Nursing Home Abuse

Arkansas Nursing Home Cited for Abuse and Neglect

August 25, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in Arkansas, a local nursing home and care facility was cited for abuse and neglect of patients by the Department of Health and Human Services. According to a report by one local news source, the nursing home was cited for several failures, including:

Failure to provide proper supervision during patient transfers, resulting in a high instance of patient injuries. In one instance, a patient fell off a mechanical lift and hit her head on the ground.
Inadequate nurse training regarding the equipment that is used to move patients to and from their beds. Employees reported not being instructed at all on how to use this equipment that is crucial to their job.

The Department of Health and Human Services interviewed several employees about the level of training they received to use the mechanical lifts used to move residents. Not one employee told the Department that he or she had been adequately trained to use the lifts. In fact, the only employees who reported receiving any training told the Department that they only received the training after the woman fell off the lift.

Nursing Home Nightmare in Oklahoma

July 21, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

One family in Oklahoma is having a hard time after getting their bruised and battered loved one out of the nursing home that they claim caused his condition. According to a report by a local Oklahoma news source, the family had a difficult time getting the nursing home to cooperate after they claimed that the nursing home abused their loved one.

Evidently, the man was in the nursing home for a short time recovering from a recent illness. While he was there, the family discovered that their loved one had been abused while in the care of the nursing home.

The elderly man—a Vietnam veteran—claims that one of the nurses in the facility punched him in his stomach; there are bruises to corroborate his story. Apparently, when the nursing home was confronted about the bruises, they could not explain where they came from. When the family claimed that their loved one was being abused by the nursing home, the nursing home stopped giving the elderly man his medication.

North Carolina Cites Nursing Home for Inadequate Care and Abuse

July 14, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yet another story of nursing home abuse, a North Carolina nursing home was recently cited by the State in relation to a patient’s death caused by injuries he sustained while fighting with a nursing home staff member. According to a report by a local news source, the nursing home was cited by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for “failing to keep residents free from abuse.”

Evidently, the elderly patient suffered from dementia, a seizure disorder, and other ailments. At some point during his stay, he was involved in a scuffle with nursing home staff and sustained serious injuries. He was hospitalized for his injuries, but 15 days later he died from the injuries. The patient died while in hospice care.

The nursing home denies any wrongdoing but commented that they will try to do better in the future.

Condom Found in Nursing Home Resident’s Stomach

July 7, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a truly disturbing story out of Chicago earlier this month, a nursing home is being sued after a procedure conducted on one of its patients revealed a condom inside the patient’s stomach. According to a report by CBS Chicago, the patient was a resident at Westchester Health And Rehabilitation Center between January 2010 and June 2012. At some point in June 2012, the patient was taken to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding and low hemoglobin levels.

Upon conducting the required procedure, the doctor noticed something strange in the patient’s stomach. According to the doctor’s own description, “it look liked it was a condom and it was about 6 to 7 inches long with hardened material inside.”

The patient was bedridden and nonverbal at the time of the procedure, and had been so of some time before as well. He underwent the same procedure back in 2010, so the condom must have entered the man’s body sometime between January 2010 and June 2012. A loved one of the patient brought a lawsuit against both the nursing home as well as the hospital, because the man had been admitted to the hospital 14 times over the course of the two year period and it was possible it could have occurred at the hospital.

Two Charged with Elder Abuse after Videotaping the Abuse

May 20, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, police caught up with two employees of the Emeritus at Farm Pond in Framingham, Massachusetts, who had videotaped themselves abusing elderly residents in the nursing facility. According to a report by a local news affiliate, one of the employees had several videos on her phone detailing a number of abusive situations including:

One video of a female employee hitting a 78-year-old Alzheimer’s patient on the arms, flicking her ears, and then pinching her nose closed. Once the woman was let go, the employee wiped mucus from the patient’s nose and rubbed it on her mouth.

Another video shows a male employee taking a boxing stance opposite a 71-year-old Alzheimer’s patient, slapping the patient as he tried to defend himself. When the man turned away to escape the assault, the employee slapped the man on the buttocks, nearly knocking him over.

There were also photos of partially nude residents on the female employee’s phone.

In an interview with investigators, the female employee claimed that the attacks were a poor attempt at humor, indicating no ill-will towards the patients. The male employee claimed that his behavior was necessary to get the man back into the room which he was supposed to be in. He did not comment when asked if he thought that there was a better way of handling the situation.

