Articles Posted in nursing home negligence

Two nurses who brought qui tam claims on behalf of the government allege their nursing home employer knowingly submitted thousands of false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs have had judgments in their favor reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Although a jury awarded the government $3 million in compensatory damages, imposed $19 million in fines and awarded the nurses a total of $412,000 for retaliation, the appellate court found the verdict was not supported by the evidence.

It’s unclear whether the government will seek review of that verdict, but we do know that these kinds of accusations arise from situations that occur routinely in nursing homes across the country. Aside from submitting invoices for payment of services never given, nursing home providers sometimes render services to patients that aren’t necessary and, in some situations, could even be harmful. They know patients may not be able to speak on their own behalf, and they also know providing these “services” is lucrative.

In some cases, claims may be submitted for government reimbursement even though the care standard is lacking. That was the basis for the underlying claim in Absher v. Momence Meadows Nursing Ctr., Inc. before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

If the nursing home provider where your loved one is staying is investigated for Medicaid fraud, it’s worth exploring whether your loved one may have been receiving harmful treatments, medication or therapies he or she did not need. Even absent an investigation, family members have the right to question medications and procedures administered to their loved ones, and it’s especially important if the patient is the recipient of costly medical procedures or expensive medications.
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While a civil lawsuit is one remedy for families who have been victimized by nursing home abuse, some cases are so egregious that abusers can be held criminally liable. According to a recent report of nursing home abuse, a 99-year-old man was abused by hired home health aides. Children of the elderly man claim that eventually, the abuse led to the patient’s death. The family caught the horrific abuse on surveillance videos and will be using the tapes as evidence in a civil lawsuit.

Family members of the victim say home health aides hired to provide around the clock care for the elderly man were negligent and abusive. According to the lawsuit, they left the man unattended and unable to fend for himself after he suffered a fall that left him with fractures and serious head injuries. Our Fort Lauderdale nursing home attorneys are dedicated to protecting the rights and interests of victims and their families. In the event of nursing home negligence or abuse, we will take a strategic approach to collect just compensation and file necessary claims against offenders.
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Aggression is an unfortunate but well-known side effect for those suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

A recent California Supreme Court case of Gregory v. Cott held home health care workers, like those in nursing homes, cannot sue dementia patients for injuries inflicted upon workers when aggression is an inherent part of the disease (particularly in later stages). However, the scenario is different for nursing home patients harmed by other aggressive patients.

Our Broward County nursing home abuse lawyers know the reason for this difference is simple. While a nursing home staffer or home health care giver may assume the risk of working in potentially hazardous conditions, residents of nursing homes have the right to expect they will be safe where they live. When administrators and health care providers fail to anticipate the aggression of an Alzheimer’s patient or put appropriate protections in place, a worker may have the option of securing workers’ compensation for injuries sustained. Patients and their representatives, however, may sue the nursing home on various theories of negligence.
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An elderly woman receiving care at a nursing home facility fell while being assisted out of bed by staffers. It was 11 hours before the administration called for her transport to a hospital emergency room, where it was determined she had fractured her hip and femur. Following emergency surgery conducted two days later, she died within six days of her fall.

Her family filed suit, and the case of Harmon v. Star Valley Med. Ctr. was recently permitted to proceed by the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Our West Palm Beach nursing home abuse lawyers find this scenario is all too frequently results in serious or fatal injuries.
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Though Florida has the highest population of senior citizens in the nation, it has ranked lowest for access to care and financial assistance, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute Report. The report should signal a warning to families and individuals who are performing long-term care duties for their loved ones. According to the AARP, Florida ranks among the lowest when it comes to providing care for disabled and the elderly who want to continue living independently.

The AARP used a number of measures to rank care among states, including quality of care, quality of life, affordability, support, and options. Except for access to care, Florida ranked in the bottom 10 in every category.

