Robert Carter RSS Feed

Study: Vitamin D can Prolong Life for the Elderly

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:44:30 GMT

Researcher recently found that seniors who have insufficient levels of vitamin D have a higher risk of dying from heart disease than individuals with enough of the vitamin.

The study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, analyzed the link between levels of the vitamin in the bloodstream and the death rates of those over 65. It found that seniors with a vitamin D deficiency were three times more likely to die from heart diseases and two and a half times more likely to die from any cause, compared to those who maintained optimum levels of vitamin D.

The study’s lead author, explains that considering the aging population and the easiness with which vitamin D levels can be increased, "a small improvement in death rates could have a substantial impact on public health."

Vitamin D is found in milk, fish and eggs as well as cod liver oil and nutritional supplements. It is also produced in the body after exposure to the sun. For more, read the story.

________________________________________________________________

Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia.

Nursing Home Looking to Add Special Units for Residents with Alzheimers

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:07:56 GMT

Experts say the current number of Alzheimer cases is expected to double every 20 years. Because of this, many nursing homes are changing the way they care for residents to help them deal with the disorder.

One nursing home is considering renovation plans, to specialize many of its units for residents with Alzheimer's. "Our study recommended that we create 20-25 memory care units to accommodate the need," says a representative from the nursing home.

Alzheimer's is a fatal and progressive brain disorder and researchers say that in 50 years, more than 115 million people will be diagnosed with some form of dementia.They also say that as people are living longer it seems alzheimer cases are becoming more prevalent. Nursing home and assisted living facility residents with Alzheimer's need special care, in a quieter environment.

"We really look for an area that was, maybe could be quieter. We also wanted an area that people wouldn't travel through on a general basis, to keep the area quieter and less stimulating because they easily can become agitated," says the nursing home representative.

The nursing home also want to get more specially trained staff to help residents with short-term memory loss.

The Nursing Homes administration are still in the exploratory stages to see if they can logistically and financially convert some of their current space into memory care units. They feel it looks very promising. In the county there are already 65 memory care units and everyone is very excited about the 20 new units that may be added soon. For more, read the story.

________________________________________________________________

Recurrent Sexual Assualt, a Problem in Some Nursing Homes

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:32:49 GMT

The second lawsuit to arise from reported sexual abuse at one nursing home was filed Monday in Circuit Court.

A guardian of a female resident at the home, filed suit seeking at least $100,000 from the nursing home. She said in her suit that home staff permitted a male resident to have sexual contact with the female resident between Jan. 17 and May 26. Those are the same dates between which the State's Department of Public Health said the male resident molested a number of other female residents. The male resident has since been moved to a psychiatric facility.

The home's assistant administrator, declined comment. Another suit claiming a female resident was molested was filed Oct. 26. State and federal authorities have each moved to fine the county $20,000, saying staff at the home did not take action to prevent the molestations. For more, read the story.
_______________________________________________________________

New Website Launched Includes Tools to Compare and Anylyze Quality of Nursing Homes

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:47:20 GMT

The Brown University Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research has launched a website designed for nursing home researchers that will also be very helpful to many consumer advocates looking for data and comparison tools.

The interactive database, www.LTCfocUS.org, incorporates information from a number of government sources including, Medicare reimbursement claims, OSCAR (CMS's Online Survey, Certification and Reporting system), the MDS (Minimum Data Set), and Brown's own survey of state Medicaid policies.

Users can interact with the website by creating interactive maps and tables with comparative information about states, counties, or individual nursing homes. All data provided on the website is also available to download.

Users can also choose up to five variables. The broad range of variables from which to choose includes number of beds; for-profit and chain status; percent of Medicare and Medicaid beds; Alzheimer's units; occupancy rates; age ranges, gender and race of residents; direct care staffing (RN, LPN, CNA); acuity of care; certain MDS quality measures; source of admissions (hospital or home); and 30-day rehospitalization rates (a potential indicator of quality).Many of the variables were not available on any nursing home research website before now.

The website is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging-funded Shaping Long-Term Care in America project housed at the Brown center. While its stated purposes are to "allow researchers to trace clear relationships between state policies and local market forces and the quality of long-term care" and to allow policymakers "to craft state and local guidelines that promote high-quality, cost-effective, equitable care to older Americans," It is also encouraged for use by consumer advocates. For more, visit the website.

_______________________________________________________________

Doctor Excessively Using Harmful Medicines in Nursing Homes

Kristie Pierce — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:05:21 GMT

According to Pro Publica and Chicago Tribune Reporters, Christina Jewett and Sam Roe, one of the most prolific providers of psychiatric care in Chicago-area nursing homes and mental health facilities, may be over prescribing drugs to thousands of patients in nursing homes.

Reports are clear that the Doctor has been over-medicating his mentally ill patients. His unusually heavy reliance on the drug clozapine –this drug has been linked to at least three deaths of the doctor’s direct patients. Medicaid records from 2007 show that the doctor wrote more prescriptions for clozapine than were written by all the doctors in Texas put together.

Records also show he is getting government reimbursement for seeing an improbably large number of patients. Working from a strip-mall office, the doctor says he is psychiatric medical director at 13 nursing facilities, seeing patients with chronic mental illness whom few doctors will accept. The bulk of his practice is schizophrenics. His supporters say he is a hardworking doctor who makes daily rounds to check on his patients.

