nursing home neglect

Published on: November 17, 2015

Nursing Home Fall Dangers Highlighted in Several Recent Cases

A number of recent cases of falls in nursing homes across the country underscore the danger peril in which it places elderly residents, and also the wide scope of the problem.

The first report follows a number of incidents at six nursing homes throughout Connecticut, where the state Department of Public Health issued fines after two residents died and several others suffered broken bones as a result of falls. The Hartford Courant reports one facility was fined after two serious falls, one fatal. In the first, a resident fell after the clip on a mechanical sling broke. He suffered a broken bone at the base of his skull and died less than a week later. In the second incident, a resident suffered a broken risk after an aide wrongly left the the resident alone.

In a third case, a resident on two anticoagulant drugs underwent emergency surgery and died after suffering multiple bruises sustained in several falls that were not immediately reported by the staff nurse. A fourth case in that state involved a resident who fell eight times within three month span, the last time striking his head on a chair and suffering a broken neck. The department alleged nursing home staffers failed to notify a physician for five full days. At that same facility, another resident suffered 22 falls and broke his hip twice in the course of six months. In yet another case, a resident fell an astonishing 34 times, suffering two head injuries and a broken hand. Another resident who fell after an aide failed to use protective legwear when moving a resident from a wheelchair to a bed suffered a laceration that required 11 stitches. Continue reading →

Published on: November 9, 2015

Florida Nursing Home Choking Lawsuit Alleges Wrongful Death

By Dean Freeman

A man from Delray Beach is suing a Boca Raton nursing home for negligence, alleging the staff contributed to the untimely death of his 72-year-old mother, who was staying at the facility while recuperating from pneumonia.

According to a news report from the local ABC News affiliate, plaintiff asserts his mother suffered from a condition that made it very difficult for her to eat solid foods and to swallow. While plaintiff was talking to his mother over the phone one afternoon, he heard her mumble something about “choking.” Then the line went dead.

He immediately called the nursing home staff to alert them his mother was in trouble. But no one answered the line. Fire and rescue records show there was eventually a phone call to emergency responders from the patient’s room. However, the caller hung up soon after. Dispatchers called back right away, but a front desk receptionist said she wasn’t aware there was any problem. Emergency Medical Responders decided to go anyway. When they got there, staffers weren’t taking any action, such as performance of CPR. Instead, they were “standing around” the patient’s bed. She had apparently not been breathing for approximately five minutes. Continue reading →

Published on: October 25, 2015

For-Profit Nursing Homes Jeopardize Patient Safety

By Dean Freeman

The patient was not yet 70. He’d had a stroke and was recovering at a Massachusetts for-profit nursing home. A week after he arrived, staffers dropped him while transferring him from a bed to a chair. Staffers called 911, but canceled the call when he seemed to stabilize. That night, though, he became unresponsive and he was rushed to a hospital. The fall had caused a brain bleed, and he died several days later.

His son hired a lawyer who thereafter discovered a pre-dispute arbitration agreement, as are forced in front of patients and loved ones upon admission, stripping them of the right to a civil trial if something goes wrong. Thankfully, the court found a provision in the agreement rendered it unenforceable.

But we are bound to see more cases like this, as a growing number of facilities are purchased by for-profit corporations, which then have almost complete control over our most fragile and vulnerable. These huge corporate entities amass major profits, and the business models are more geared toward making money than helping those who are gravely sick, physically disabled and cognitively impaired. Continue reading →

Published on: September 17, 2015

Nurse Admits Cover-Up of Sexual Abuse, Neglect at Nursing Home

By Dean Freeman

A registered nurse and former director of a nursing home care center in New York has pleaded guilty to intentionally acting to cover up sexual abuse and neglect of patients at the center.

News reports indicate defendant pleaded guilty to two felony counts of tampering with evidence. The local state attorney called the neglect shown by leadership at this center was “shocking.” She was originally handed a 40-count indictment when she was first charged. However, she ultimately only pleaded guilty to two of those charges.

The 40-year-old is alleged to have engaged in a number of actions to protect her employer – to the detriment of those vulnerable patients she had promised to protect when she took the job. Although she faces up to eight years in prison on the two felony charges, she will only receive probation if she cooperates with prosecutors, who are working to obtain evidence in other pending cases surrounding the center. Continue reading →

Published on: September 10, 2015

$9 Million Lawsuit Against Nursing Home for Infection Leading to Amputation

By Dean Freeman

A $9 million nursing home neglect lawsuit has been filed by a man who alleges the facility staffers repeatedly ignored his pleas of a painful catheter infection until it became so bad, surgeons were ultimately forced to remove his penis.

