Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

In a recent nursing home lawsuit verdict that our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys have read about, the stepdaughter of a former nursing home resident has been awarded $400,000 after years of fighting to hold the home accountable for the nursing home abuse of her step father.

According to the lawsuit, John J. Donahue was a nursing home resident of Embassy House in Brockton, Massachusetts, that is owned by Kindred Healthcare. While a resident at the home, in 2005, Donahue’s left eye was reportedly gouged by the metal safety hook on a machine that one of the employees used to move him from his bed. The state investigation into the case stated that the machine used on Donahue was supposed to be operated by two employees and not one, which the lawsuit claimed was negligent on the part of the nursing home.

Donahue’s eye had to be surgically removed after the incident, and he died 46 days later at the age of 93, from sepsis, a blood infection, that reportedly came from a result of the eye removal. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition, when bacteria enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. Sepsis progresses rapidly and can cause organ failure and death.

The jury reportedly found the nursing home negligent in failing to prevent the eye injury, and awarded Donahue’s stepdaughter $400,000 plus interest for suffering, pain and disfigurement while a resident of the home. Kindred was not held accountable for Donahue’s death.

Continue reading "Jury Awards Stepdaughter with $400,000 in Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit Verdict" »

In a related blog, our Baltimore nursing home injury attorneys discussed the use of chemical restraints in nursing homes, and the recent indictment of a registered nurse from Britthaven of Chapel Hill Nursing Home, after a nursing home resident died from a morphine overdose. The nurse, 44-year-old Angela Almore was charged last month with one count of second-degree murder, and six counts of felony resident abuse, for over-medicating residents with morphine, that allegedly caused hospitalization and wrongful death.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that they are recommending that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should fine Britthaven nursing home the maximum allowed fine by federal law, $20,000.

The nearly 100-page report based on the investigation performed by the North Carolina Nursing Home Licensure and Certificate Section reportedly revealed details of patient lethargy and altered states with the residents who tested positive for opiates.

The Herald-Sun reports that further investigation from the toxicology reports indicate that 14 residents out of 29 in the Alzheimer’s wing at Britthaven tested positive for opiates in February. Not one of these patients had prescriptions for opiate medication. Rachel Holliday, an 84-year old resident, and one of the hospitalized patients with high levels of morphine in her system, died on February 16, 2010 from pneumonia due to reported morphine toxicity.

Britthaven was reportedly investigated after patients were hospitalized from the Alzheimer’s wing of the nursing home, which lead to the discovery of opiates in their blood. A criminal investigation was launched in February by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Unit, and The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), to investigate for nursing home abuse or neglect, over-medication, or chemical restraint in an effort to make the nursing home residents more manageable.

Continue reading " Report Recommends CMS to Fine Britthaven Nursing Home for Wrongful Death" »

Our Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys in Washington D.C. have been following the recent news from state of Kentucky, that Governor Beshear has asked for an investigation on how Kentucky is handling nursing home neglect and abuse reports, after a recent investigation by the Lexington Herald-Leader found serious problems with the system, as reported in our previous blog.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, from 2007 to 2010, 107 citations were issued by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services that endangered the health and safety of nursing home residents. The newspaper discovered that only seven out of the over 100 cases of nursing home abuse or deaths were ever prosecuted criminally.

Although the state reportedly hands serious violations of nursing home laws and regulations to the attorney general’s office, the attorney general can only prosecute if the local prosecutors grant the attorney general permission. And the local prosecutors claim that they are rarely made aware of such cases. Also, police and coroners are reportedly rarely alerted of nursing home deaths or serious injuries in nursing homes.

The Herald-Leader reported that of the 107 citations that were investigated, there were eighteen deaths, thirty occurrences of hospitalization, 5 incidents involving residents with bones broken, and two instances of amputation that reportedly were a result of nursing home state law and regulation violations. The citations also claimed that three residents experienced nursing home injuries after staff members failed to provide proper health care.

Continue reading "Kentucky Governor Orders a Review of Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Cases" »

In recent news, that our Hartford, Maryland Nursing Home Injury Attorneys have been following, a nursing home abuse lawsuit has brought to light the problem of unreported sexual abuse incidents in Kentucky nursing homes.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Mae Campbell, an 88-year old, was sexually abused two times while being a resident at Hazard Nursing Home. Campbell suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and was reportedly sitting in a hallway last year, in view of other staff members and a nursing supervisor, when a male nursing home resident sexually assaulted her by ejaculating onto her face. She was reportedly sexually abused three months later by another male resident of the home who had allegedly entered her room to perform a similar sexual act. The nurse on duty was told by her supervisor not to discuss the incident with anyone because Campbell had not been harmed.

Under Kentucky law, staff members and officials of nursing homes are legally mandated to report nursing home neglect or abuse. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services issued the home a Type A citation, claiming that Hazard Nursing Home did not follow state regulations and failed to protect Campbell from sexual contact that was unwanted, failed to protect her health and safety as a resident, failed to report the sexual abuse allegations to the necessary state agencies, and failed to investigate the sexual abuse allegations thoroughly.

The Herald-Leader reported that Campbell’s sexual abuse was only discovered after depositions in a wrongful death case led to a former nurse’s aide’s description of Campbell’s sexual assault, where the former employee claimed that she stopped working at Hazard Nursing Home after the incident, as she thought the home should have protected Campbell better. Another former nurse also admitted to witnessing Campbell’s other assault. She was told not to discuss it with anybody—because Campbell had not been harmed.

Continue reading "Sexual Abuse in Kentucky Nursing Homes" »

In yesterday’s blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of pressure sores in nursing homes and assisted living residences, that often result in injury or wrongful death.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, the family of Frances Graham, a former 81-year old resident of an assisted living home in San Leandro, California, is suing Graham’s doctor, as well as the assisted living home, after Graham suffered from nursing home violence and devastating pressure sores all over her body, some reportedly as large as a baseballs—that lead to her tragic death. Graham’s family is also suing the nonprofit responsible for her care, the Center for Elders Independence, claiming that they put profits over her nursing home health and safety.

According to the suit, Graham was kept at the Andrew Elijah residential care home even though laws require that Alzheimer’s patients are cared for by a nursing staff that is skilled for such illnesses. Graham reportedly shared a room with a 72-year old dementia patient, who in June of last year, was found attacking Graham with a plastic hair pick. Graham suffered dozens of cuts on her body, and her left eye was bleeding and also bruised. Graham was reportedly treated by a doctor, and sent back to the Andrew Elijah home and put in a room that was private.

