Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

New Trend in Nursing Home Abuse: Resident-On-Resident Abuse

February 26, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Nursing home neglect and abuse have always been a concern to families who are considering placing a loved one in a nursing home. Until the recent past, most of these concerns were focused on the staff members who were charged with caring for nursing home residents. However, more recently, there has been an increase in the instances of resident-on-resident abuse in nursing homes across the country, including here in Maryland.

Resident-On-Resident Abuse and Who Is Responsible

The recent trend of resident-on-resident abuse is certainly alarming, and it gives rise to the question of who can be held responsible when such abuse occurs. Often, the abusive resident may not have the mental faculties to completely understand what they are doing, and even if they do possess a wrongful intent, they often do not have the ability to make the victim whole again.

This concern has led some to look to others, most notably nursing home administration, for answers. Those who run a nursing home have a duty to ensure the safety of their residents in most situations. While there are some unforeseeable events that may not give rise to nursing home liability, courts have held that nursing home administration does have a duty to protect against resident-on-resident abuse. Thus, when a resident is abused by another resident, there may be a civil cause of action against the nursing home that failed to provide the necessary supervision over one or both of the parties involved.

Nurse Charged with Abusing Patient and Falsifying Business Records to Cover It Up

February 15, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Nurses, like doctors and other medical professionals, are held to a high standard. Like nurses elsewhere, nurses in a skilled nursing facility are charged with caring for people who are not capable of caring for themselves. Specifically, these nurses care mostly for an elderly population who often suffer from advanced forms of physical and mental illnesses and diseases.

However, nurses are humans and are prone to making mistakes, making errors in judgment, and becoming frustrated or angry. Unlike many other medical professionals, however, nursing home employees are often left alone with their patients. This leads to a situation in which a nurse can, unfortunately, act with impunity in regard to how they interact with their patient. In some cases, even when residents report that they have been neglected or abused, the nurse responds with a blanket denial, knowing very well that it will be difficult to prove a case against them.

Nurses have even been known to go as far as altering the nursing home records in an attempt to cover up what happened between the nurse and the resident. That is exactly what is alleged to have occurred in a New York nursing home earlier this month. According to one local news source, a 28-year-old nurse was accused of abusing one of her patients back in December of last year. Specifically, the nurse allegedly slapped the elderly patient’s hands and wrists against a bedside table, covered her mouth, and threw her feet around in a rough manner.

Wrongful Death Lawsuits Against Negligent Nursing Homes

February 12, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While nursing homes are supposed to be a safe place for our loved ones, sometimes that is not the case. Two of the most serious problems almost all nursing homes face are understaffing and inexperienced nurses. These problems can result in serious symptoms seen in the home’s day-to-day management. For example, overworked and inexperienced employees often feel as though they never get a break, and they may become frustrated with not just the home’s management but also their patients.

This frustration is dangerous. Most nursing home residents are placed in homes because they cannot care for themselves and require that others help them with their day-to-day tasks, such as bathing, using the bathroom, personal grooming, taking medication, and visiting the doctor. When a nurse or other nursing home employee is too frustrated to deal with an employee, they may neglect the needs of that individual. In a vulnerable population like the elderly, this can result in serious or fatal consequences.

Maryland law allows for the families of nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence victims to file a civil lawsuit against the home as well as the offending employees. Of course, in order to bring such a lawsuit, a plaintiff will need to establish that they are related to the resident. They must also prove that the nursing home’s negligence or intentional misconduct resulted in the injuries sustained by their loved one. If they are successful, the family member may be entitled to monetary compensation for the suffering their loved one was forced to endure.

Psychological Abuse in Nursing Homes

February 5, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

One of the basic duties of a nursing home is that it cares for people who can no longer care for themselves. While some residents are in nursing homes because they can no longer physically manage their day-to-day routine, many others are in nursing homes due to a wide array of mental health issues and other diseases that affect the brain, such as Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

These residents are especially susceptible to all kinds of abuse, since they lack a lucid understanding of the events around them as well as an ability to explain to others what they are feeling. Sadly, this susceptibility to abuse is often taken advantage of by cruel or sadistic nursing home staff who torment the residents.

This kind of psychological abuse is troubling for the obvious reason that it is clearly a violation of the nursing home’s duty to protect and care for the resident. However, it is also alarming because abuse rarely stops at the psychological level. In other words, if an abusive nursing home employee is willing to engage in psychological abuse, there is little stopping them from engaging in physical or sexual abuse as well.

Sexual Abuse in Maryland Nursing Homes

January 29, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While it is unimaginable to most people, sexual abuse in nursing homes is more than just a vague possibility. It’s a real threat in nursing homes across the country. With the advent of modern medicine, people are living longer lives. And with the cultural shift of both spouses working and thus being unable to care for an aging loved one, more and more people are ending up at nursing homes.

Of course, any kind of abuse that occurs behind the walls of a nursing home is disturbing, whether it be emotional, psychological, physical, or sexual. However, sexual abuse is particularly upsetting. It may come as a surprise, however, that nursing home staff are not the only ones engaging in the abuse. With that said, the fact that the abuse does not occur at the hands of a staff member does not absolve the nursing home staff and its administration from liability if such abuse does occur. This is because nursing homes have an affirmative duty to reasonably protect their residents, even if the threat comes from another resident.

