The female nurse's aid also denied the allegations.

According to the state report, there is a breakdown of management and supervision and lack of oversight by the staff on weekends.

Elder Abuse Increases Premature Death

2009-08-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

According to a recent study, elderly adults who face abuse and neglect suffer a greater risk of premature death vs. other seniors.

The study conducted by Rush University Medical Center concluded that both cognitively impaired and capable seniors were still at the same risk of death when neglected and abused.

Healthcare professionals and others who serve the elderly need to identify and report suspected cases of abuse or self-neglect early and act quickly to fix problems.

Abuse refers to psychological/emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, caregiver neglect or financial exploitation.

The study found that elder abuse was associated with a more than two-fold increased risk of premature death from all causes and an almost four-fold increased risk of premature death from heart disease specifically.

The study also found that increased mortality was significant for older adults subjected to abuse or neglect no matter what their level of physical or cognitive function, except for one group: abused elders with the highest level of functioning. This group had more insights into the dangers of abusive behaviors and were more likely to seek help or modify their relationship with the perpetrator if possible.

Elder abuse is way behind child abuse in educating the public as what to look for and how to prevent. With the rapidly growing elderly population in this country, problems of elder abuse will become more pervasive.

All tied up: nursing home abuse

2009-08-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

All tied up: nursing home abuse

A nursing home aide tied an 83-year-old woman to her wheelchair with a bed sheet, shut the lights out, and napped. The certified aide napped for an hour while the woman was tied to the chair.

The 72-year-old aide pleaded guilty to violating public health law involving the abuse, neglect, and mistreatment of a person, which is a misdemeanor offense. The aide was required to surrender his certification and is not allowed to work in a nurse’s aide capacity for a year.
You have to wonder: How does an aide go into a common room, turn off the light, and nobody notices?

The restrained resident was incapable of walking or self-care without assistance. She asked for help a few times during the night and at 2:30 a.m. was tied, against her will. The nursing home’s video recorded the aide pushing the elderly resident down a hallway and into a lounge restrained with a bed sheet.

Bed sheets to restraint residents is highly discouraged due to a risk of suffocating and strangulation.

This is one of 10 actions against nursing home personnel in upstate New York. In Syracuse, another aide found guilty of punching a 77-year-old resident in the mouth and stomach. An aide in Utica slapped a 99-year-old resident in the face three times and once in the lower abdomen. Elsewhere two nursing home workers stole an 89-year-old resident’s diamond ring and pawned it for $15.

New VA assisted living center coming to PA

2009-08-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

New VA assisted living center coming to PA

Within two years, a new building which costs around $16 million will be finished and will better meet the medical needs of new and old veterans alike. The location of the site is near Butler, PA.

The new facility will be on one floor and will connect to the Butler VA Hospital's rehabilitation therapy center. Residents will have their own rooms instead of sharing space. The facility will house primary care, behavioral health, specialized extended care, substance abuse, and physical rehab medicine patients.

Currently, its outpatient programs serve about 125,000 visits per year.

Cell Phone Camera Crime in Nursing Home

2009-08-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

A nurse's aid is being charged for using his cell phone to take a sexually inappropriate photo of a male patient's genitals.

The nurse's aid is being charged with two felonies -- second-degree unlawful surveillance and first-degree dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image.

The male nurse aid was busted after sending the photo to a female co-worker who reported the incident to her supervisor. It was the right thing to do.

The male nurse aid admitted that he took and sent the photo for his own amusement. He is no longer employed by the nursing home and is a husband and father of two children. He also has three prior misdemeanor convictions.

The nursing home plans to review the incident and determine whether it needs to improve its policies and procedures.

Other nursing-home cases this year include the arrest of a man for the sexual abuse of a helpless resident who endangered an 88-year-old disabled resident and the conviction of a woman for kicking an 88-year-old man while he lay in bed.

In New York there is ongoing hidden-camera investigations at nursing homes across the state.
So far, the crackdown of healthcare providers who abuse those in their care has led to the arrest or conviction of more than 75 nursing home employees.