Our Fort Lauderdale nursing home care attorneys are dedicated to providing strategic advocacy and support to individuals and families who have been impacted by negligent nursing home care and abuse. We will initiate an immediate investigation to uncover the facts, identify responsible parties, and aggressively pursue your rights. In addition to providing advocacy for those living in assisted care facilities, we are dedicated to raising awareness to protect the rights of the elderly and their loved ones.
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Nursing home care facilities are often for-profit operations that can leave patients at risk of severe injuries, abuse or neglect. According to reports, a franchise of long-term care facilities owned by a politician’s former companies is under scrutiny and facing lawsuits for the wrongful death and abuse of residents. Bruce Rauner, the wealthy lawmaker said he wanted to run the state like a business if elected as governor, has operated the for-profit care business that is being investigated in multiple states, including Florida. The care facility has been connected with abuse, mistreatment, deplorable conditions, and wrongful death.

According to reports, multiple media sources and state records link the care facilities to resident attacks, bathtub drownings, deplorable living conditions, sexual assaults, and negligent employees. Our Fort Lauderdale nursing home injury attorneys are dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals and families who have suffered because of negligence or abuse. We are experienced in the investigation of nursing home abuse allegations and can help you to protect your rights. In addition to providing aggressive advocacy for victims, we are committed to raising awareness to prevent future neglect, abuse, and fatalities in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
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Too frequently, nursing home workers fail to take seriously the fact that the limited mobility of wheelchair patients places them at a heightened risk for falls. For individuals who already suffer a range of health issues, a fall – even from a relatively short distance – can result in serious and permanent injuries.

Our Coral Springs nursing home negligence lawyers recognize proper training and supervision of workers is critical to ensuring a fall doesn’t occur. This is especially crucial anytime patients are being transported from one location to the other. Transport companies may be additionally liable for any injury that results from falls occurring in the course of transporting patients.

The recent case of MV Transp., Inc. v. Allgeier, the plaintiff was not a nursing home patient, but did use a wheelchair. A fall she suffered as a result of purported negligence by the transport company resulted in her being incapacitated for the better part of a year, causing her to require admittance to a nursing home. The Kentucky Supreme Court weighed the case, and affirmed an earlier judgment by the trial court in favor of the injured plaintiff. The court also reversed an order barring her from collecting punitive damages for the incident, meaning she will receive a bigger payout than what the trial court initially allocated.
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When the 87-year-old West Virginia woman was admitted to a nursing home in late 2009, she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other health issues. Nevertheless, she was able to recognize and communicate with family members, she could walk with the use of a walker and she was well-nourished and well-hydrated.

Less than 20 days into her stay, she became bedridden, dehydrated, malnourished and unresponsive. She fell numerous times and sustained head trauma. She developed painful sores in her mouth that required daily scraping of dead tissue and debris. After 19 days, she was transferred to another nursing home and then shortly thereafter to a hospital and then to hospice. She died 18 days after leaving the original nursing home.

Her cause of death? Severe dehydration, according to physicians quoted in the case of Manor Care Inc. v. Douglas.

Hollywood nursing home abuse lawyers are committed to holding accountable those facilities and staffers that allow such egregious neglect and negligence. No one should have to suffer the way this woman did.
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Mandatory nursing home arbitration agreements are more frequently becoming the norm within facilities across Florida and the nation. In seeking to shield the facility from liability to the greatest degree possible, administrators will require all new patients and/or their representative to sign an arbitration agreement as part of admission. In many cases, it’s not presented as a major legal decision, though it most assuredly is.

What troubles our Broward County nursing home abuse attorneys is that when people sign these agreements, they are effectively signing away their right to have complaints of abuse, neglect and negligence heard by a judge and/or jury. Instead, such complaints go through a private mediation process that tends to produce results skewed in favor of the facility.

Fortunately, there are a number of legal grounds upon which these arbitration agreements can be challenged. One of those is reasoning that the named arbitrator in the contract either isn’t available or doesn’t arbitrate those types of cases. Another possibility is that the person who signed the document did not have the authority to do so, either because he or she was not competent to make such a decision or because he or she had no legal right to sign for the patient. Finally, there is the potential unconscionability of the contract itself. This involves showing whether there was an inequity of bargaining power between the two sides or whether the stronger party imposed a form of the contract on the weaker that prevented him or her from choosing freely.
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