Graham’s son claims that soon after, Graham was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia, where a doctor discovered multiple bedsores on her body, so many that the doctors wrote in the notes that they weren’t sure that they even seen them all. The worst sore was allegedly a 4-inch hole that had eaten down to the tendons and smelled horribly. The doctor also found her to be anemic and dehydrated. Graham was moved to another health care center, and died two days later.

Continue reading "The Prevalence of Pressure Sores—Family Sues Assisted Living Home for Negligence" »

Pressure sores, also known as bedsores or decubitus ulcers, plague nearly one million Americans every year, and are a leading cause of nursing home injury, as our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys reported in a recent blog.

Pressure sores develop after an individual rests for too long in one position without moving, cutting off the blood supply to a resident’s skin, forming sores from the pressure on the skin that is unrelieved. Nursing homes residents who are elderly and immobile are highly vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Many advanced decubitus ulcer cases are often the result of nursing home abuse and neglect, and can end in wrongful death. Around sixty thousand people reportedly die each year from complications of some of the more advanced stages of bedsores.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, a hospital is being charged with allegedly failing to prevent, treat, and monitor the pressure sores of a patient, causing him to develop serious infections that allegedly lead to his wrongful death.

According to the suit, William B. McCuller became a resident of Memorial Hospital and Memorial Convalescent Center in April of last year, where he developed pressure ulcers that became infected. The hospital and center staff are being accused of negligence, for failing to properly treat McCuller, failing to monitor and care for his bedsores properly, failing to identify him as a high risk patient for bedsores, and failing to identify the early states of ulcer occurrence. The staff is also being accused of neglecting to treat McCuller with the proper wound prevention and treatment protocol, and to properly train their staff on the prevention protocol as well.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Nursing Home for Untreated Pressure Sores" »

In a recent blog, our nursing home injury attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC discussed a news story involving a Baltimore, Maryland nursing home that moved 150 residents out of the center after the building’s air conditioning system malfunctioned—failing to keep residents cool during a heat wave, and reportedly affecting the health and safety of the residents.

This week, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) released a lengthy report, after conducting a thorough investigation, and claimed that the Ravenswood Nursing Home gave nursing home residents a “substandard” quality of care that resulted in “actual harm” to the residents.

Maryland regulators reportedly fined Ravenswood $52,500 after the air conditioning malfunction left residents sweltering in nearly 100-degree heat in the nursing home.

In the DHMH report, six state and federal violations were reportedly cited, that focus on the air conditioning problem. The report also found that the nursing home facility was storing food that was potentially hazardous at unsafe temperatures, the building was not in good shape, and that the nursing home residents were receiving inadequate care, treatment and services.

Continue reading "Maryland Nursing Home Fined, Report Says Facility Harmed Residents in A/C Malfunction" »

In a recent blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys discussed the recent relocation of 220 nursing home residents, after an unprecedented heat wave in Baltimore lead to air conditioning malfunctions that closed two nursing homes—in an effort to protect the health and safety of the residents until the center’s heating and cooling systems are repaired.

The Maryland Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) issued a “Code Red – Heat Alert” last week, along with the Baltimore City Health Department, cautioning all Maryland licensed health care and residential facilities to implement appropriate plans to ensure the health and safety of residents while the outside temperatures are near or above 100°F.

The health department made recommendations for nursing homes to:

• Relocate resident activities to cooler areas, and caution nursing home residents to cut back on outdoor activities during the extremely hot days to prevent nursing home injury or illness.
• Monitor and address the behavior of dementia patients, or confused patients who may want to be wrapped in blankets, or wear too many clothes.
• Make sure the cold water is constantly available for residents, and offer it frequently.
• To keep residents cool, offer ice packs, or washcloths that are cool and wet, to help them endure the heat. Also give residents baths or shower that are cool, or lukewarm in temperature.
• As nursing home A/C systems will be operating at their maximum potential during the heat wave, contact maintenance staff to check the A/C systems, and perform required maintenance measures in advance, to prevent system failures.
• Rearrange any nursing home equipment or furniture that may be blocking any vents on the walls or floor to improve air circulation and make sure that the movement of air is not obstructed.
• Check the operation of all refrigerators and ice makers in facilities that do not have A/C or where kitchens are not cooled with A/C, to make sure that the refrigeration units are maintaining the correct temperatures.
• Make sure all medications for residents are stored at the temperatures listen on the packaging or prescription labels. Relocate the drugs to secure storage if necessary, to prevent any nursing home negligence or injury.
• Turn off any unnecessary lights that do not impact any activity for residents or staff, and close the curtains to keep out the hot sun. Also avoid the use of heat producing equipment like vacuums, stoves, or ovens.

Continue reading " Maryland OHCQ Issues Code Red Heat Alert for Nursing Homes" »

In recent Baltimore, Maryland nursing home news, the Ravenwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in downtown Baltimore closed its doors last week, moving 150 residents out of the center due to safety concerns—after the building’s air conditioning system malfunctioned, failing to keep residents cool in the city’s scorching heat.

Although many residents claimed that the malfunction occurred on Friday, July 2, it was determined by authorities to occur on Sunday. Many residents claimed that their complaints were not heard, until a Ravenwood resident called 911 on Monday for help. The temperature inside the building was reportedly 92 degrees at the time.

The center could reportedly face new environmental deficiencies, as it did not report the issues until a few days after the nursing home had been without air conditioning. Ravenwood is currently under investigation by the state Office of Health Care and Quality to make sure that the home followed proper procedure, to ensure the health and safety of the residents.

The Ravenwood staff claimed to do everything that they could to make sure that the residents were not in medical danger during the period of time without air conditioning. Many of the residents are vulnerable adults who need special medical attention, some of whom are under 65 and suffer from a variety of medical conditions, including amputation, HIV/AIDS, and paralysis.

Continue reading "Maryland Residents Moved Out of Nursing Home After A/C Malfunctions" »

In recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys have been following, the family of a patient who died from an overdose of morphine while receiving physical therapy at a nursing home, has been awarded $4.85 million—after accusing the home of nursing home negligence and wrongful death in a lawsuit.

According to the civil lawsuit filed by the family in 2005, Burr Needham, arrived in the center on April 26, 2002, to receive physical therapy for a hip fracture, and was administered a lethal overdose of morphine. The suit accused Dr. Arun Gupta and a staff of five nurses at the home of nursing home negligence, causing the 76-year-old’s wrongful death on May 2nd.

According to the medical examiner, the death was a homicide, caused by severe morphine intoxication. The documentation in the suit showed that the staff at the nursing home was unable to account for the dosage of morphine administered to Needham.

