Nursing Home Negligence

Woman Files Suit Against Nursing Home After Her Sister’s Death

April 24, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in nearby West Virginia, a woman filed suit against the nursing home that was in charge of caring for her sister after she discovered evidence that led her to believe the nursing home was negligent in her sister’s care. According to a report by one local news source, the woman is seeking compensatory damages for the injuries her sister sustained, including compensation for her sister’s pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, physical impairment, and loss of capacity to enjoy life, as well as the aggravation of existing diseases and physical defects. She is also seeking compensation for the medical expenses her sister incurred as well as for her sister’s premature death.

According to the article, the woman’s sister was admitted to the nursing home in November 2012, and she stayed there almost a year before passing away. During that time, the woman claims, the nursing home exhibited several lapses in care, including:

Failure to monitor her sister’s worsening skin condition;
Failure to implement a treatment plan for the breakdown of her sister’s skin;
Failure to turn and reposition her sister while she was in bed;
Failure to implement measures to prevent her sister from falling; and
Failure to keep her family informed of her sister’s worsening overall condition.

Abusive Nursing Home Employee Confesses to Punching Resident

April 10, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, a Michigan man was arrested and charged with Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult for the alleged abuse of a nursing home resident at the home where he worked. According to a local Michigan news report, the resident suffered from dementia and had only been at the nursing home facility for six days before the abuse occurred.

Evidently, the abusive employee became frustrated with the Alzheimer’s patient and began to get violent. In fact, the employee recently confessed to “punching, pushing, [and] sitting on [the resident] five times during his shift of March 11, 2015 when he was agitated with [the resident].” The abuse resulted in deep purplish-blue bruises on the resident’s back, chest, chin and torso. The abusive employee faces up to two years in prison as a maximum sentence.

According to the article mentioned above, the very same nursing home was fined almost $15,000 just two years ago for several incidents, including the death of one patient who allegedly didn’t receive CPR when he should have.

West Virginia Man Sues Nursing Home for Several Alleged Lapses in Care

March 20, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, a West Virginia resident filed a lawsuit on behalf of his female client against a nursing home at which his client had recently resided. According to one local West Virginia news source, the man is pursuing claims against the nursing home based on the home’s alleged negligence in caring for his client as well as purported physical abuse she endured while in the home’s care. Evidently, the lawsuit was filed at the end of 2014, for events that occurred earlier that year. While there are no specifics about what is alleged to have happened, the court paperwork suggests that the plaintiff’s claims are based on the nursing home’s alleged failure to live up to the duty which it assumed when it accepted the woman as a resident.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the home “failed to properly hire, train, retain, manage, supervise and otherwise oversee the staff to ensure compliance with applicable care and staffing standards and failed to provide [her] with a safe environment.”

Newly Filed Lawsuit Claims Nursing Home Responsible for Amputation of Patient’s Leg

February 13, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed against a Florida nursing home after a former resident had to undergo a partial leg amputation that he alleged was due to the sub-standard care he received while staying at the nursing home. According to a report by one local news source, the nursing home named in the lawsuit had been fined over $4,500 over the past several years for various violations.

Evidently, the plaintiff in the current case was suffering from an infection on his second toe. At first, doctors told the man that the toe would need to be amputated, but that the leg was fine. However, after further investigation, doctors determined that the man needed to have his leg amputated just above the knee.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, who had only stayed at the nursing home for five months at the time of the accident, also suffered numerous falls while in their care.

Connecticut Nursing Home Cited for Several Failures in Care

January 30, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, a local Connecticut newspaper published a long list of local nursing homes that had been cited by the state’s department of health for failures in nursing homes. One of those failures resulted in the preventable death of a resident.

According to the report, back in November of last year, one local nursing home in Connecticut was fined $1,020 for a failure in care that led to a resident’s death. One of the residents at Bridgeport Manor died last October of a cardiac arrest after an oversight of the nursing home staff sent her to the hospital.

Apparently, the woman was admitted to the nursing home with throat cancer and had a tracheostomy tube. One night, nursing home staff found the woman on the floor with the tube dislodged. However, the nursing staff failed to call for help immediately and waited 20 minutes to do so.

Nursing Home Blamed for Resident’s Death after She Falls Out of Wheelchair

January 16, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in southern Minnesota, an elderly woman died as a result of injuries she sustained when she fell out of her wheelchair in a local nursing home. According to a report by one news source, the woman’s care plan included the use of footrests for her wheelchair. However, at the time of the accident, the footrests were not installed on the chair.

Evidently, the footrests were lying behind her bed, out of sight of the nursing home staff, and were not installed on the woman’s wheelchair. As she was being pushed to the dining area, the woman’s foot got caught under the chair, and she was thrown from the chair. As she fell off of the wheelchair, she struck her head on the floor, sustaining serious head and neck injuries. Specifically, she suffered a bleeding in the brain, a fractured vertebrae in the neck, and a dislocated and broken shoulder.

After the accident, the woman was admitted to Hospice care, and she passed away two days later. When asked about the oversight, the nursing assistant told the nursing home director one thing and fellow employees another. First, she told the director that the wheelchair footrests didn’t fit on the woman’s chair. However, later she told fellow employees that she forgot to install the footrests.

Another Report of an Abusive Nursing Home Aide

January 9, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Nursing homes are hardly known for the diligent and caring staff members they choose to hire. In fact, the opposite is often true. It seems that lately there have been countless news reports of abusive aides getting into physical altercations with elderly residents.

In the most recent of these reports, an elderly Guatemalan woman was mistreated and abused in a Culver City, California nursing home facility. According to one local news report, the elderly woman had a colostomy bag that collected her feces. As a part of the care that was to be provided to her, her nurses and nurse’s aides were to periodically empty the bag. However, one of the nurse’s aides used the opportunity to assault the woman with a hook that held the bag at the woman’s side when the woman asked for the aide to be less rough with her.

Two Connecticut Nursing Homes Fined for Falling Below Acceptable Standards

October 1, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in Connecticut, two nursing homes were fined by the State’s Department of Public Health in connection with various reports of substandard care. According to a report by one local news source, the allegations involved verbal abuse, unmonitored bedsores, and the care of a patient who fell 15 times in just four months.

Evidently, one nursing home was fined $1,650 after it was discovered that residents repeatedly fell while they were unsupervised and alone. In the case of one man who fell 15 times between January 5 and May 18, he was discovered several times on his own in the meal area, lost, at times when meals were not being served.

Nursing home employees had to undergo additional training earlier this year, but that training seemed to have little impact on the quality of care that was being provided to residents. Residents continued to fall off the toilet, in the shower, and in common areas while unsupervised.

Texas Nursing Home Blamed for Seven Deaths

September 9, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Towards the end of August, authorities filed suit against a Texas nursing home, claiming that the nursing home’s gross negligence caused the deaths of seven residents. According to a report by one local news source, attorneys for the families showed reporters some pictures of the deceased, one woman with maggots in her ear as a result of a massive infection she sustained at the nursing home.

Evidently, there are several other anecdotal stories that the plaintiffs have, including a bed sore on one man’s back so deep that his bone can be seen in the photograph. Other residents claim that they had been “soaked” in feces and urine for hours on end.

The nursing home’s record is not stellar, either. According to the report, they received four violations for “Level 4 Deficiencies,” meaning that a home resident’s wellbeing was put in immediate jeopardy. The home also has two wrongful death suits against it pending on appeal.

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.