Articles Posted in nursing home neglect

The case of a nursing home resident whose leg had to be amputated as a result of an uncontrolled infection will be allowed to move forward, a state supreme court panel ruled recently.

In Boyd v. Nunez, the trial court judge had denied the plaintiff the right to press forward with his nursing home neglect lawsuit on the grounds that an expert witness hadn’t been deposed in time.

An appellate court upheld that ruling, but the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed it, on the grounds that the sanction by the judge was improper because the judge never considered the underlying reason for the missed deadline – which was that the doctor set to testify had fallen ill.
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As more nursing home abuse and neglect cases are cropping up in Florida and nationwide, regulators are being forced to ask important questions. Why are there more cases of abuse? How should care facilities be screened and investigated in the event of an abuse allegation? Are the sheer numbers of abuse cases on the rise?

As the baby boomer generation enters old age, the number of elderly persons needing care is expected to rise sharply. Not only does this create additional need for oversight, but the sheer volume of patients could make an already strapped system ripe for abuse.

Statewide, legislators, public safety advocates, families and victims of abuse are speaking out against the growing problem of nursing home abuse and neglect. The reality is that nursing home abuse is an epidemic and is on the rise. Our Fort Lauderdale nursing home abuse attorneys understand the grave circumstances faced by Florida’s elderly and their loved ones. Our priority is to expose nursing home abuse and help victims and their families recover compensation for any injury or wrongful death. By taking legal action, we hope to help victims, raise awareness, and stop future abuse.

According to reports, 10,000 baby boomers will retire every day. This means that there is a growing population of elderly who are at risk of financial fraud and abuse, nursing home or care taker abuse and neglect, and serious injuries that could result in death. In the past few years several reports have indicated that the rise in baby boomers needing care, is also going to produce a significant shortage in health care workers and aids.
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It should come as no surprise that the quality of care that an elderly person can expect to receive is going to depend on the kind of skill, training and oversight that is expected of employees.

But our North Lauderdale elder neglect attorneys know that for the last four decades, home health aides were essentially treated under the law like glorified babysitters.There was no entitlement to federal minimum wages, regardless of how many hours they put in. Also, they were exempted from overtime pay requirements.
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More than 1.5 million Americans today live in nursing homes.

However, our Deerfield Beach nursing home abuse lawyers know that the quality of care that these individuals can expect varies tremendously from state-to-state and facility to facility.

Now, the Florida-based elder advocacy center, Families for Better Care, has released its first state-by-state review of nursing home care. These grades were based on a host of federally-compiled data, including reports on deficiencies, complaints, inspections and staffing.
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He was a WWII veteran suffering from dementia, residing at a nursing home in Virginia.

The overall care seemed sufficient.

It was months before his daughter realized her father’s toothbrush had collected dust. She brushed them each time she came to visit. Then he began to complain of headaches. His daughter pressed to have him seen by a dentist. Finally, he was.

His tooth was cracked in two, down to the nerve. A portion of the tooth had become lodged in the roof of his mouth.

Our West Palm Beach nursing home neglect lawyers know that in addition to being incredibly painful, such problems have been known to contribute to increased rates of infection and even pneumonia – a top cause of death among nursing home residents.

In this sense, lax dental hygiene becomes no small matter, even though brushing one’s teeth might seem secondary to the many other tasks for which overworked aides are responsible.

In fact, a recent New York Times report labeled it an “epidemic” problem.

Across the country, nursing home residents are plagued with gum disease, cracked teeth and cavities. While such conditions might be manifestations of other health problems, it is largely attributable to the fact that their mouths are not routinely cleaned.

Sometimes, matters are complicated by the fact that some patients, particularly those with dementia, may be resistant to such care. It makes it easier to skip it. However, facilities must make it a priority.

And yet, it’s one of the last things to receive attention.

While national data on the problem is scant, seven states have evaluated samples of residents to determine how big the issue might be.

In Kansas, they discovered some 30 percent of residents had a substantial amounts of debris on more than two-thirds of their teeth. More than a third of patients there were suffering from untreated tooth decay.

In Wisconsin, nearly a third had teeth that had broken down to the roots. Slightly more had teeth that had not been properly cleaned in some time.

In New York, researchers found that only about 15 percent of nursing home residents were receiving any oral care whatsoever. Even those that were, the extent of it was typically a brushing that lasted, on average, 16 seconds. Some facilities didn’t even have any toothbrushes.