The jury ruled that the staff was professionally negligent, and awarded Mrs. Needham, who died of cancer in 2007, $3 million for the loss of companionship she experienced after her husband died. The jury also awarded $1.5 million for Needham’s suffering and pain, and $350,000 in damages.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $4.85 Million to Family in Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

In recent blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Attorneys discussed the topic of chemical restraints, in regard to a February case, where Britthaven of Chapel Hill Nursing Home was investigated by local and state authorities after Alzheimer’s patients tested positive for opiates that had not been prescribed to them.

This month, Angela Almore, a 44-year old registered nurse, was indicted in the case, on one count of second-degree murder in relation to the death of Rachel Holliday, a resident of the nursing home who died after being given a heavy dose of morphine. Almore was also charged with six counts of felony resident abuse, related to administering morphine to several patients of the nursing home, causing hospitalization.

The investigation reportedly began after a few patients from the Alzheimer’s wing of the nursing home were hospitalized for odd behavior, which led to the discovery of opiates in their blood. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Unit, with the Orange County District Attorney, launched a criminal investigation of the nursing home in February to determine if the patients were being over-medicated, abused or neglected, or being subjected to chemical restraint.

The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office claims that after testing, nine out of over twenty-five Alzheimer’s patients at the nursing home tested positive for opiates in February. Holliday, one of the hospitalized patients with high levels of morphine in her system, died on February 16, 2010.

Continue reading " Nurse Indicted for Chemical Restraint Leading to Nursing Home Resident’s Death" »

In a recent nursing home abuse case that our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC discussed in a blog, the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, Minnesota, was sued, after nursing home residents were reportedly subjected to a pattern of nursing home abuse over a period of around five months by nursing assistants in 2008.

Another lawsuit was filed last week in the same elder abuse incident, seeking damages from Good Samaritan, and accusing the supervisors of nursing home negligence for failing to screen employees to prevent abuse. The lawsuit claims that the nursing home failed to properly supervise the four nursing assistants, who are accused of abusing patients in a sexual, physical and emotional way.

In the original case filed earlier this year, the four former nursing assistants were accused of physically and emotionally abusing fifteen Alzheimer’s and dementia patients while videotaping the abuse. The nurses were accused of civil assault, battery and causing emotional distress, and the nursing home was accused of failing to protect the elderly residents from abuse and neglect, and neglecting to properly supervise the nursing aides.

This is the fourth civil lawsuit filed in South Dakota connected with the case, filed on behalf of Beverly Butts. It is similar to the Freeborn County case from January, but the reported victims named in the case have since died, and according to the Globe Gazette, when Minnesota victims die, liability goes away. But family members of the victim can pursue claims in South Dakota, as Sioux Falls is the headquarters for the nursing home chain.

Continue reading "Another Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence Lawsuit Against Good Samaritan and Former Aides" »

A wrongful death lawsuit has recently been brought against Brandon Woods of Dartmouth nursing home, by the family of Elizabeth W. Barrow, a 100-year old resident of the facility who was allegedly strangled to death last year by her roommate, who was 98-years old.

Barrow reportedly shared a room with Laura Lundquist, a 98-year old who has been diagnosed with having dementia and paranoia. According to Barrow’s son Scott, Lundquist allegedly harassed his mother for weeks, making her life miserable because she was jealous of all the attention that Barrow received, as well as the window view. Scott Barrow reportedly asked for the women to be separated, but according to the director of the home, Scott Picone, Barrow declined the option of moving rooms. Picone said the two roommates acted like “sisters” and took walks together.

On September 24th of last year, Elizabeth Barrow was reportedly strangled to death in her bed with a plastic bad. The autopsy revealed that she died by means of asphyxiation, but also received blunt force trauma to her arms, leg, skull and chest. Lundquist has been charged with the murder.

The lawsuit claims that the nursing home staff and executive director were negligent, as they were responsible for providing his mother with a safe environment, and they failed. He claims that as a result of the nursing home’s carelessness and negligence, Barrow was forced to suffer consciously until the time of her death.

Continue reading "Family of 100-year old Nursing Home Resident files Wrongful Death Suit Against Home" »

In a recent blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Attorneys discussed a new Maryland initiative, led by the Maryland Patient Safety Center (MPSC), to reduce the number of nursing home resident falls that can result in nursing home injury and deaths throughout the country.

According to the CDC, more than 1,800 people die in nursing home falls every year. In 2003, 1.5 million people over the age of 65 reportedly lived in nursing homes. The CDC projects that if this rate continues to rise, by 2030, there will be around 3 million nursing home residents—so understanding and evaluating nursing home falls and ways of preventing them is necessary for the health and safety of nursing home residents, to prevent nursing home injury and wrongful death.

Nursing home falls can be linked to the result of many health problems, including older residents who are weak, have difficulty caring for themselves or have difficulty walking, have chronic health conditions, or residents who have memory problems like Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Among the most common causes of nursing home falls are muscle weaknesses and walking problems, leading to 24% of falls. Environmental hazards like wet floors, poorly fitted wheelchairs, bad lighting, or improper bed heights, have also lead to a reported 16-27% of nursing home falls. Medications can also increase the risk of falls, especially if a patient is taking drugs that affect the nervous system, like sedatives or anti-anxiety drugs. Physical restraints, the controversial method used to try and keep residents from falling, can actually increase the risk of fall-related injuries and wrongful deaths.

Nursing home falls can also be caused by poorly trained staff, understaffing, or by using incorrect or outdated equipment to transfer or transport nursing home residents properly.

Continue reading "CDC Guide to Nursing Home Fall Prevention" »

Our Baltimore, Maryland attorneys have been following the recent nursing home news, that a nurse’s assistant at an Illinois nursing home has been charged with aggravated battery for removing medication from a patch on the back of an incapacitated resident—engaging in nursing home abuse for personal drug use.

According to Eugene Lowery, Crystal Lake's Deputy Police Chief, Jeremiah Healless, a 25-year old certified nurse’s assistant who worked at the Fair Oaks Health Care Center, would enter the room of a 92-year old resident, roll her to one side, and make holes in resident’s fentanyl medication patch with a pin, a drug given to residents who are in ceaseless pain. Healless would then reportedly steal the drug by squeezing the patch, and then licking the drug from his fingers.

The nursing home staff started to suspect that something was amiss when the resident's patch started to become discolored. After asking the woman’s family for permission, as the resident has mental and physical incapacities, the staff set up a hidden surveillance camera in her room to monitor for nursing home abuse.

