nursing home negligence

Published on: November 21, 2016

$145M Nursing Home Settlement for Medically Unnecessary Rehab Services

A national nursing home chain with dozens of locations in Florida (including in Orlando) has agreed to pay $145 million to resolve a government lawsuit alleging the company violated the federal False Claims Act by intentionally causing its facilities to submit claims to Medicare and Tricare for rehab services that were not:

Reasonable;
Skilled;
Necessary.

The chain, Life Care Centers of America, Inc. is based in Tennessee and owns/ operates more than 220 nursing homes across the U.S. Its Florida facilities are listed here. Cases like this matter to patients not just because they involve defrauding taxpayers of federal money, but because vulnerable, elderly residents often end up receiving therapy they do not need and that, in some cases, is harmful.

This $145 million settlement is the largest the U.S. Department of Justice has ever made with a skilled nursing home facility, according to a recent press release. Continue reading →

Published on: September 21, 2016

Feds Accused Nursing Home of Fraud, “Non-Existent Care”

By Dean Freeman

Federal authorities are suing a nursing home system alleging the company committed fraud by filing false claims to both Medicare and the state-based TennCare (in Tennessee) on behalf of senior residents. Even as these facilities were being compensated for a litany of specialized services, they were not extending even the most basic level of care to residents, authorities say.

The Tennessean reports residents suffered a host of injuries, ailments and injustices, including:

Pressure ulcers (also known as bed sores)
Falls
Dehydration
Malnutrition
Improper feeding

The lawsuit alleges these incidents were systemic and occurred in at least six different facilities throughout Tennessee, in Murfreesboro, Nashville, Shelbyville, Madison, Manchester and Memphis. Continue reading →

Published on: September 15, 2016

Olson v. Florida Living Options – Assisted Living Arbitration Agreement Can’t Protect Linked Nursing Home

By Dean Freeman

A Florida nursing home has lost its bid to compel arbitration in the case of a woman who alleges her husband suffered injury as a result of nursing home negligence while a patient there. Although the trial court had ruled the case should go to arbitration, Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed, finding the claims raised by the estate of the decedent resident were not within the scope of the arbitration agreement. The reason? It had been signed with a different company entirely.

That’s right. Defendant was attempting to use the arbitration agreement decedent had signed with his assisted living facility provider to require the complainant to resolve her allegation of negligence against the nursing home before an arbitrator rather than a court. The primary reason the trial court had Ok’d this was because the nursing home and the assisted living facility were owned by the same company. Further, there was a provision in the assisted living facility arbitration agreement in which it was stated that the agreement would remain in place, regardless of whether the patient was transferred to and from the facility. Upon readmission, that agreement would still remain in effect. It was to be understood the arbitration agreement was applicable to all future admissions.

Trial court had relied on this provision in granting defense motion to compel arbitration. However, the 2nd DCA reviewing Olson v. Florida Living Options reversed. Continue reading →

Published on: September 2, 2016

Nursing Home Victims Settle With Hospital for Hepatitis C Infection

By Dean Freeman

Residents at a nursing home in North Dakota have settled with a hospital system following the largest outbreak of hepatitis C in recent U.S. history. However, the ongoing legal battle between the hospital and the nursing home where most of those involved were sickened will press on.

Courthouse News Service reports that the confidential settlement, which is still pending approval from the judge, stems from the outbreak in August 2013 in which 52 people were sickened. Of those, 48 were residents or former residents of a nursing home. It was the biggest outbreak of hepatitis C in more than a dozen years, according to data with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As for what caused it, that’s still in dispute. The 21 victims who were plaintiffs in this lawsuit allege that a hospital employee of an outpatient laboratory service reused needles and failed to follow infection control practices. State and federal authorities never exactly pinpointed the source, but they did say they suspected the nursing home residents were infected in connection with blood services. Continue reading →

Published on: August 31, 2016

Nursing Home Lawsuit Damage Awards Increasingly Sending a Message

By Dean Freeman

Jurors overhearing a recent nursing home neglect case were so horrified by the details, they awarded $30 million in damages – $28 million of that being punitive damages against the nursing home, its two owners and related companies.

Such damage awards aren’t necessarily the norm. In fact, most nursing home neglect lawsuits are settled prior to trial. However, plaintiffs are increasingly becoming emboldened to take action against staffers and facilities that fail to provide proper care to them and their loved ones. The clear message is that substandard care of our most vulnerable citizens is unacceptable, and nursing homes that try to cut corners with reductions in staff and poor training are ultimately going to pay for it.

