A Maryland podiatrist, Larry Bernhard, was sentenced by a U.S. District Judge in Baltimore to fifty-four months in prison, plus three years’ supervised release, for a series of fraudulent bills to Medicare totaling more than $1.1 million. He pleaded guilty to charges that included health care fraud and identity theft.…
A jury in Pinellas County, Florida rendered a $200 million verdict against the parent company of a nursing home. The lawsuit stemmed from the 2004 death of a resident who fell down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair. The case is particularly interesting not only because the verdict might…
A former staffer at a nursing home in Barboursville, West Virginia was sentenced to one to three years in jail, including time served, after pleading guilty to the offense of attempting to commit a felony. Darren Canada, a 41 year-old Huntington resident, could be released within a few months because…
Governor Terry Branstad of Iowa has asked the Iowa Legislature to pass a bill requiring nursing homes to notify residents when a registered sex offender moves into the facility. Courts often order individuals into nursing home care after a plea or conviction, and some of those individuals must also go…
Deaths occurring among elderly nursing home residents often escape scrutiny. Doctors may classify possibly suspicious deaths as the result of “natural” causes, and as a result cases of abuse and neglect are not investigated. Reporters for ProPublica, in cooperation with PBS’ “Frontline” and other news organizations, conducted a review of…
Allegations of neglect and abuse in three different Michigan nursing homes have led to fines, firings, and lawsuits. Investigations uncovered horrific conditions in all three, including patient abuse, lack of proper hygiene and sanitation, and possible whistle-blower retaliation. The Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service (MPAS) reviewed nursing homes in sixteen…
A Kansas nurse accused of tampering with nursing home medications pleaded guilty to one count of adulteration of a drug and one count of consumer product tampering in a Topeka federal court at the end of November. Melanie Morrison admitted to diluting morphine solutions at the nursing home in Salina…
A former nursing home aide in Ohio has pleaded guilty to seven criminal charges related to evidence that she abused a patient in her care. Another aide is scheduled to go to trial in January on one count of abusing the same patient. Evidence of abuse was captured on hidden…
Two workers at a Staten Island nursing home lost their licenses as a result of the beating of a developmentally disabled resident. They also pleaded guilty to violating state health laws, and neither will work in health care again. The home itself was reportedly not cited with any violations. The…
A fire at a nursing home in Charlotte, North Carolina injured two residents in February 2011. One of the victims was reportedly burned trying to help the other resident put the flames out. The names of the two victims have not been released. Both survived their injuries, although initial reports…