Healless was subsequently caught forcing the drug out of the patient's patch on camera and was immediately fired from his position and arrested. He reportedly made other incriminating statements to the police.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Aide Steals Drug By Licking Painkiller Patch on Resident’s Back" »

In a recent nursing home injury blog, our Washington D.C.-based attorneys reported on a current case in Northern California, where a nursing home is being accused of recklessly poor resident care and nursing home negligence, leading to the wrongful death of Frances Tanner, a Stockton native.

On Wednesday of this week, Colonial Healthcare was found guilty of elder abuse, and Tanner’s daughter, Elizabeth Pao was awarded $1.1 million in monetary damages for Tanner’s suffering and pain, after enduring a nursing home fall in 2005 that broke her hip and led to a bedsore that became so infected it reportedly took her life.

Colonial Healthcare, over the course of the two week trial, has been accused of poor care, chronic and extreme understaffing, nursing home corporate greed, and failing to care for Tanner in every way—by allowing her to fall and break her hip, neglecting to record her level of treatment and care, and neglecting to prevent the bed sores that after becoming so infected, lead to her death.

According to the Sacramento Bee, yesterday, in the second phase of the case, the jury panel awarded $28 million in punitive damages for Frances Tanner’s abuse and wrongful death, in an effort to send a message to Horizon West Healthcare and its company leaders to stop the chronic understaffing and substandard care that has lead to nursing home negligence and resident death. The jury reportedly decided on the punitive damages after hearing evidence in court about the finances of the corporation—the corporation is reportedly worth around $200 million. This is said to be the largest elder-abuse award in Sacramento County history.

Continue reading "Jury Demands Nursing Home Pays $28 Million in Punitive Damages for Elder Abuse Case" »

Our Maryland Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys recently wrote a blog about a series of violent elder abuse incidents that occurred in Veterans nursing homes in the state of Texas, as published in the Dallas Morning News.

The Dallas newspaper has recently reported that after publishing the articles last month, legislators in the Senate have now taken notice, and raised questions about the safety and management of the state-owned veterans nursing home facilities this week, with two Senate committee hearings.

Last month, the Dallas Morning Star found that the criminal investigation of two former nursing home workers, accused of nursing home abuse, were stalled for two years because of conflicts between the state inspectors, police, and nursing home administrators.

When the police reportedly looked into the nursing home abuse allegations in 2007, police officers defaulted to the state inspectors. In March, felony charges were finally filed against the former nursing home employees, accusing them of harming two residents in the separate 2007 incidents.

Continue reading "Senate Pushes Reform After Alleged Nursing Home Abuse in Veterans Home" »

As Washington D.C. Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys, we have been following a recent case of elder abuse, where a Sacramento County Superior Court jury found a nursing home guilty for the 2005 wrongful death of a Northern California resident.

Frances Tanner, a former administrative worker who had been employed by various agencies including the FBI and the IRS, reportedly moved into Colonial Healthcare, a nursing home in Auburn, California, in March of 2005 at the age of 79. Although she was suffering from mild dementia, Tanner was reportedly mobile, strong, talkative and in great spirits.

In September of 2005, Tanner suffered a nursing home fall and broke her hip. According to the lawsuit testimony, Tanner was not properly diagnosed with a hip fracture for another eight days, during which time a bed sore was discovered. After the surgery, the bed sore progressed rapidly, and Tanner reportedly died a few weeks later from a massive infection of the pressure sore that caused her great pain and suffering.

During the course of past two weeks, the home has been accused of poor care, chronic and extreme understaffing, and nursing home corporation greed. Colonial was accused of recklessly failing to care for Tanner in every way—by allowing her to endure a broken hip, failing to keep accurate notes on her treatment and care, and neglecting to prevent or care for the bed sore that allegedly killed her.

Today, the jury awarded Elizabeth Pao, Tanner’s daughter, $1.1 million in monetary damages for Tanner’s suffering and pain, and for the loss of companionship. The punitive damages will be announced on Thursday.

Continue reading "Jury Delivers Elder Abuse Verdict—Nursing Home to Pay $1.1 Million for Wrongful Death" »

In a recent wrongful death and negligence settlement that our Baltimore Nursing Home Attorneys have been following, the family of a nursing home resident was awarded $190,000 in damages, after the resident suffocated in her bed.

According to the lawsuit, Lottie D’Aust, a resident of Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center, in New York, died from suffocation after getting trapped between a bed rail and the mattress—a common and tragic cause of personal injury and wrongful death in nursing homes, and a topic that our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys have been discussing in a recent blog.

The Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.), reports that from 1985 to 2008 nearly 772 incidents have occurred where hospital and nursing home patients have been trapped, stuck, or suffocated due to strangulation in beds that had rails. Out of this number, staff rescued 176 residents before they became injured, 136 experienced nonfatal personal injuries, and 460 residents died.

Although bed rails were designed as an aid to help patients maneuver their positions in the bed, and give security to the residents, many of these patients often experience bed rail entrapment, like Lottie D’Aust, getting caught in the space between the mattress and the bedrails, causing personal injury, strangulation, suffocation, and even wrongful death.

Continue reading "Bed Rail Suffocation Settlement in Nursing Home Case—Family Paid $190,000" »

In a previous blog, our Maryland-based Nursing Home Attorneys discussed a nursing home abuse case involving employees from Madison Manor, one of the Richmond Health and Rehabilitation Complex homes in Kentucky, who pleaded guilty of resident abuse.

This week, another lawsuit was brought against one of the Richmond complex homes—Kenwood Nursing Home. Charles Brock, the son of former patient Margaret Brock, is accusing the home of wrongful death, alleging that the nursing home administrators and employees failed to provide Brock’s mother with quality care, and protect her legal right to nursing home heath and safety.

According to the lawsuit, Margaret Brock, was admitted Kenwood Nursing Home on August 27, 2008 at the age of 80. Brock’s son claims that the home violated multiple nursing home health and safety regulations during her stay at the home—that lead to her wrongful death.

Brock claims that while under the care of Kenwood nursing home, his mother suffered nursing home falls, medication errors, malnutrition, dehydration, and pneumonia. Brock also reportedly suffered infections in the home including sepsis, methicillin-sensitive staphylococcus aureus, as well as great amounts of pain and eventually death.

Continue reading "Another Wrongful Death Lawsuit for Nursing Home Complex" »

In a recent blog, our Washington D.C.-based Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys discussed the prevalence of violent elder abuse incidents including nursing home falls occurring in seven veterans homes in the state of Texas, as reported by the Dallas Morning News.