Both employees have been fired from the nursing facility and are facing criminal charges of assault and battery against an elderly person. The female employee is also facing charges of unauthorized nude photography.

Seventeen Employees of Michigan Nursing Home Facing Charges for Patient Abuse

May 13, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Seventeen employees of the Highpointe nursing facility have been accused of patient abuse and will be facing charges filed by the State’s Attorney General. According to a report by BuffaloNews.com, the employees are all facing felony charges for alleged abuse committed against patients. Highpointe is owned and operated by a larger corporation, Kalieda Health, which owns several nursing home facilities.

Highpointe is a 300-bed facility that cost $64 million to build back in 2011, when it first opened. In the most recent report, the nursing home was operating at 97% occupancy (April).

Over the past few years, Highpointe has had a higher-than-average complaint ratio, averaging 44.8 per 100 residents. The average is closer to 34 per 100 residents. The nursing home also had more citations issued after inspection than comparable nursing homes. For instance, in 2014, the citation ration was 6.6 per 100 occupied beds, which was almost three times the rate for other nursing homes in the area.

Maryland Nurse Convicted of Sexual Abuse Against Pregnant Patient

April 9, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In truly disturbing news out of Ohio earlier this week, a Maryland man was convicted of abusing a patient after having unwanted sexual contact with a pregnant patient. He plead guilty to the charge and is now serving his sentence of 11 to 60 days in jail and 2 years of probation. He will also be forced to register as a sex offender for 15 years. According to a report by the Baltimore Sun, the man was a nurse in Ohio but was found and arrested in Maryland. He is serving time in an Ohio jail for the offense.

The man had a record of assaulting patients in Ohio. Back in 2012, at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, he was accused of touching the breast of a woman during her delivery. He also forced her to touch his penis over his pants.

In the most recent case, the man initially plead not guilty to more serious charges, but accepted a plea bargain. He does not have any patient complaints, nor a criminal record, here in Maryland. It is unclear if the man was working as a nurse after the incident but before his arrest.

Nursing Home Employee Facing Assault Charges for the Abuse of a Resident

April 2, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in Pennsylvania, a nursing home employee was charged with the assault of an elderly patient for whom she was in charge of caring for. According to a report by a local news agency, the nursing home employee was employed by Guardian Elder Care Center.

The court documents indicate that the patient got into a fight with the nursing aide, and the aide eventually covered her face with a pillow, took some of her belongings, and the left her room. The aide responded that the patient was scratching and biting her, and she held down the patient to prevent injury to herself. She denies covering the patient’s face with a pillow.

The elderly patient, who suffers from dementia, did not suffer permanent injury although she was traumatized by the incident. Other patients in the nursing home have expressed their surprise that the aide lashed out the way she did, explaining “I’m shocked. I didn’t think she was, I didn’t think she was that type. She didn’t look like the mean type.”

Indiana Nurse Prosecuted for Death of Elderly Nursing Home Resident

February 10, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A former nurse is on trial for her role in the death of a 77-year-old nursing home resident that occurred last December. According to a story by WCPO Cincinnati, a witness who was at the nursing home visiting her mother witnessed the abuse that led to the patient’s death.

Apparently, during the woman’s visit with her mother, she witnessed the nurse “yelling at the patient, physically trying to move her from the walker in a pretty violent matter.” Later, the patient lost consciousness in the bathroom, and within 15 minutes she was dead.

About one week later, once allegations of wrongdoing came to light, the nurse was fired by the nursing home facility. In a public statement, the nursing home explained that, “[t]he facility is fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation and will continue to remain committed to providing quality care to the residents on a daily basis.”

The nurse will go to trial later this year and is facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

D.C. Court of Appeals Examines Meaning of Reckless Indifference in Criminal Neglect of Vulnerable Adult Appeal

November 25, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The D.C. Court of Appeals decided earlier this year in the appeal of a certified nursing assistant who was convicted of criminal neglect of a vulnerable adult.

The case, TARPEH v. US, 62 A. 3d 1266 – D.C. Ct. App (2013), centers on a discussion of what it means to be criminally reckless, as to meet the standard required to convict someone of criminal neglect of a vulnerable adult.

In Tarpeh, the appellant was a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), and was assigned the atypical task of transporting a patient, whose residence unit she did not typically work within, to a dental appointment in the D.C. area, an area in which she had never been. The result was essentially a disaster.