Resident-On-Resident Abuse in Nursing Homes

Earlier this week in Washington, one nursing home director lost his license for failing to recognize and react to sexual abuse that was occurring in his nursing home. According to one local news report, there were several instances of abuse that nursing home staff saw and reported to the higher ups, and nothing was done.

What You Can Do to Help Detect Nursing Home Abuse

January 22, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While most of us would rather not think about it, the unfortunate reality is that nursing home abuse and neglect are two very real problems that plague the nursing home industry across the United States. While nursing homes and the employees that work there are required by law to treat those in their care with the utmost dignity and respect, the reality of what goes on behind closed doors often doesn’t match the ideal that the law imposes.

By almost every account, nursing home abuse and neglect figures are not accurately reflected by almost any study. This is because there is a gross lack of reporting when it comes to these problems. This is for several reasons, including:

A resident’s inability to effectively communicate what is happening to them, due to a medical condition;
A resident’s failure to tell loved ones what is happening to them because they fear for their own safety or are embarrassed to do so;
A resident’s complaints of abuse or neglect falling on unsympathetic or skeptical ears; and
A lack of hard, physical evidence documenting the abuse or neglect.

However, the fact remains that nursing home abuse occurs every day across the State of Maryland, and often with no one knowing about it besides the resident and the abusive employee.

Nursing Home Abuse Is Often Covered Up by Administration

January 15, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When someone places their loved one in a nursing home, they expect that the employees at the facility will put the health and safety of their loved one first. However, this is not always the case. Nursing home employees are often over-worked and end up working long hours without breaks. Nurses are human, and sometimes they snap, lashing out in an abusive manner at the very residents they are supposed to be caring for.

To make matters worse, when this abuse does happen, the nursing home administration often acts to cover up any evidence of the alleged neglect or abuse in hopes of keeping the incident under the radar. Administration tries to cover up the evidence because if the authorities do find out, the home can be fined thousands of dollars. Additionally, if the loved ones of the resident affected by the abuse or neglect find out, they can file a civil suit for monetary damages against the nursing home employees and administration, potentially resulting in a substantial payout by the nursing home.

Proving a case against a nursing home employee or administration can be difficult enough, even without the home’s administration hiding or destroying evidence. This is because discovering competent and admissible evidence of abuse or neglect is often difficult. For example, residents often have few people to go to when reporting the abuse, and their claims may not always fall on listening ears. However, the reality is that nursing home abuse and neglect are very real problems.

Nursing Home Abuse Doesn’t Require Physical Contact

January 8, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When most people hear the phrase “nursing home abuse,” images are often conjured of an elderly patient in a dark room being attended by a physically abusive nursing home employee. To be sure, this behavior does occur in nursing homes across Maryland, but that level of conduct far exceeds the lower boundaries of what is considered nursing home abuse under the law.

Nursing homes have a duty to care for and provide adequate care to those whom they accept into their care. When this duty is violated, nursing home management as well as the individual employee or employees engaging in the abuse may be held liable in a civil court of law.

Nursing home abuse can occur any time a nursing home employee violates the rights or dignities of a patient. While this certainly includes physical abuse, it extends far past it. For example, emotional abuse, financial abuse, psychological abuse, and invasion of a resident’s privacy can also be grounds for a nursing home abuse lawsuit.

Doctrine of Equitable Tolling May Save Some Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuits from Dismissal

December 29, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a case that involved allegations of nursing home negligence that were filed after the applicable statute of limitations outlined in the Federal Tort Claims Act. In the case, Hawver v. United States, the plaintiff may be given the opportunity to show the court that equitable factors justified the late filing of the case.

The Facts of the Case

Briefly, the relevant facts of Hawver v. United States are as follows. Hawver claimed that a federally run nursing facility was responsible for the death of her mother, based on the negligent care they provided while she was in the facility’s care. Hawver filed her case in federal district court, invoking the court’s subject matter jurisdiction. This is important because federal courts cannot hear every case between two parties. There must be a question of federal law, the case must involve a federal agency or employee, or the case must arise between parties from two different states and have a certain minimum amount in controversy. Here, the plaintiff was filing suit in federal court based on the fact that the nursing facility was federally qualified.

Understaffing: The Number One Cause of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

December 15, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Nursing homes are charged with caring for elderly loved ones when a family cannot take up the task. Most nursing homes, as well as the nurses and other people whom they employ, care deeply about the residents in their facility and will do whatever they can to ensure a safe and pleasant stay. However, nursing homes are businesses, and because of that there is often a tension between what is best for the resident and what is best for the bottom line. This is nowhere more evident that in the context of staffing.

Nursing homes are very labor-intensive to run. The very nature of the business is to care for people with varying needs and often substantial ones. While there are no laws governing staff-to-resident ratios, it is fair to assume that the lower the ratio, the less individual attention each resident is getting. In some cases, the ratio gets so low that there are not enough nurses to care for the patients in the home. It is under these circumstances that nursing home abuse or neglect is most likely to occur.

Nurses are human, and like all other humans they are capable of getting frustrated and upset, especially when they are overworked. Even a nurse with the best of intentions can lose her temper with a resident if she has no assistance and has been on her feet for the past 10 hours. It is for this reason that nursing home management, in addition to the individual nurses, need to be held liable when an injury does occur.