According to the state’s Department of Aging and Disability Services, inspections in the Amarillo veterans home uncovered a series of nursing home neglect incidents and resident falls. In one case an elderly patient with Alzheimer’s was allegedly found on the floor, after the neck of her nightgown got stuck in the bedrails, causing redness around her neck. After an investigation, it was discovered that this patient had been previously assessed and that staff members were supposed to assist the woman get in and out of bed, to prevent nursing home falls and personal injury. The assessment did not order restraints, which are controversial, but sometimes used to prevent falls, a topic that our lawyers discussed a few weeks ago in a blog.

In another nursing home fall incident at the Big Spring home, one of the seven veterans nursing homes has been cited for several violations since 2004, a man who was known to be at risk of falling out of bed was reportedly not carefully monitored and fell twice in the bathroom, experiencing personal injury both times. Another man experienced a fall after his bed rolled—as there was no system established for ensuring that the beds were locked into place. Another resident who needed supervision from nursing home falls and wandering was found on the floor at least four times in a period of less than two months.

In another wandering case in Big Spring Home, where felony charges were filed against two employees last month for nursing home abuse, a resident was found eighty feet from the nursing home building after being left unattended in his wheelchair. He was allegedly found lying on the cement with a swollen face and spent two days in the hospital.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Falls and Injury in Veterans State Homes" »

As Maryland Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys, we have been following a recent story from the Dallas Morning News, covering nursing home abuse incidents and allegations surrounding seven veterans nursing homes in Texas that are state-owned.

According to the article, regulators have repeatedly found abuse and neglect problems in the Texas homes, which are open to veterans and their spouses who are Texas residents, and did not receive dishonorable discharge.

One of the homes with nursing home abuse incidents was at the Lamun-Lusk-Sanchez State Home for veterans in Big Springs, where John Harris, a 97-year old World war II veteran lived before he died in 2007. A nurse aide reported that she witnessed a colleague grab the resident from his wheelchair and shove him so aggressively into the bed that he was hospitalized that night complaining of pain in his hip. In another incident from the same year, Albert Teague, a Marine who had once served at Iwo Jima reportedly experienced nursing home violence, when an employee allegedly punched and choked at the home.

The article states the criminal investigation into these two cases was drawn out because of a bureaucratic jumble over who should perform the investigation—home administrators, local police, or state officials. Last month, felony charges were finally filed against the former employees.

Continue reading "Investigations of Elder Abuse at State Veterans Home" »

In recent Maryland Nursing Home News, the state has received the results of the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report, first ordered by Congress in 2003, to monitor the quality of healthcare, including nursing homes across the country.

The report is published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and according to the study, the overall the quality of Maryland’s health care rates between weak and average.

According to the Ethan Moore, the Health Policy Director of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland, Maryland nursing homes reportedly provided “expert care” in the 2009 study, but the critical issue Moore expects to arise in Maryland’s future is providing the projected explosion of the 65-year and older adult residents with proper Maryland nursing home healthcare and safety in the next twenty years.

Moore stated that Maryland has neither the budget nor capacity to take care of this future increase of seniors in nursing homes—but hopes that the state can find a solution to provide residents with quality care nursing homes and communities that are free from nursing home abuse and neglect in the future.

Continue reading "Maryland Nursing Homes Rated in National Healthcare Quality Report" »

In recent news that Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys have been following, Attorney General for the State of New York Andrew Cuomo announced this week that twenty-two health care employees, both former and current, have been arrested after hidden camera footage in two separate nursing homes revealed alleged abuse and neglect as well as other behavior that harmed the health and safety of residents.

Cuomo claimed that his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) is using hidden surveillance cameras in nursing homes all over the state of New York, with the consent of family members, to make sure that residents are receiving the and nursing home care that they lawfully deserve. Cuomo and his team are reportedly setting a precedent in this country, for using surveillance cameras to investigate the possible nursing home abuse and neglect of patients in nursing homes. The MFCU has, to date, convicted 30 nursing home workers based on the results of the hidden cameras.

The first case announced this week involved the arrest of 14 health care workers at Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility, after six weeks of footage revealed that the workers failed to consistently turn residents who were immobile, neglected to check or care for bedsores, routinely failed to give patients necessary medications, or check residents for incontinence and change residents’ undergarments in a timely manner. The medical records were also allegedly falsified to reflect a level of care that was not being administered.

The second case involving incidents at Williamsville Suburban Nursing Home, lead to the arrest of 8 workers. The investigation took place over a seven-week period of time, and revealed that staff failed to use a mechanical lift assisted by two other caregivers to properly transfer residents to and from the bed—causing a great potential for nursing home falls and injury. The footage also showed that patients weren’t given insulin, weren’t treated for wounds on the skin, and weren’t checked for vital signs, or given range of motion exercises. The resident’s medical records were also falsified to conceal neglect.

Continue reading "NY Nursing Home Hidden Cameras Capture Neglect—22 Health Care Workers Arrested" »

In a recent blog, our Maryland Accident Attorneys discussed the topic of whether bed rails in Maryland nursing homes are a potential health hazard, or whether they protect the health and safety of residents.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.), nearly 2.5 million nursing home and hospital beds are currently used in this country. In an F.D.A. study, from 1985 to 2008, there have reportedly been 772 incidents where hospital and nursing home patients have been trapped, stuck, or strangled in beds that had rails. Out of this number, 176 were saved by the staff before experiencing injury, 136 experienced personal injuries that were nonfatal, and 460 patients died.

Bedrails are designed to aid in helping patients pull themselves up, turn into a different positions in the bed, provide a feeling of security, and keep patients who are frail, or who have been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s safe from harm, such as falling, or rolling out of bed.

Unfortunately these very patients often get trapped or stuck in the space between the mattress and the bedrails, causing personal injury, strangulation, suffocating, and wrongful death, which can result in a Maryland personal injury lawsuit. Bedrail injuries can often result in nursing home falls, when a patient attempts to climb over the rails, bruising or scrapes to the skin, as well as a feeling of restriction, and agitated behavior from being restrained.

Continue reading "F.D.A. Bed Rail Safety Guidelines for Maryland Nursing Homes" »

In a previous blog, our Hartford, Maryland Nursing Home Attorneys discussed the ongoing and serious issue many nursing homes are facing today—how to keep elderly residents who share facilities with younger mentally ill patients and criminals, safe from nursing home abuse and violence.