The doctor maintains that clozapine was not to blame for any of his patient’s deaths. Autopsy records however, show that three patients under his care died of clozapine intoxication. One patient’s medical records show that when he died his blood contained five times the toxic level of clozapine. In the weeks leading up to the man’s death, he grew increasingly lethargic and suffered other symptoms associated with over-medication. “His hands shook, he drooled and he began sleeping all the time,” said his sister. This was just one of at least three deaths cause by the drugs the doctor was prescribing

One nurse who works at a nursing home where the doctor writes prescriptions said patients often complained of hallucinations from the drug and that she "had many conversations with him about how many patients ... had bad reactions." But she said he "very seldom" reduced doses or switched drugs, investigators wrote. For more, read the story.

_______________________________________________________________

Veterans Nursing Home Dedicated on Veteran's Day

Kristie Pierce — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:57:35 GMT

On Veterans Day, a day of reflection, gratitude and respect for the men and women who bravely serve our country, one state will open their very first nursing home specifically for Veterans.

The state worked for eight years to open a nursing facility specifically designed so that veterans can receive quality, long-lasting care in their home state. For too long, many of the state's veterans have had to seek long-term care hundreds of miles from their homes.

The support of the state's lawmakers helped bring to life the 120-bed facility, which will include a separate Alzheimer’s care unit. Through this network, veterans will have greater access to quality health care than ever before. With this nursing home, many veterans and their families can rest easier knowing that should extended care be needed, they won’t be far from home.

There has been great progress in improving veterans’ access to health care – and with the dedication of the new nursing home, the state can provide care to veterans’ for their entire lives. They deserve it, they earned it, and all are grateful for their service. For more, read the story.

_______________________________________________________________

Report: Nursing Home Abuse May be Under-Reported

Kristie Pierce — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:23:44 GMT

On Tuesday, one state's Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes released a report suggesting budget cuts may have weakened the state's ability to investigate elder abuse cases in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Last fall, the state's government cut funding for the nursing home ombudsman program. The action reduced the program's budget by nearly $4 million in federal funds.

The budget cuts led the program to cut staff positions in many areas of the state. Lower staffing levels has resulted in cutting back on inspections of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

In fiscal year 2010, the ombudsman program's budget is slated to increase to $5.7 million, which still $2.2 million less than the budget in 2008 before the cuts were made.

Since last year's budget cuts took effect, the number of complaints filed by the ombudsman program has declined by more than 40%, according to the Senate report. The report's authors warned that the drop in complaints could indicate that some elder abuse cases are going unreported despite state regulations which require ombudsmen to report all abuse cases. For more, read the story.

________________________________________________________________

Former Nursing Home Executive Embezzeled over One Hundred Thousand Dollars

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:36:27 GMT

A former adult care home executive was sentenced in Court on Wednesday to 20-25 months in prison after pleading guilty to 21 counts of embezzlement and a single count of forgery.

The employee, plead guilty to taking $130,138 from the adult care home where she was employed, and $9,220 from a coalition for the aging, where she was an officer.

The 21 separate offenses occurred between 2005-08. The employee had worked for the home for 10 years. She was executive director of the home when she left in August of 2008, and was treasurer of the aging coalition in 2008. The convicted employee paid the full restitution and fines immediately after sentencing. For more, read the story.

________________________________________________________________

Staff Ignores Requests From Residents; Dead Body is Found Five Days Later

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:33:09 GMT

Residents of the assisted-living center say that staff there ignored requests to check on an elderly woman who was found dead in her apartment this week. The resident, is believed to have died in her apartment at the assisted living facility, sometime after Oct. 26. Her body was discovered Monday, November 2, in the evening after a resident told the staff that some of the residents clothes had been sitting in the laundry room for at least five days. A police report indicates the resident may have died of cardiac arrest.

Other residents at the facility said that before the body was found, they had complained for days that someone needed to check on her. Signs that there may have been a problem included the fact that woman hadn't been seen by her friends, her car was in the facility's parking lot, she wasn't responding to phone calls, her apartment door had been left unlocked and a foul odor emanated from her room.

The services available to the woman at the facility included a button to push to summon on-site assistance in an emergency. One official for the company which owns the facility said she may have been dead for only two days before she was found. "But frankly, whether she was dead for five days or one day is not the issue," he said. "There was no expectation that she was to be checked daily. That's not part of the rules we are governed under."

Like many assisted-living centers, the facility is owned not by a health care company, but by a real estate developer. These types of centers are more loosely regulated than nursing homes and generally provide less actual care.

Despite several residents claims that they had asked staff to check on the woman, the staff say they received only one request to check on her, and that was Monday when her body was found. For more, read the story.

________________________________________________________________

State Senate Discusses the Issue of Mentally-Ill-Felons in Nursing Homes

Kristie Pierce — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:53:33 GMT

State senators held a hearing yesterday to examine ways to improve safety at nursing homes, where a high number of mentally ill, felons reside.These residents have led to reports of assaults, rape and even murder in such nursing homes.

Legislators heard testimonies from experts, government officials and the public in considering "what laws we can strengthen and what laws we can enforce better," said the spokesman for the Senate Democratic Caucus. He also said that state lawmakers "are definitely trying to work together as much as we can" with the newly formed Nursing Home Safety Task Force. He expects legislation to flow from the collaboration.

One participant said, "I am concerned that our current mental health system is not always providing quality treatment for the mentally ill and creates safety hazards for both patients and our community."

The hearing was prompted by a news series that exposed the dangerous mix of elderly residents and mentally ill felons in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. For more, read the story.

________________________________________________________________