Dental care is not option in nursing homes. It’s a federally-mandated part of care, per the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987.

It’s true that many people arrive at the nursing home with teeth and gums that are in bad shape. But those in nursing homes require more care now than ever. A number of prescription medications used to treat dementia and other conditions can increase dry mouth, reduce saliva output and result in rapid deterioration of oral health, if proper care isn’t received.

A 2008 systematic review of previous research, published in The Journal of American Geriatrics Society, revealed that 1 in 10 cases of deadly pneumonia in nursing homes could have been prevented had the patient received proper dental hygiene.
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A case of elderly neglect in a South Florida home had even the most grizzled law enforcement veterans shuddering.

Our Coral Springs nursing home abuse lawyers know that while this incident didn’t take place in a nursing home, it’s indicative of the kind of injuries that are present in cases of severe elder neglect.

According to The Tampa Tribune, a 66-year-old woman, who was reportedly being cared for in her home by her 68-year-old husband and his two daughters and a son, died a horrific death. She had been bedridden for three years with rheumatoid arthritis. However, her family neglected to properly care for her, resulting in ulcers all over her body and a bedsore on her back that was so severe, it became a gaping open wound that exposed her rib bones to open air.

It was apparent that the family had attempted to bandage some of the sores. However, those dressings weren’t regularly or properly changed. As a result, the wrappings became fused into her wounds.

When she died several months ago, the skin on her legs had grown together. The room where she was kept reeked of urine and feces. Officials also later came to learn that maggots had become active parasites in her body while she was still alive.

She ultimately died of a condition known as septic sequelae. This is a complication of arthritis. Neighbors reported shock at the woman’s condition, as they hadn’t even realized that she was living there. They never saw her. The family never made any mention of her.

Her death was labeled a homicide and her husband and his three children have been charged with aggravated manslaughter of an elderly or disabled person.

It’s difficult to imagine that family members would allow a loved one to endure such suffering. Often, it doesn’t start out with anyone having any ill intentions. It’s merely an issue of family members quickly becoming overwhelmed by the emotionally and physically-intensive tasks associated with caring for someone who needs around-the-clock attention.

Knowing when to reach out for help is important. The Department of Children and Families is one resource.

This case is also an opportunity to highlight the dangers of bed sores. Also referred to as pressure sores, they are a form of injury to the skin and underlying tissue that result from prolonged pressure on the skin. Most of the time, you’re going to find them on bony areas of the body, such as a person’s hips, buttocks, ankles or heels. People who are bedridden or confined to wheelchairs are the most at risk because they cannot move or adjust themselves. They are reliant on others to turn them, to change them and keep them clean.

Bed sores tend to develop very quickly and are notoriously difficult to treat. However, there is no excuse in a nursing home setting, where caregivers are trained and paid to recognize and treat the condition, should it arise. Most of the time, there is no reason why those receiving good care should develop a bed sore in the first place.
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A nursing home owner was convicted on federal charges of conspiring to defraud Medicaid and Medicare programs by billing them for worthless services in the operation of three Atlanta-area nursing homes, where hundreds of patients received deficient care for years.

He was given 20 years in federal prison. Additionally, he’s been ordered to pay more than $6.7 million in restitution to both Medicare and Medicaid, as well as $875,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Our Stuart nursing home abuse attorneys understand that the owner was paid some $33 million by the federal government to provide services that were never offered to patients. These included charges he claimed for food and medical care. Patients either never received these services or they were so minimal as to be deemed worthless by state and federal investigators.

Following his arrest, the nursing home owner requested a bench trial, which lasted through the end of February. A verdict wasn’t rendered until the following month, when, in addition to his conviction for health care fraud, he was also convicted for eight counts of ripping off the IRS for $800,000 in employee payroll taxes between 2004 and 2005.

Officials say the owner was living large. In lieu of alimony payments, he bought his ex-wife a $1.4 million home in Atlanta and also put her on salary as a nursing home employee – despite the fact that she never worked there. He also drove a Mercedes-Benz, owned luxury furniture and took expensive vacations. He even spent $4.2 million on a real estate purchase where he planned to build a luxury hotel.

Meanwhile,between the summer of 2004 and the fall of 2007, the residents at the nursing homes he oversaw were suffering. Officials described the patients as hungry and living in facilities that were overrun with filth and mold. Some were bordering on starvation. There were leaking roofs, toilets that failed to work, little to no nursing or housekeeping supplies, serious staff shortages and safety concerns. In one case, employees used a 55-gallon drum to collect and divert rainwater. In one of the homes, the leaks had gotten so bad that the fiberglass ceilings were saturated and pieces of the ceiling began to fall onto the residents’ beds.