The Chicago Tribune reported today after an historic Illinois court settlement, that thousands of mentally ill patients are likely to move out of nursing homes over the next five years and into settings that are more community-based, due to a new legal agreement that has been created to rework the long-term health care system in Illinois.

According to the Chicago Tribune, more than any other state, Illinois uses nursing home facilities to house younger mentally ill adults, and this includes thousands of residents with felony records. The Tribune spearheaded a massive investigation recently, reporting a long list of nursing home violence, sexual assault, substandard care, and drug abuse in nursing home facilities, where psychiatric patients weren’t adequately supervised or monitored to maintain their safety as well as the health and safety of the elderly residents of the nursing home, to prevent resident injury or harm.

The agreement reportedly plans for state officials to offer around 4,500 nursing home residents who are mentally ill a choice between staying in the 24 large facilities that are known as IMDs, or “institutions for mental diseases,” or to move into smaller environments that are better suited for their disabilities and reportedly less expensive. The settlement reportedly only covers residents of the IMDs, which will still leave nearly 10,000 mentally ill residents living in nursing home facilities without the IMD classification among elderly and disabled residents.

Continue reading "Landmark Settlement Moves Mentally Ill Residents Out of Nursing Homes" »

As Washington D.C. area nursing home negligence and abuse attorneys, we have been following the recent news of the an 82-year old patient who experienced a wrongful death after receiving another patient's medication while staying at the Fair Oaks Lodge, a nursing facility in Minnesota.

According to ABC News, an employee at the home negligently gave the patient, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, another resident’s medicine on June 1, 2009. The medication mistake caused the patient’s blood pressure to seriously drop, and after being rushed to the hospital, the woman died six days later while in intensive care.

The article claims that this same medical mistake has happened at the facility twice before, with two different patients, from May 27 to June 23, 2009. The two residents reportedly survived, but the nursing home was held responsible by the state for nursing home neglect, and their procedures were audited.

As a result of the nursing home negligence, the employee who made the medical mistake was reportedly reprimanded and re-trained, but no longer works at the nursing home.

Continue reading "Medication Mistake Leads to Wrongful Death in Nursing Home" »

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" »

In a recent nursing home injury blog, our Maryland-based attorneys discussed the epidemic of unnecessary drugging and chemical restraints going on in nursing homes, that can cause nursing home injury and threaten the lives of elderly residents.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against the drug giant Johnson & Johnson, for allegedly paying millions of dollars in kickback payments to a pharmacy company, in order to boost sales of antipsychotic prescription drugs for nursing home patients—drugs that can be used as chemical restraints with residents, that patients may or may not need.

The complaint alleges that from 1999—2004, pharmacists from Omnicare, the nation’s largest pharmacy, worked intensively to persuade physicians to prescribe Johnson & Johnson drugs in nursing homes, including the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, in exchange for kickback payments. The kickbacks were reportedly delivered to Omnicare in the form of rebates, grants, or educational funding.

Johnson & Johnson reportedly turned to Omnicare to increase the building of market share, knowing that physicians accepted advice on drugs from Omnicare pharmacists more than 80% of the time, and they were seen as an extension of the Johnson & Johnson workforce. The nursing home residents allegedly included people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Continue reading "Johnson & Johnson Accused of Pharmacy Kickbacks" »

In a recent blog on nursing home injury, our Maryland-based attorneys discussed the problem many nursing homes are facing today, of creating a safe environment for residents who live in nursing home facilities with patients who are mentally ill or have violent criminal pasts.

After the Chicago Tribune’s investigative reports over the past few months, fueled by a series of nursing home abuse and assault cases, the publication has shed light on the high numbers of felons and sex offenders that reside in Illinois nursing homes, and how this is affecting the safety of nursing home residents. Last week, twenty federal marshals and the County Cook sheriff’s police, initiated by the Illinois Attorney General’s office, conducted a raid of two Chicago-based homes, looking for felons with outstanding arrest warrants.

After the sweep of the nursing homes, eighteen residents were discovered in the homes who are wanted on charges that vary from burglary and assault to disorderly conduct. The authorities arrested five people, including an unregistered sex offender from another state. According to the Attorney General’s office, this was the first step in an ongoing effort to identify residents in nursing homes who are wanted on arrest warrants.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the number of residents living in Illinois nursing homes who are felons has grown as the state continues to rely on the nursing home facilities to place younger psychiatric patients, many of whom have criminal records, which can endanger resident safety and cause nursing home injury or abuse to older residents.

Continue reading "Sweep in Nursing Home Finds Felons and Sex Offenders with Outstanding Warrants" »

In a previous blog from October, our Maryland Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys reported on a nursing home assault from earlier this year that shed light on the ongoing problem many nursing homes are facing today—on how to maintain nursing home safety for residents who share facilities with mentally ill patients and criminals with violent pasts.

In January of this year, a 69-year old female resident of Maplewood care nursing home in Elgin, Illinois was found assaulted and raped in her room, allegedly by 21-year old Christopher Shelton, a mentally ill patient from the second floor of the nursing home. Reports stated the Shelton was reported missing during the evening bed check, and was later found in the woman’s bathroom after the assault.

This week Shelton, who suffers from bipolar disorder, pleaded guilty to the sexual assault, and agreed to a sentence of 12 years in prison in exchange for the guilty plea of one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault— a Class X felony. Illinois law states that Shelton must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, or about 10 years. He will receive 335 days of credit from his time served in the county jail since he was arrested in January.

Before Shelton moved into the nursing home at the end of last year, the staff didn’t properly check his criminal background, or listen to the warnings from the previous nursing home’s director on his violent behavior. Shelton reportedly had a violent history including an aggravated battery conviction, as well as other aggression related arrests. The Chicago Tribune reported that Shelton was arrested last year three times for alleged offenses that all included nursing home violence. At Maplewood, officials reserve rooms on the nursing home’s second floor for the psychiatric patients—but the separation between floors was not safely protected or monitored, so Shelton allegedly easily found his way to the resident’s room on the first floor.

Continue reading "Mentally Ill Man Charged in Nursing Home Rape" »

In recent nursing home abuse news, our Maryland-based Attorneys have been following the case announced last week, where the family of a nursing home resident who sued Fillmore Convalescent Center for elder abuse and was awarded $7.75 million in monetary damages.

According to the lawsuit, in 2006, the family of Maria Arellano, a 71-year-old resident and stroke victim, noticed substantial bruising on Arellano. The family complained to the management at the center, but they did not investigate the bruises. The family then placed a video camera that was hidden to the center and staff—to find out what was happening to the resident in the room.

