Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

As Maryland Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys we recently discussed the blog topic of health and safety in nursing homes and the importance of supervising residents who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, to prevent the common problem of resident wandering and nursing home falls that can lead to wrongful deaths.

In related nursing home negligence news, an Illinois family is suing Maryville Manor’s nursing home for negligence and the wrongful death of Jewel Lane, a resident of the home. In the suit they allege that the nursing home allowed Lane to escape—an act that reportedly lead to his death.

According to the suit, Lane was admitted to the nursing home on March 24, and suffered a nursing home fall days later on April 1. The suit alleges that one week later, Lane was allowed to leave the nursing home premises, and died shortly after from pulmonary arrest, hypothermia, and exposure to the outside elements. The home is being accused of negligence for failing to supervise Lane properly, failure to properly secure the exits and windows to prevent wandering residents, failure to protect Lane from harming himself, and failing to house Lane in a room that would prevent him from leaving the premises unnoticed.

The Lanes seek a judgment of more than $200,000 as well as fees and costs for the attorneys, and funeral and medical costs. Lane’s wife and daughter claim that because of his death, they have lost his financial support, companionship, and affection.

Continue reading " Wrongful Death and Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit—Family Sues for Damages" »

In recent news that our Washington D.C. Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys have been following, a nursing home resident filed a negligence lawsuit after the home allegedly failed to keep him safe from nursing home falls, and diagnose, treat and care for his injuries after a fall—which lead to infection, gangrene, and ultimately the amputation of his finger.

According to the suit, Juan Riostirado, a resident of Glenbridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Illinois, fell in his room and injured his hand on December 7, 2008. Although Riostirado was reported to have a high risk for such falls, there were no notes recording the fall or the personal injury in his paperwork until December 19, 2008.

The suit alleges that the only record of the injury was on December 19th, 2008, when a nurse wrote that Riostirado’s right ring finger was swollen, and that the finger should be monitored for five days. There were no more notes entered between December 19th and December 16th, 2008.

Riostirado was reportedly experiencing severe pain and swelling of his right ring finger on January 4, 2009, and according to the suit was diagnosed with gangrene of the finger the next day. Five days later, Riostirado was sent into surgery to have his finger amputated from complications due to gangrene.

The lawsuit claims that the nursing home is responsible for keeping its residents safe from nursing home falls, and should have treated and cared for Riostirado’s personal injury before it resulted in amputation. The suit is seeking over $50,000 in damages.

If you are worried that a friend or loved one staying at a nursing home in Maryland or the Washington D.C. area is suffering from nursing home falls due to negligence, contact our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC for a free consultation. Call us at 1-800-654-1949.

Man Sues Nursing Home After Losing Finger, Niles Herald-Spectator, February 16, 2010

Related Web Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: (CDC), Falls in Nursing Homes

Our Maryland Nursing Home Attorneys have been following the recent story about a New York nursing home that is hoping to use new Israeli devices that can reportedly track wandering nursing home patients to maintain resident health and safety, and prevent nursing home falls or injury.

According to the article, the Hebrew Home, a prominent nursing home in New York, has been awarded a special legislation by New York State to try a new healthcare project, as part of the Managed Long-Term Care of the state.

The goal of the Hebrew Home’s CEO, Dan Reingold is to work with cutting edge technology companies and government officials in Israel to utilize innovative technologies, to find ways to maintain the health and safety of the residents, provide quality care, reduce nursing home falls with frail patients or patients experiencing dementia, and at the same time, cut nursing home costs. Reingold claims that the medical technology in Israel is far more advanced than technologies in the United States.

Some of the new technologies that are being developed focus on monitoring patients with devices that can keep track of how much time a person spends in bed, as well as monitoring patients who have a tendency to wander, and are at risk for falls or nursing home injury.