Windows had to stay open to help abate the awful smells. There were also mosquitoes, flies and even rodents that were entering through poorly-fitted doors and screens. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the owner failed to pay the trash collection bills, so mounds of garbage began to pile up near the dumpsters.

The homes began to become overrun with mold and mildew, which worsened when the owner failed to have broken air conditioning units replaced. He also never bothered to fix broken clothes dryers, washing machines or hot water heaters.

As for the food situation, it got so bad that workers spent their own money to purchase bread, milk and other groceries so the residents wouldn’t starve. They took their linens home to wash and purchased cleaning supplies from their own pockets.

Many employees were paid by checks that bounced. Health insurance premiums were withheld from their earnings, despite the fact that employees weren’t actually covered. Several were left with huge unpaid medical bills after they sought treatment or surgeries.

When you start to add all this up, 20 years doesn’t sound like such a stiff sentence after all.
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A Florida nursing home facility has been fined $12,500 and ordered to pay a $6,000 survey fee for future monitoring activity, following its negligence in handling a resident’s death recently.

Our Pompano Beach nursing home abuse lawyers understand that the home, in Bradenton, was found by state authorities to have committed a series of errors following the patient’s death in December.

As such, in addition to the fines, the facility has been placed on something called a conditional licensure status, for a short time. This means that the facility failed to meet minimum care standards at the time of inspection or failed to correct certain problems upon follow-up. However, this conditional status was lifted after a little more than a week.

A facility spokesman contends the incident is an isolated one in which a single nurse failed to follow company procedures.

The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. on early December morning. A nursing assistant at the facility was making normal rounds when she observed a 58-year-old female resident whose leg was hanging off the edge of the bed. Upon further inspection, she learned that the woman did not appear to be breathing.

The patient had been in the facility for only a short period of time, after being transferred there from a hospital where she was receiving treatment for cancer and depression.

The nursing assistant immediately alerted the other staff, and four nurses responded. Those nurses said that when arrived, they found that the woman had no vitals. She wasn’t breathing and she was declared dead.

The problem was that at no time did any staff even attempt to perform CPR or make any effort to revive her. This was despite the fact that her file indicated that she was classified as “full code.” This means that the patient and/or guardian has indicated that in the event of an emergency, they wish to have resuscitation efforts initiated.

When a family member later learned that the staff had done nothing to try and save this woman’s life, he filed a complaint.

As it turned out, there was confusion about whether this woman was “full code” or in fact “do not resuscitate,” which means just that. Per the facility’s policy, patients who are classified as “do not resuscitate” are outfitted with a bright-colored bracelet, making it easier for staff to immediately identify the best course of action.

This woman wasn’t wearing one of those bracelets, so it would seem the course of action would have been fairly straightforward. However, one of the nurses in her written statement regarding the incident noted that she believed the woman was classified as “do not resuscitate,” and that the lack of a bracelet wasn’t necessarily an indicator to the contrary because many times, the facility took several days to put them on new patients.

Computer notes reveal that the staff contacted 911, notified the agency’s risk director, as well as the director of nursing, the woman’s family and her doctor. The woman’s doctor reportedly gave the Ok to remove her body from the facility. Police were not contacted until the following day and paramedics did not respond to the scene at the time the woman was found.

An examination of the body was conducted at the funeral home by police investigators, who reportedly identified no apparent signs of neglect, abuse or foul play.

The agency then launched an internal investigation to find out why no one had initiated CPR on the patient. As a result of that investigation, six staff members were suspended. That internal investigation reportedly found that the incident was in fact adverse and amounted to negligence on the part of the facility. As such, the facility initiated retraining of staff. Two employees were fired, while four remained on suspension for varying amounts of time.

The family has not indicated at this point whether they plan to file civil litigation in this matter.
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Nursing home neglect is believed to have led to the death of a resident, prompting a local news team to investigate the facility’s history. What they found was a checkered history of health and safety code violations, as well as reprimands for severe – and at times deadly – neglect.

Our Royal Palm Beach nursing home abuse lawyers know that many times when we receive a case of neglect or abuse, it’s not the first time that particular facility has had issues. Whether it is a substandard inspection report or previous reports of actual abuse, there is usually more to the story.

