Nursing Home Negligence

Legislature Aims to Eliminate Arbitration Clauses in Nursing Homes to Protect Seniors

October 18, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As our Baltimore nursing home attorneys reported in a recent blog, fighting forced arbitration in nursing homes has long been a problem, as many residents and families unknowingly sign away their right to seek justice when filling out complicated contracts for long-term resident care.

According to a recent report by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), systemic nursing home abuse and neglect is not revealed in many homes due to nursing home arbitration clauses found in the fine print of admission contracts—that residents and their families rarely see, not realizing that they are signing away their rights to access court.

The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2009 was introduced last year by Representative Linda Sanchez of California, and would eliminate forced arbitration clauses in nursing home and long-term care contracts. The act would reportedly provide that a pre-dispute arbitration agreement between a long-term care facility or nursing home and a resident or family member acting on the resident’s behalf, would not be valid or specifically enforceable.

Abuse of Elders in Nursing Homes Revealed by Civil Justice System

October 13, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a new study released recently by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the civil justice system was found to be the most effective method for revealing nursing home abuse by corporate-run homes, as well as uncovering insurance companies who take advantage and even target elderly residents.

Our Baltimore, Maryland nursing home abuse attorneys have been following the report, entitled, “Standing up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” The study claims that there are 1.5 million seniors living in nursing facilities, many of which are run by large corporation chains as investments, focusing on profit and not care. The AAJ report also reveals that many nursing home residents have experienced severe nursing home abuse and neglect, leading to wrongful death from infections or dehydration, caused by improper resident care. The report on seniors reportedly reveals how litigation has helped residents and families ensure that corporations are held accountable for this neglect and abuse, and reveal the systemic problem in homes today.

The AAJ’s report also finds insurance companies accountable for taking advantage of elderly residents and senior citizens. In one case, a former farmer from South Dakota, reportedly enlisted long-term health care insurance in the 1990’s. After moving into a nursing facility, his benefits were reportedly severely reduced, even thought he paid his premium every month. The insurance company reportedly declared that his healthcare was no longer medically necessary.

Thousands of elderly individuals have reportedly experienced similar treatment as insurance companies have wrongly estimated rates of mortality, and found ways to deny seniors’ claims and terminate benefits.

According to the report, while litigation has helped to stop these corporate practices, and systemic nursing home abuse and neglect, many offenses are still not reportedly revealed due to the nursing home arbitration clauses embedded in contracts, that residents and families of the residents rarely see, not realizing that their rights to access court are being taken away from them. Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced legislation last year aiming to eliminate forced arbitration in nursing home contracts.

Another Minnesota Family Files Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in South Dakota

October 6, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As nursing home abuse attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland, we recently reported in a blog on a series of lawsuits against Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, Minnesota, by families of a nursing home abuse victims—after an investigation revealed nearly half a year of alleged nursing home abuse in 2008.

A recent article from the Argus Leader reports that yet another lawsuit has been filed against the nursing home in the U.S. District Court of South Dakota, as the Evangelical Good Samaritan Society’s corporate offices are based in South Dakota. In Minnesota, civil suits reportedly die with the abuse victim, but the abuse and assault claims are still open for South Dakota litigation.

According to the lawsuit, Sylvia Wulff, now deceased, was one of the victims of the alleged nursing home abuse in Good Samaritan Society’s facility. Wulff’s family reportedly filed the lawsuit on September 29 in Sioux Falls, claiming that the company failed to monitor the staff, and properly screen the employees. Wulff is the sixth deceased victim who has had a lawsuit filed in South Dakota.

Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson were charged earlier this year with civil assault, disorderly conduct by a caregiver, abuse of vulnerable elders, and failure to report abuse, among other charges. In August, Briotzman pleaded guilty to three counts of disorderly conduct by a caregiver. Four other women, who were teenagers at the time, were reportedly charged in the case as juveniles with failure to report abuse.

According to the investigation by the Minnesota Department of Health, Larson and Broitzman were found to have allegedly encouraged young staff members at the facility to routinely abuse fifteen dementia and Alzheimer’s nursing home residents in a sexual, emotional, and physical way, while videotaping the abuse.

