Articles Posted in nursing home abuse

Nursing home abuse, at its most severe, can involve physical assault and the beating of a patient. In a tragic Florida case, an elderly man who was a patient at an assisted-living facility was beaten by a security guard and died of his injuries. According to reports, the 83-year-old victim was hospitalized after the attack but never regained consciousness. The case is currently being investigated, though the 22-year-old security guard is facing preliminary charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault.

As America’s older generations turn to nursing homes and assisted-living centers for care, it is critical that children, loved ones, law enforcement, advocacy groups and legislators take action to ensure safety and well-being. This is another tragic example of lack of regulation, oversight, failed screening, and negligent nursing home care that too often leads to the injury or death of our most vulnerable residents.

Our Fort Lauderdale nursing home abuse attorneys are dedicated to providing strategic advocacy and support to families of victims of nursing home neglect or abuse. If you suspect that your loved one has been abused, our attorneys will independently review your case and take necessary legal action against responsible individuals or entities.
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Nursing homes must be in compliance with state safety regulations and any violations can result in civil penalties, fines, and even criminal charges.

In a recent case, a Florida nursing home was fined $36,000 for numerous clerical and medical errors. According to the Agency for Health Care Administration, the West Melbourne Health & Rehabilitation Center was fined for these infractions after an administrative complaint inspection in December.

According to the report, which was filed in April, the nursing home will now be subjected to inspections every six months for the next two years. While state inspections can help prevent future injuries and wrongful deaths in nursing homes, these violations and acts of negligence continue to occur throughout Florida. In the most tragic cases, negligence, abuse, or violations are not discovered until it is too late.

Our Fort Lauderdalenursing home injury attorneys are committed to protecting the rights of victims and their families. We will explore every case to uncover misconduct or medical malpractice, when such negligence results in the injury or wrongful death of a nursing home patient.
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A New York man recently filed a lawsuit against the nursing home where his 85-year-old mother resides, alleging they had forced “huge, muscular strippers” on his mother, whom he says has been a devout Christian her whole life and now suffers from dementia.

In the case of Youngblood v. East Neck Nursing Center, Inc., the defendant says he found photographic evidence of the incident after the fact. The image shows his mother stuffing dollar bills into the underwear of a 20-something male dancer. The lawsuit claims that not only did the staff order the strippers’ services without his mother’s consent, they used some of her money to pay for the striptease.

The son alleges that while his mother is sometimes lucid, she lacks both the mental and physical capacity to give informed consent regarding such matters.

Our Palm Beach nursing home abuse attorneys recognize that consent is at the core issue in such cases. People don’t lose their desire for physical affection and companionship as they age. There are some cases in which an elder loved one may find comfort in romantic relationships formed while they are a patient in a nursing home. But loved ones need to make sure there is informed consent, and that can be extremely difficult to gauge when someone is afflicted with mentally-debilitating conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia.
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Whether the decision has already been made to place a loved one under nursing home care, or you are still weighing your options, carefully reviewing your options can help ensure a loved one does not fall prey to a poorly run facility.

You will likely have a number of questions about levels of care and assistance, cost, resources, and quality of life for nursing home patients, as well as safety and emergency assistance. Starting your search early can make the transition easier for you and your loved one and also ensure that you find the best fit.

With more elderly persons living into old age, many families are faced with the difficult decision of whether to place their ailing loved one in nursing home care. It is important that families feel confident and comfortable as they move forward with this phase in life. Our West Palm Beach nursing home negligence attorneys are dedicated to raising awareness about nursing home related injury. We are also committed to helping Florida residents find the resources they need to make the best decisions when choosing nursing home care.
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Sexual assault cases in general are one of the most vastly under-reported crimes, despite the immensely traumatic physical and emotional impact.

nursing home abuse lawyers in West Palm Beach know that victims in nursing homes are among the most vulnerable, for numerous reasons. They may be in constant fear of their aggressor. If they suffer dementia, they may be confused about what’s happened. They may also fear, as so many victims do, that they won’t be believed.

In one recent case out of Minnesota, this is precisely what happened, with the nursing home administrator not only dismissing the victim’s account, while her abuser continued to work at the facility, but also locking her in a psychiatric unit. This same administrator then reportedly withheld information when criminal investigators did launch an inquiry.
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A troubling case of nursing home abuse and neglect recently surfaced in New York, where authorities say the owners of the for-profit center sapped public funds while significantly reducing services, resulting in neglect, abuse and, in at least one case, the death of a 72-year-old patient.

Our nursing home abuse attorneys know that for-profit nursing homes in general have a terrible track record with regard to abuse and neglect, particularly when compared to not-for-profit facilities.

Profit is a powerful motivator for these facilities, and a Bloomberg investigation in 2001 found that 32 percent of charges billed to the federal government by for-profit nursing homes were improper. That was compared to 12 percent by non-profit centers. The reason this matters is because when patients are forced to undergo treatments, diagnostics and procedures that are unnecessary, it can be to their detriment. In some cases, patients end up severely injured.
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Palm Beach County is on the short list of counties that Florida officials are considering for the construction of new nursing homes to meet the needs of the state’s aging veterans.

Governor Rick Scott’s 2014 budget proposals include more than $1.5 million toward laying the groundwork for the construction of two new nursing homes by the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Our West Palm Beach nursing home abuse attorneys are experienced representing patients victimized by neglect and inadequate care.
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A disturbing trend has taken hold in the elder care industry, with the goal of discouraging or making it nearly impossible for one to file a nursing home abuse lawsuit in Coral Springs.
It involves compelling residents and resident caretakers to sign arbitration agreements prior to allowing the patient to stay in the facility. Arbitration agreements strip patients of the right to file lawsuits, instead requiring that any disputes arising regarding the quality of care must be settled by a professional arbitrator. Handling claims this way, as opposed to in court, is generally considered advantageous to the nursing home.

For one thing, arbitration is quite expensive. In addition to hiring an attorney, the patient and/or family is responsible for paying the arbitrator’s fees, which can sometimes work out to hundreds of dollars hourly. By contrast, in a wrongful death or negligence lawsuit, taxpayer funds pay the salary of judges.
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A nursing home neglect lawsuit will head to circuit court after a state supreme court rejected the defense team’s petition for writ of mandamus to either dismiss the case or disqualify opposing counsel.

The judge in the case of Ridgeway Nursing & Rehabilitation Facility, LLC v. Circuit Court found that the nursing home defendants had enough judicial remedy that the plaintiff errors could be mitigated and so dismissal was not warranted.

At issue was the question of whether an investigator for the plaintiff counsel had improperly contacted employees of the nursing home in an attempt to interview them without the nursing home’s lawyers present. The plaintiff investigator contended he was merely trying to find out if those he was contacting still worked at the facility.
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About six months ago, journalism non-profit ProPublica launched an interactive, searchable database for those seeking more information about federal sanctions handed down for nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect and nursing home negligence.

Now, the they’ve updated this tool to include a greater amount of information, including fines and payment suspensions of tens of thousands of nursing homes nationwide.

The database was originally created as a way for the journalists to track problematic trends. But the reporters soon came to the conclusion that the information was something to which the public needed access if there was ever to be a greater level of accountability for poorly-performing nursing homes.
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