Most of the cases involve injury or death from falls, fractures, pressure sores, dehydration, malnutrition or a delayed response to certain infections. These are often very complex and challenging cases because usually the primary witness – the elderly victim – is either deceased or has diminished mental capacity. But when they are successful, plaintiffs are finding they can often result in substantial compensation. Still, most plaintiffs aren’t actually in it to recover money. Really what they are looking for is to prevent the same thing from happening to someone else. They don’t want someone else to endure what they and their loved one have. Continue reading →

Published on: June 12, 2016

Nursing Home Resident Admits Setting Fire to Facility

By Dean Freeman

A resident at an Illinois nursing home reportedly admitted to fire officials and police that she intentionally set a fire at the facility because she was, “tired of the nursing staff trying to boss her around.”

That account is according to TV-KSDK, which reported the woman resided in the independent living section of the nursing home. She insisted she did not intend to hurt anyone, and thankfully no one was injured. The fire was set in two empty rooms. Ten patients had to be evacuated and smoke and water damage was sustained in a total of 13 rooms.

It’s unclear from the report how exactly she started the fire. While she was charged with one felony count of aggravated arson, suggesting that officers determined not only did she have willful intent but was mentally competent, the case sets off a few red flags for our nursing home abuse lawyers. Continue reading →

Published on: May 20, 2016

Reinshagen v. WRYP – Damage Caps in Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements Void Contract

By Dean Freeman

Nursing home arbitration agreements have become the new normal anytime a patient is admitted to a facility. These agreements are intended to limit the patient’s or family’s access to courts for resolution of disputes, such as those that arise as a result of nursing home abuse or nursing home neglect or nursing home negligence. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce or eliminate the complainant’s ability to collect damages from the nursing home. Arbitration agreements and arbitrators tend to be far more friendly to the business than the individual.

Although courts will uphold these agreements as they would any other contract, there is an emerging legal trend that involves finding these agreements either invalid or against public policy. There are a number of arguments that could be effective. One is to cite that the person who signed the document on the patient’s behalf had no legal authority to do so. Another, which emerged recently with the case of Estate of Novosett v. Arc Villages II, before Florida’s 5th District Court of Appeal in March 2016, was to argue the damage caps and elimination of punitive damages were against public policy and could not be severed from the rest of the agreement. The 5th DCA sided with the plaintiff in that case.

And that brings us to the most recent Florida nursing home arbitration agreement decision, which was also handed down by the 5th DCA in Estate of Reinshagen v. WRYP ALF LLC. Continue reading →

Published on: March 21, 2016

$1 Million Nursing Home Wrongful Death Settlement

By Dean Freeman

The family of an 87-year-old California woman wanted to ensure she was taken care of. That’s why they invested in one of the best regional facilities money could buy for her elder age care. And yet, she still succumbed to one of the most unnecessary and painful forms of death: Complication from pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores.

Her untimely death, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, spurred a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility that recently resulted in a $1 million settlement.

Medical records indicated the woman died from sepsis after nursing home staffers allegedly erred in treating a pressure ulcer on her back. Proper care was not received until the sore became heavily infected, at which point it was too late to reverse the effects. Continue reading →

Published on: February 2, 2016

Nursing Home Lawsuit After Elderly Man Wanders, Dies in Dumpster

By Dean Freeman

The 73-year-old man from Detroit was mentally impaired, struggling with dementia. He was also physically impaired, and needed a wheelchair to move around. These were the reasons why he was living in a Michigan nursing home in the first place.

Then, last month, the man reportedly wheeled himself out of the facility. No one stopped him. No one caught him. The following day, construction workers found him dead inside a Dumpster.

Now, just a few weeks have passed and his family has filed a lawsuit against the facility, alleging negligence proximately resulting in the man’s death. They probably have a strong case. Continue reading →

Published on: January 17, 2016

Drug Theft in Nursing Homes a Growing Problem

By Dean Freeman

A state government report in Minnesota revealed that drug theft by health care workers is so common there, it accounts for 20 percent of all abuse cases involving elderly patients.

The state department of health conducts regular analysis on exploitation and abuse of vulnerable, elderly residents, but this is the first time officials conducted a simultaneous analysis of so-called drug diversion incidents. From June 2013 to June 2014, researchers tallied 192 allegations of nursing home drug theft. Of those, there was proof to substantiate 27 of those incidents allegedly carried out by 14 staffers.

In a large percentage of cases, workers in nursing homes swapped over-the-counter pills for patients’ Vicodin or oxycodone. In another incident, a worker who was off-duty one day entered the facility, went to a patient’s room, lifted the bed sheet and peeled off the patient’s pain medicine patch right from his back before leaving the facility. That incident was later reported to police. Continue reading →