Nursing Home Victim’s Family Hopes Wrongful Death Settlement Will Help to Educate Others

September 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a blog from last week, our Prince George’s nursing home injury attorneys reported on a wrongful death lawsuit, where Cynthia Wilms, a rehabilitation patient died in a nursing and rehabilitation facility from an infection that the lawsuit alleged was due to negligence and chronic understaffing.

In a new article published this week by the Capital Times, the newspaper interviewed Cynthia Wilms’ family, who told their own story of the nursing home abuse and neglect that allegedly lead to Wilms’ wrongful death.

Wilms was 72 when she was admitted to The Willows Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on July 30, 2007 to recover from hip replacement surgery. Wilms’ family claimed that although the surgery went very well, Wilms developed a staph infection at the site of the surgical wound, after being transferred to the facility. While staying at Willows, Wilms’ infection reportedly went untreated, and no important measures were taken to stop the infection. Wilms died from sepsis less than two months later, on September 13, 2007.

Phillip Wilms claimed that his wife’s health problems started the moment she arrived at the facility—her wheelchair was too small and didn’t function properly, the mattress on Wilms’ bed was too long, creating a uncomfortable “hammock” effect, and the wheels on her bed were broken, along with the bed’s ability to go up and down. The wheels on the table by the bed were also not functioning properly, and were reportedly caked with dust, dirt and hair. The were no phones in the room, and only way patients could communicate for help was to press the call button, although Phillip Wilms claimed it would take staff at least an hour to respond to any pleas for help.

Maryland to Receive $1.7 M in HHS Grants to Help Seniors and Disabled Individuals in Homes

September 28, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore nursing home attorneys have been following the recent news release that the state of Maryland is slated to collect around $1.7 million in grants by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to help disabled people, seniors, and their health care givers to better comprehend and explore their long-term health care options.

The Maryland grants are reportedly being distributed by HHS as part of a new program under the Affordable Care Act. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced yesterday that under the act, around $68 million in grants will be awarded to states, tribal and community-based organizations, and territories across the country.

Sebelius stated that the Affordable Care Act will help to give individuals more power to make decisions about finding quality health care in nursing homes or rehabilitation facilities— to improve the level of care, and reduce the cost.

The national funds will reportedly be used for programs that will aim to help disabled people and the elderly and their families and caregivers to better comprehend their benefits under Medicaid and Medicare. The grant money is also intended to help seniors and disabled individuals to better understand their long-term health care options, including those that help people to remain with in nursing homes, and those to help ease the transition for people who are moving back to their home residents, after residing in a nursing home or rehabilitation facility.

The Danger of Sepsis in Nursing Homes

September 27, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog, our nursing home abuse and negligence attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland discussed the danger of sepsis in nursing homes, a leading cause of death among elderly residents.

Sepsis is a deadly blood disease that forms a massive infection in the body, resulting in blood poisoning. In nursing homes across the country, sepsis often results from an infection of surgical wounds, surgical drains, intravenous lines, and stage IV pressure sores, or decubitus ulcers, and is often associated with nursing home neglect and abuse.

It is reported that every year, over 200,000 people in this country die from different forms of sepsis. Sepsis usually begins as an infection and spreads quickly, causing tissue damage, organ failure and also death. Sepsis is very dangerous with nursing home residents, as their immune systems are often weak.

Preventative measures for sepsis in nursing homes include early detection and treatment of infected areas, like pressure sores, a leading cause of nursing home injury that affects nearly one million Americans every year. As our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys reported in a blog, pressure sores often develop after a resident stays in one position for too long, which causes a restriction of the resident’s blood supply to the skin, wherein pressure sores form due to the unrelieved pressure.

Nursing home residents who are elderly and have restricted movement are highly susceptible to bed sores, and if the sores go untreated, they can lead to bacterial sepsis. Many cases of advanced pressure sores are often the result of nursing home neglect, and many times lead to a resident’s death. Nursing home staff should pay special attention to elderly residents who are at risk for developing bed sores, or sepsis, in order to prevent nursing home injury or wrongful death. Around 60,000 people are reported to die every year from some form of complication surrounding the more advanced stages of pressure sores.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settled—Resident’s Family To Receive $2.24 M

September 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland nursing home negligence attorneys recently discussed a wrongful death settlement of 43.5 million in a blog, after a nursing home operator was found responsible for negligence that allegedly led to a resident’s death.