The 60-year-old man alleges the staff at the nursing home in Oregon City, Ore. committed gross negligence in failing to take swift action when he complained of pain. The infection became so serious, it led to gangrene and, ultimately, life-threatening septic shock.

According to news reports of the case, the man was admitted to the nursing home to recover from a kidney infection. This was in December 2013. But almost as soon as he arrived, he began to complain to staffers about pain and bleeding around the catheter area. However, staff at the center did nothing to address the problem. Continue reading →

Published on: September 3, 2015

Large Nursing Home Owner Sued for Neglect, in Regulator Cross Hairs

By Dean Freeman

California’s largest nursing home has grown rapidly in recent years. Now, it’s descent seems equally meteoric.

According to media reports with the Sacramento Bee, the entrepreneur who launched the facility is facing not only civil lawsuits, but criminal charges in connection with the treatment of elderly and disabled patients in Southern California.

Just days after the family of one resident, now deceased, announced they were filing a lawsuit against the facility and the owner, the California attorney general announced she was filing criminal charges against the facility and two nurses in connection with a resident’s death.

The charge of involuntary manslaughter stems from the care given to a man who had burns over 90 percent of his body due to an arson fire decades before. The AG office doesn’t make mention of another case – of a mentally ill patient who committed suicide by lighting herself on fire – though the woman’s family have since filed a formal wrongful death lawsuit. Continue reading →

Published on: August 25, 2015

Report: Dementia Care Lacking in Nursing Homes

By Dean Freeman

A recent in-depth analysis published by The Boston Globe shows that 6 in 10 nursing homes advertising care specifically for dementia patients may be sidestepping state rules intended to avoid false advertising.

A review by the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire echoes an earlier study conducted by Globe reporters this year, showing these centers may not be as equipped to handle the intensity of care advanced dementia patients need. But that hasn’t stopped them from accepting new patients suffering from advanced stages of dementia-related disease.

Although the research was focused on Massachusetts, this problem is not isolated to that state. But these snapshots of how nursing homes provide care for these estimated 40,000 elderly residents shows us where the shortcomings are throughout the rest of the country. Continue reading →

Published on: August 10, 2015

Nursing Home Neglect at 14 Facilities Prompts PA AG Lawsuit

By Dean Freeman

Yet another states attorney general has taken aim at a large, for-profit elder nursing care provider, alleging serious neglect that denied patients’ basic needs and also falsification of records and deception of state health officials.

This time, it’s in Pennsylvania, with the target being Golden Living, operated by Golden Gate National Senior Care, LLC and managed by a company called The Beverly Group, which operates some 300 nursing homes across the state. None of those are in Florida, but there are many locations across swaths of the South, including three in Alabama and nearly a dozen in Georgia.

In Pennsylvania, where state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced legal action in a 101-page filing, the company operates more than three dozen facilities. Of those, 14 are named in the lawsuit. Continue reading →

Published on: June 2, 2015

Report: Nursing Home Falls Precipitated Patient Death

By Dean Freeman

A series of nursing home falls suffered by a patient in Minnesota foreshadowed a final, fatal fall from a wheelchair for an elderly resident last year.

Now, that nursing home, located in Duluth, has been cited for neglect.

According to news reports, the state health department alleges the center failed in its duty to comprehensively assess the high risk for falls posed to this resident, and further to reassess the risks after each incident. In fact, a state investigator found this particular patient fell 10 times between July 2014 and November 2014. Three of those falls occurred within days of each other – Nov. 17, Nov. 22 and again, finally, in Nov. 24. That last fall resulted in the resident’s death.

Continue reading →

Published on: May 18, 2015

Nursing Home Chain With Ties to Florida Sued for Neglect by New Mexico AG

By Dean Freeman

The attorney general’s office in New Mexico has sued one of the country’s largest nursing home chains over allegations of inadequate resident care. The lawsuit asserts ultra-thin staffing levels made it a numeric impossibility for staffers to provide appropriate care to elderly and disabled patients.

Preferred Care Partners Management Group L.P., which operates in 10 states, including Florida, has staunchly denied the allegations made in the lawsuit.

Other states are carefully monitoring the developments of this case because it’s a novel approach to a pervasive and serious problem nationwide. Many nursing homes – primarily for-profit centers – give patient care a back seat to profit margins. They skimp on supplies, security tools and, most importantly, qualified staff.

Continue reading →