Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

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.

Former Nursing Home Employee Faces Criminal Charges for Alleged Abuse

February 6, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, a young man faced criminal charges for the alleged abuse of a nursing home resident back in October of last year. According to one local news report, the young man was seen holding the door shut while an elderly patient was trying to get out of her room.

Evidently, the young man was also seen dragging the victim by her arms and wrists. According to court documents, the woman had the bruises to prove such abuse occurred.

The alleged abuser’s defense attorney claims that his client, who is 24 years old, was only listening to older, more experienced employees at the time and should not be held criminally responsible for the event. However, the prosecution has subpoenaed the video tape that supposedly caught the entire interaction on film. The videotape, prosecutors claim, clearly shows that he is not merely a loyal employee listening to supervisors, but was engaging in the intentional abuse of the resident.

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.

Alabama Nursing Home Employee Indicted for Abusing 96-Year-Old Resident

January 23, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier last month, a former health care provider at an elderly care facility was charged for the abuse of a 96-year-old patient under her care. According to one local news report, the Alabama nursing home resident suffered injuries after the nurse was caught “grabbing or twisting her arm [and] hitting and thumping her on the head.” The 27-year-old nurse responsible was indicted for second-degree elderly abuse and neglect.

Evidently, back in August of last year, the nursing home employee got frustrated with the resident for some unknown reason and started physically abusing her. The police issued an arrest warrant for the nurse shortly after the incident was reported. However, it took them several months to locate her. Finally, in December, she was brought into custody and charged for her abusive acts.

The nursing home that employed the nurse told reporters that it has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to the abuse of residents. Its policy—which is standard in the industry—is to immediately suspend or terminate any employee who has a credible threat of abuse made against him or her.

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.

Aide Arrested After Resident Dies in Nursing Home Fight

December 26, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in the Bronx, New York, a 77-year-old man died after he was involved in a fight with a nursing aide in a local nursing home. According to a report by one local news source, the two got involved in an intense fight that eventually required witnesses to physically separate the two.

Evidently, the fight broke out when the resident wanted to get out of bed but the aide wasn’t allowing him to do so. At some point during the fracas, the nursing home resident fell on a broken table and was impaled by a piece of metal. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but he passed away from his injuries just a few hours later.

The nurse—who had been employed with the nursing home for 14 years—told police and reporters that the resident attacked her first. However, that has yet to be verified. For her involvement in the death of the resident, the aide has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, felony assault, and endangering the welfare of an adult. She was released on bail after pleading not guilty to all charges.

Nursing Home Fire Results in Several Residents Being Treated for Smoke Inhalation

December 19, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in High Point, North Carolina, a fire broke out in a nursing home that resulted in four residents being taken to the hospital with varying degrees of smoke inhalation and burns. According to a report by one local news source, the fire broke out just after noon at the PruittHealth skilled nursing facility.

Evidently, the fire broke out in one of the patient’s rooms. The exact cause of the fire is unknown, but investigators told reporters that it could have been caused by an overloaded electrical outlet, possibly with multiple cell phone chargers plugged into it.

Investigators mentioned that the nursing facility had luckily recently installed an updated sprinkler system throughout the facility, which likely prevented the fire from spreading beyond the room in which it started. Prior to the installation of the system, the nursing home did not have any system in place to prevent the spread of fires.

Woman Claims Relative’s Death Due To Understaffed Nursing Home

December 12, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in West Virginia, a woman sued a local nursing home, claiming that the home was responsible for the death of her loved one. Specifically, she claimed that the nursing home was negligent for intentionally understaffing the home, increasing the danger of a serious incident occurring.

According to one local news report, the deceased became a resident of the nursing home in April of this year. During her short stay at the nursing home, she suffered from falls, pressure sores, pneumonia, weight loss, and a urinary tract infection before she passed away on September 17.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit claims that the defendant nursing home was aware of budgetary constraints that had resulted in short staffing. These staffing problems had led to deficits in patient care. However, when the nursing home explained its services to the plaintiff prior to her deciding to place her loved one there, it presented itself as a dedicated and capable facility.

Nursing Home Video Catches Employees Abusing Elderly Patients

December 5, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier last month in Winter Park, Florida, two nursing home employees were caught on camera abusing a 76-year-old resident. According to one local news source, the two employees were seen on camera pretending to punch the man, stopping only inches from his face.

They were also seen holding the man down as they would grab his wrists and hit him with his own hands. When he tried to get away, they grabbed his wrists and prevented him from moving away. The employees also would pretend to hit the man with one hand, and then as he reacted they would hit him with their other hand.

The employees were caught engaging in this awful behavior by the man’s family, who had placed a “nanny cam” in the man’s room prior to the abuse. Both employees will face criminal charges for their role in the abuse of the nursing home resident.