In this case, out of Maryland, state authorities say a patient died after staff at the facility failed to provide proper care in an emergency situation. They didn’t provide specifics, but did say that such action represents a failure in providing a basic quality of care.

Just a few years ago, another patient died at that same facility as a result of infected bed sores, according to court records. In that case, the family successfully sued for wrongful death.

The local television station in the area, Fox5, said it uncovered more than 60 health and safety deficiencies back in 2010. There were another 36 in 2011 and so far this year, there have been 27. One could argue the facility has been improving, but that is still about triple the Maryland state average, according to the state office of health care quality.

Some of those deficiencies at the 230-bed facility included things like medication errors, writing care plans, excessive use of chemical restraints, oversight of care plans and resident rights violations.

One of those who filed a complaint was a man who was only supposed to be at the facility for a few weeks. He had spent some time in the hospital, and was sent to the nursing home in order to continue his rehabilitation. At the time, he was recovering from a sacral ulcer. These are also commonly referred to as bedsores or pressure ulcers. At the time he was admitted, the sore was small and he was getting better.

However, within a month, that sore had grown to the size of a football, and covered his backside. The infection had spread into the muscles. Not only was it incredibly painful, it was also gangrenous – meaning it was deadly. In fact, the man fell into septic shock, as his organs began to shut down. A doctor said if he’d delayed his admittance even a day, he would surely have died.

Thankfully, doctors at the hospital were able to save him, but the road to recovery has been incredibly slow. Six months later, he’s now recovering at a different nursing home.

Cases like this illustrate why it’s so important for loved ones to thoroughly research the background of a facility before you place your relative there. Of course, there is no guarantee that even a nursing home with a stellar record won’t turn up problems. But ask the questions. You can start with the Medicare Nursing Home Compare site.

And if you are concerned that your loved one has been abused or neglected in a Royal Palm Beach nursing home, call us for a confidential consultation.
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George Dahmer was a fierce competitor in the wrestling world, where he was known as Chief White Owl back in the 1950s and 1960s. He was especially revered for his several comebacks.

But fighting for his life after a stint at a Lake Worth nursing home where he was severely neglected turned out to be a battle he couldn’t win. After his death, his family filed suit. Late last month, a Palm Beach County civil jury awarded them $1.8 million in damages.

Our Lake Worth nursing home abuse attorneys understand that Dahmer’s widow is hoping the case will serve as a foundation to enact new legislation to improve regulations and standards for nursing home care in Florida.

According to media reports, Dahmer was beginning to suffer increasing episodes of dementia back in 2007. He was then hospitalized for a short time in early 2008 before he was admitted to Lake Worth Manor, which is now known as Oasis Health.

Almost immediately, the 72-year-old’s condition began to rapidly decline. Within just two months, he lost more than 30 pounds. He was severely dehydrated. This was a man who did not use a wheelchair and could communicate just fine. Within short order, he could no longer talk or walk.

His family members told jurors that nursing home staffers at one point lost his false teeth. However, they never took any action to replace them.

It was also alleged that staffers significantly over-medicated him, as they often did not closely monitor his medicine. This resulted him being essentially comatose, his family said.

The fact that he was lying there, motionless, inevitably caused skin infections. He started to develop ulcers on his tailbone and on both heels. These bedsores were so bad that they spread through his skin and down to the bone. As one family member put it, “He was literally rotting away.”

His wife, who had been voicing her concerns to the staff, finally had enough and demanded that he be transferred to another facility. A few weeks later, a bed became available at an Alzheimer’s facility, and he was taken there.

However, he was incredibly weak by that point. He was soon admitted to JFK Medical Center. To give you an idea of how awful his condition was, he was too weak to even receive a feeding tube so that his body could get the nourishment it desperately needed. Plus, the condition of his feet, due to the ulcers, was so bad that doctors at one point even considered a dual amputation.

He died before a decision could be made.

During the trial, it was revealed that staffing – or rather lack of it – was a problem at the facility, as it is for many nursing homes throughout Florida. Dahmer’s family says this affected morale among the employees at the facility, who were overworked and did not give people the care they required.

The nursing home has said they may appeal the decision, arguing that Dahmer instead passed of complex medical issues that had little to do with the care he received.

However, his swift decline once he was admitted seems to indicate otherwise. That’s why if you start to notice a family member taking a turn for the worse shortly after being admitted to a new facility, question everything. If you aren’t getting anywhere with the staff, contact an attorney.
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