In another recent wrongful death lawsuit settlement from this week that our attorneys have been following, a Wisconsin nursing home will pay $2.25 million, after a resident died in the home from an infection.

According to the lawsuit, Cynthia Wilms was a patient at the Willows Nursing and Rehabilitation Center after a 2007 hip replacement surgery. The home is being accused of neglecting Wilms’ surgical wound, which led to sepsis, a blood disease that forms when bacteria enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. Sepsis is a potentially lethal condition that progresses rapidly and can lead to organ failure. Wilms died a few weeks after the surgery.

In nursing homes across the country, sepsis often results from an infection of surgical wounds, surgical drains, intravenous lines, and stage IV pressure sores, and is often associated with nursing home neglect and abuse. Sepsis is very dangerous with nursing home residents, as their immune systems are often weak. Sepsis can cause death, as it is a blood infection that travels through the body rapidly. It is reported that every year, over 200,000 people in the United States die from different forms of sepsis.

Nursing Home Operator To Pay $43.5M in Wrongful Death Lawsuit—And Faces Federal Fraud Charges

September 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Washington D.C. nursing home injury attorneys have been following the recent news that the former operator of a nursing home was found responsible for the wrongful death of an elderly resident by a Georgia jury—who set the damages at $43 million.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit, Morris Ellison, a former resident at a nursing facility in Rome, was admitted to the facility in 2006, and experienced nursing home falls multiple times—in once case breaking his hip. The home reportedly failed to alert either Ellison’s doctors or his family after he experienced the injuries. When Ellison died the following April at the age of 80, Ellison’s daughter, Loretta Terhune, accused the nursing home of failing to provide her father with proper nursing home care.

The former nursing home operator, George D. Houser, 62, reportedly oversaw Forum Group, the company that operated the Moran Lake Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, and according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is also facing federal charges for stealing $30 million from the Medicaid and Medicare program funding—payments that were to provide proper care and treatment for the nursing residents at three of Houser’s homes. Federal prosecutors are reportedly accusing Houser and his wife, who is also facing federal charges, of fraud, for using the money to purchase luxury items and real estate.

Skilled Healthcare Announces Nursing Home Lawsuit Settlement—After Recent $677 M Verdict

September 8, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a previous blog, our nursing home negligence attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland discussed a recent lawsuit verdict, where a jury handed Skilled Healthcare Group Inc., a nursing home company based in California, a $677 million verdict over nursing home negligence due to understaffing in the homes.

According to Bloomberg news, Skilled Healthcare announced a $50 million lawsuit settlement today, in an effort to avoid the $677 million verdict in damages—what Bloomberg calls the largest award announced in the U.S. this year, by the Humboldt County jury in July.

In the July verdict, Skilled Healthcare was found to be negligent for violating state regulations by failing to properly staff the number of nurses required for duty in the 22 facilities throughout California.

According to California State law, nursing homes are required to provide 3.2 hours of direct skilled nursing care per day, per patient. The federal recommendation standard for nursing requirements is reportedly 4.1 nursing hours per patient. As part of the settlement, the facilities operating the nursing homes will be responsible for providing the legally mandated nurse staffing, and complying with federal and state regulations on staffing.

For-profit Nursing Home Industry Slammed in $677 Million Nursing Home Verdict

September 1, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Washington D.C. nursing home negligence attorneys, we have been watching a recent lawsuit where a Humboldt County jury slapped a California nursing home company with a $677 million verdict over staffing.

According to Cindy Cool, whose father was a resident of Eureka Healthcare and Rehabilitation and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, she would often come to visit the home and find her father wearing clothes that were soaked in urine, due to nursing home negligence. Cool claimed that it would often take more than 20 minutes to find a staff member to help care for her father.

Cool is a member of the class-action lawsuit that represents over 30,000 patients that blame the nursing home for abuse and negligence due to staff shortages—a reportedly common complaint with for-profit nursing homes across the country, that homes are more concerned with money than the nursing home care. Cool provided a key testimony last month, which led to the jury deciding on a $677 million verdict.

Cool’s father lived in a home that is operated by Skilled Healthcare, and last month the jury found that the public corporation violated state regulations numerous times, by failing to maintain the number of nurses required for duty, 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day, in its 22 nursing homes throughout the state. The federal recommendation standard for nursing requirements is 4.1 nursing hours per patient.