The camera allegedly caught Monica Garcia, a worker at the center, engaging in nursing home abuse, by pulling Arellano's hair, forcefully bending her neck, wrists and fingers, slapping her, and using violent behavior while bathing her.

After the 22 day trial, Garcia received a criminal charge, and reportedly pleaded no contest to simple battery. The verdict from the trial splits the liability between the three defendants—20 percent to Garcia, 40 percent to the center, and 40 percent to the owner of the center.

Continue reading "Elderly Resident at Nursing Home Wins $7.75 Million in Abuse Case" »

A recent report that our nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys have been following gives an expert recommended list of ten top considerations for choosing nursing home care.

• Discuss with the resident what their goals and expectations are proactively, before the resident goes into the home. Also discuss the diagnosis with health-care providers to determine what kind of care is needed: from a nursing facility, to community based-care, long-term care, or other possible institution options.

• Always start looking for an establishment that is close to family and friends, so visitation is easy and accessible.

• Search the Nursing Home Compare Website, which lists Medicare-and Medicaid certified facilities with Five-Star ratings that compare national quality standards on short-term as well as long-term care.

• Always meet with the administrator, to discuss care planning, safety systems, wander alerts, specialized services, policies and the cost. Also ask about policies on physical and chemical restraints, as well as the nursing facilities’ history of bedsores or decubitus ulcers.

• Visit the home at least twice to check the level of care—both at busy times, as well as times when the staff is less busy. Try to witness the level of care during mealtimes, as well as early evenings, or just before a staff shift change.

Continue reading "Top Ten Important Considerations for Choosing a Nursing Home" »

In a related post from last week, our Maryland Nursing Home Injury Lawyers discussed the importance of researching the up to date results on recent inspections when choosing a nursing home in the state of Maryland, especially with regard to complaints and deficiencies in homes that can lead to nursing home negligence, abuse or personal injury.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) stresses the importance of having nursing home performance data available for consumers, and how important it is to rate facilities based on recent inspections. Many states electronically post “report cards” of various types for consumers to access.

The Maryland Health Care Commission’s Maryland Nursing Home Guide is a rating resource that covers specific information on facilities such as quality measures, deficiencies, recent state inspections, and bed counts, as well as family satisfaction surveys. The guide offers a look at more than 200 nursing facilities and 34 Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). This service allows visitors to compare and contrast information on each facility, review quality measures, inspections results, and quality indicators.

The Nursing Home Compare website ranks around 16,000 Medicare and Medicaid-certified national nursing homes on a Five-Star Quality rating system that compares the quality standards on short-term as well as long-term care. The U.S. Nursing Home Information & Registry from Member of the Family.net also reports on 16,000 homes by the state, for survey ratings, complaint information and reports of repeat violations.

Continue reading "Inspection Reports in Nursing Homes—Preventing Personal Injury" »

Our nursing home attorneys have been following a recent report covering the importance of choosing a nursing home in the Maryland and the Washington D.C. area. Choosing a nursing home should be a carefully thought out process, carried out by family members who have a clear sense of the patient’s wishes. Unfortunately, families often have a limited amount of time in which to make this decision, often 48 hours or less—when a family member is about to be discharged from the hospital, and is on the path to needing nursing home care.

The report recommends basic planning tips from experts, so that families on deadline can make the right choice and find the right nursing home environment that provides proper care, promotes resident rights, and is free from nursing home neglect and abuse.

Sarah Wells, the executive director of The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (NCCNHR), a Washington-based nonprofit organization that represents consumers looking for long-term care, stressed the importance of discussing nursing home care expectations—if a family member becomes unable to care for themselves at any state or age of life—so there is a clear understanding of the resident’s preferences and priorities. Wells suggested talking about the most important issues of the nursing home care experience, like meals, music, proximity to family members, and visitor accessibility.

Because many important long-term care nursing home decisions are made in a matter of days and not weeks, many decisions become chaotic and hasty. Families are encouraged to use resources like the federal government’s Nursing Home Compare Website and state nursing-home ombudsmen for advice and data. Wells recommends that families should try and visit a nursing facility at lease twice, and compare the ratings and reports to what they actually experience.

Continue reading "Home vs. Hospital—Basic Planning to Choose the Right Nursing Home Care" »

In a previous post from this week, our Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers discussed the serious problem of Decubitus ulcers in nursing homes—pressure sores or bedsores that develop when immobile residents go for too long without being moved.

If a decubitus ulcer is not detected, the nursing home injury can become infected and progress to a more advanced stage, causing extensive damage to the deeper structures under the skin. These infections are often very difficult and painful for nursing home residents, as they take a long time to heal, and can cause complications, or even death.

One serious complication that comes from pressure sores is blood poisoning, or septicemia. Many residents also develop osteomyelitis, an inflammation of the bones that is caused by bacteria that enters the body through the open wound and attacks the bone. If not treated, osteomyelitis can spread into the bone marrow and the surrounding joints. The mortality rate for people with osteomyelitis is extremely high.

Treatment of serious decubitus ulcers may include drying out the wound, or surgical debridement, where a surgeon uses a scalpel to remove the dead tissue, bone and fluid from the area around the bedsore, and administers systemic antibiotics to the resident.

Surgical debridement of the bedsore can also be accompanied by ‘flap reconstruction’ to cover the open wound with healthy tissue to avoid infection. The surgery is done to make sure that the skin is free of dead or damaged tissue, to promote healing. This reconstruction is considered a last resort in cases involving advanced stage bedsores, as it has an extremely high complication rate, and recovery from the procedure is often slow and painful.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Injury and Wrongful Death from Decubitus Ulcer Complications" »

In yesterday's post, our Maryland Nursing Home Injury Attorneys wrote about the difficulty of maintaining resident safety in nursing homes that take in mentally ill patients and violent criminals. Elderly nursing home residents who are often weak and unable to protect themselves from the violent actions of younger, mentally ill patients.

In the Chicago Tribune's ongoing reporting on security and safety reform in nursing homes, today's article recommends a serious overhaul of nursing home operations, to better protect elderly residents in nursing homes from the violence of mentally ill residents and convicted felons.

Nursing homes have become known as “dumping grounds” for young and middle aged individuals with mental illnesses, according to U.S. data and Associated Press interviews. The placement of mentally ill patients into nursing homes in this country has increased by 41% between the years of 2002 and 2008, as well as the incidents of nursing home crime and violence.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), released data earlier this year that nearly 125,000 individuals with mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, or bipolar disorder lived in U.S. nursing homes last year—many of whom moved directly into homes from jail cells, shelters and psychiatric wards.