Continue reading "NY Nursing Home Looks to Israel Technology to Stop Resident Wandering and Falls" »

As Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys, we have been following a lawsuit in which a 65-year old paralyzed patient in a nursing home was allegedly dropped to the floor twice. Her family claims that the second nursing home fall resulted in her wrongful death.

According to the lawsuit, Adriana Neagoe fainted in front of her church and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After surgery to treat the tumor left her body paralyzed with the ability to only move one arm, her family decided on Midway Nursing Home in Queens, New York for her care.

In the spring of 2008, Neagoe’s family was told that she had fallen from her bed, a bed that is protected by guardrails. Her family claims in the suit that she couldn’t have fallen, as she was paralyzed. The resident needed constant care—to be lifted up for bathing, and so the sheets could be changed.

Neagoe reportedly told her family that they dropped her on her head, from five feet up in the air. After she experienced the second nursing home fall, she was rushed to the hospital, where she died six days later from severe head injuries. Her family claims her death was caused from complications of these falls, due to nursing home negligence.

Continue reading "Family Sues for Nursing Home Falls and Wrongful Death" »

As Maryland Nursing Home Injury Attorneys, we have been following the Chicago Tribune article published yesterday about an epidemic of unnecessary and dangerous drugging going on in nursing homes—causing nursing home injury and threatening the lives of elderly residents.

The report details that many vulnerable elderly residents in nursing homes are being given strong psychotropic drugs that they neither need or want—leaving them with dangerous side effects like tremors, severe lethargy, and a high possibility for falls or wrongful death.

This review of more than 40,000 federal and state inspection reports found that a wide variety of nursing homes ranging from high end facilities to run down centers, are in violation for improperly treating patients with psychotropic drugs. The violations included chemical restraint, unnecessary drug administering, dosages exceeding safety standards, and cases where dosages led to nursing home resident falls.

Since 2001, the Tribune identified 1,200 nursing home violations that involved psychotropic medications. These infractions reportedly affected 2,900 residents, although the actual statistics are likely to be far higher, as regulation inspections are only enforced once every 15 months.

Congress passed landmark laws protecting patients from unnecessary drugs in 1987—and since then, it is unlawful for facilities to give psychotropic drugs to patients without a doctor’s orders, patient’s consent and treatment justification.

Continue reading "Unnecessary Drugging in Nursing Homes Threatens Lives of Residents" »

Our Maryland Nursing Home Injury Lawyers have been following a recent case in which Ruxton Health, a local nursing facility in Virginia, has been charged with another wrongful death lawsuit—the third nursing home injury lawsuit from this year.

Bob Wiggins filed the civil lawsuit last week on behalf of his mother, Lorina Wiggins, who had been under Ruxton Heath’s care for a year when she was brought to the emergency room in March 2008 with deeply infected bedsores. Wiggins, who was 84 at the time, died a week later from complications of these wounds.

This nursing home injury lawsuit claims that one of the seven bedsores that Wiggins developed over the year that she was cared for at Ruxton Health, had become so deeply infected that in the course of three months it exposed her ankle bone.

Bob Wiggins claims in the suit that he was never informed about his mother’s infected bedsores that advanced to a deadly degree during final few months of her life. When he was unable to visit the facility in person, he claims that when we could call to check on her, he was incorrectly reassured by the Ruxton staff that she was doing “fine” and had “no problems”.

When Lorina Wiggins entered the nursing home, she was at high risk for skin breakdown, and according to the suit needed specific nursing home care to prevent any sores or lesions from developing, which included being physically moved every few hours.

The lawsuit is seeking $35 million from Ruxton Health and former nursing home administrator Sue Myatt.

The Wiggins case is the third nursing home wrongful death lawsuit brought against Ruxton Health this year. The first wrongful death lawsuit was filed on behalf of Lillian Funn—who died from skin ulcers and multiple nursing home bedsores in 2008.

Continue reading "Repeat Offender—Nursing Home Charged With Third Wrongful Death Lawsuit This Year" »