According to the Associated Press, many states are mixing the mentally ill with the elderly because the federal government will help pay for resident care under Medicaid regardless of their age—as long as the nursing home’s mentally ill residents stay under 50%.

Continue reading "Violence in Nursing Homes—Protecting Elderly Residents from Criminals and the Mentally Ill" »

A brutal nursing home assault in Illinois recently shed light on an ongoing problem many nursing homes are facing today—how to maintain resident safety in homes that take in violent mentally ill patients and criminals.

In January of this year, a 69-year old female resident of Maplewood care nursing home in Elgin, Illinois was found crying and terrified in her room, moaning in pain. According to police reports, 21-year old Christopher Shelton, a mentally ill patient from the second floor, had assaulted the woman—raping her, as she begged him to stop.

Although psychiatric patients are not an inherent threat in homes, some residents have criminal records, and if not carefully assessed, treated or monitored, can be a big concern for resident safety. At Maplewood, officials had reserved rooms on the nursing home’s second floor for psychiatric patients—but the separation between floors was not safely protected or monitored.

When Shelton, who suffers from bipolar disorder, moved into the nursing home, he had a violent history including an aggravated battery conviction, as well as other aggression related arrests. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, Shelton was arrested three times last year for alleged offenses that all included nursing home violence.

Before Shelton entered the home at the end of last year, the facility staff didn’t properly check his criminal background, or listen to the director’s warnings from the previous nursing home on his violent and disturbing behavior. After the resident assault and injury, facility officials told the state investigators that Shelton and the woman had been involved in “consensual” sex—a suggestion that the emergency room staff, the prosecutors as well as the police vehemently rejected.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Rape Leads to Resident Safety Concerns" »

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" »

In a tragic case that our Maryland-based Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers have been following, Everett Care & Rehabilitation Center, a Washington state nursing home, is being sued for abuse and negligence, for failing to care for 97-year old resident Charles Bradley—who suffered from an untreated penile infection that allegedly caused his death.

Bradley entered Everett Care & Rehabilitation when he was 93, in the winter of 2004. He lived in the nursing home until two weeks before his death, in March 2008, when Bradley was suddenly taken to the emergency room. Upon admittance to the hospital, doctors discovered a life threatening penile infection that caused his genitals to disintegrate, leaving nothing but a gaping wound. The court documents claim that Bradley’s wound went untreated for months in the nursing facility, and developed into severe penile cancer. Bradley died 18 days after entering hospital.

The lawsuit, filed this month by Bradley’s son in Snohomish County Superior Court, claims that the nursing home allowed the injury to continue to develop for months, without properly caring for Bradley, or reporting the wound to the doctors or family—violating the center’s promise to care and protect for elderly residents. Bradley’s family trusted that the center would provide him with the best care as promised, but they claim the nursing home neglected Bradley’s basic daily needs.

According to the suit, in November 2007, the staff at the nursing home noticed skin breakdown while changing Bradley’s diaper and reported the problem to a care manager, who failed to alert his doctor. Four months after this report, Bradley’s skin continued to break down in his genital region, and he started to lose large amounts of weight. Two weeks before he was taken to the hospital, the staff allegedly reported the skin breakdown one more time, but the managers again ignored the problem. By the time he reached the hospital on March 13, 2008, he was diagnosed with an infected wound, that doctors later diagnosed as severe penile cancer.

Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) began investigating Bradley’s case before his death, and issued a citation to the center for failure to follow the quality of care standards required by law. The DSHS claimed that there was no evidence that the home had ever reported Bradley’s condition to the family, the facility’s doctor, or their social services department—necessary for a life-saving intervention. The center was cited and forced to take corrective action.

Continue reading "Family Sues Nursing Home for Neglecting Resident’s Penile Cancer" »

Our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen, LLC, have recently read a study on nursing home residents with advanced dementia, published in the October 15, 2009, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. According to the report, dementia is not just a disease of the mind, it is a physical illness as well—a leading cause of death in this country, and should be recognized as a terminal illness that requires high quality palliative care.

The report, led by Dr. Susan L. Mitchell from the Hebrew Senior Life Institute for Aging Research in Boston, studied 323 nursing home residents with advanced dementia and their families, in 22 different homes over a period of 18 months. The goal was to better understand the clinical complications of dementia and the families’ comprehension of the dementia prognosis, in order to make the right decisions in patient placement—reducing pain, suffering and nursing home injury and neglect in the final stages of life.

Patients with advanced dementia experience severe memory loss, have difficulty speaking, are restricted to the bed, and are totally dependent on others for care. The report argues that because dementia is consistently not recognized as a terminal illness, patients with advanced dementia are not being diagnosed as high risk for death, and are receiving poor palliative or nursing home care.

Mitchell argues that families need to clearly understand the prognosis of advanced dementia as a terminal illness, and the complications to expect, so patients can receive proper advanced care—like access to a high quality hospice, or improved skilled nursing home services. The goal, states the report, is to avoid patient suffering and pain, as well as nursing home negligence, due to lack of skilled nursing home services and supervision.

Continue reading "Advanced Dementia and Nursing Home Error" »

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" »

As Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers, we support the rights for Maryland residents to receive quality care, and be protected with treatment that is free from criminal acts, abuse, and the kind neglect that often results in injury or wrongful death. Under the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, all residents living in nursing homes or long-term care living facilities are entitled to receive this quality of care and attention in an environment that improves and maintains their mental and physical health.

Nursing home abuse and neglect occurs when a facility fails to protect and care for the residents, by paying proper attention to situations that could cause harm or pain. In an effort to educate families and consumers, and protect residents' rights, the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (NCCNHR) publishes a consumer fact sheet aimed to prevent future nursing home abuse and neglect violations. The NCCNHR reports these common violations:

• Poor positioning of the body, which can lead to bedsores and frozen joints.

• Lack of cleanliness, hygiene, and proper toileting—causing incontinence, falls, bedsores.

• Resident malnutrition and dehydration

• Not assisting residents with walking, which can lead to immobility, and falls

• Abuse from a staff member, visitor, or intruder—which can involve using physical force in feeding, while administering medicine, or while moving a resident

• Ignoring, antagonizing, or depriving a resident of adequate needs, which can lead to emotional and psychological abuse.

• Inappropriate sexual touching or forcing residents into performing sexual acts

Other common nursing home injury violations to be aware of include failure to supervise residents adequately, administer proper medication to each resident, and provide patients who are mentally ill or who have dementia with special attention and care.

Continue reading " Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Violations" »