Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

Elderly Hip Fractures and Nursing Home Falls

July 29, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore nursing home injury attorneys have been following a recent University of Maryland School of Medicine study, published in the American Geriatrics Society’s Clinical Geriatrics Journal, stating that over 300,000 people over the age of sixty-five in the United States will experience a hip fracture every year, making it the second leading cause of hospitalizations for older persons.

As our attorneys discussed in a related Maryland nursing home blog post, traumatic injuries involving nursing home falls are a major concern for elderly individuals and seniors in nursing homes around the country. Hip fractures are frequently the result of a nursing home fall or minor trauma, or when the bone becomes fragile and deteriorated to the point that it cannot hold the weight of the person. By the year 2040, it is estimated there will be an increase of 500,000 annual hip fractures.

Hip fractures challenge the quality of life for older adults, as it can lead to mortality, restricted mobility, and decline in strength, lean body mass, and bone mineral density, as well as depression and constant pain.

According to the study, 18-33 percent of elderly patients with fractured hips will die within one year of their hip fracture, with 13.5 percent dying within the first 6 months. The study also found that those who survive the hip fracture will experience a reduction of mobility, and will have problems functioning on their own, with only 50-60 percent of hip fracture patients recovering their pre-injury walking capabilities in the first year following the fracture. Many of the patients who were completely independent in their daily activities were found to have developed new dependencies after the fracture of the hip.

Detecting and Preventing the Four Stages of Bedsores

July 26, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Anne Arundel County nursing home blog, our attorneys reported on the problem of pressure ulcers in nursing homes, and the importance of detecting and treating bedsores before they develop into serious infections that could be life threatening.

Bedsores, or decubitus ulcers, affect nearly one million people in the U.S. causing around 60,000 deaths due to complications from the advanced development of the ulcers, like osteomyelitis or sepsis.

As reported in a related Baltimore nursing home injury lawyer blog, pressure sores often form due to nursing home negligence, when immobile residents, or residents who have difficulty moving, are confined to their wheelchairs or beds, restricting the blood flow on certain areas of the body where there is prolonged pressure, causing a lack of circulation and skin breakdown.

Pressure sores often develop in four stages:

• Stage I: When the skin on an area of the body starts to break down, it becomes discolored and red. This is an important stage for healthcare practitioners to identify bedsores, especially with at-risk residents, as pressure sores can be prevented and reversed if caught in the early stages.
• Stage II: The discolored area of a developing bedsore turns into a blister or scrape that forms a sore, resulting from the skin’s breakdown. If the sore does not receive immediate treatment, the skin will continue to deteriorate.
• Stage III: If the pressure sore is not cared for properly, the skin will continue to break down, causing significant loss of the soft tissue beneath the skin’s surface, forming a crater.
• Stage IV: The crater beneath the skin’s surface deepens, in many cases as large as a grapefruit or fist, where the muscle and bone along with tendons and joints, become severely damaged. Residents who suffer from Stage IV pressure sores often experience severe pain and frequent depression, and the massive ulcers can lead to illnesses like sepsis or osteomyelitis that can lead to wrongful death.

Nursing Home Sued in Two Different Wrongful Death Lawsuits

July 25, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Charleston nursing home has recently been sued in two separate wrongful death lawsuits, according to a news development that our Baltimore nursing home negligence attorneys have been watching, after two residents died at the home due to the home’s alleged negligence and abuse.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Teays Valley Center nursing home has been sued by the daughter of former resident Anoway Rose Smith, who according to the lawsuit, suffered from nursing home abuse and negligence that led to bedsores, weight loss due to dehydration and nursing home falls.

The lawsuit states that Smith resided at the nursing home four times between August 2009 and February 2010, during which time she sustained systemic nursing home abuse and neglect that led to her death on February 23, 2010.

In a second lawsuit filed against Teays Valley Center, the home is also being accused of causing the wrongful death of another resident. Shirley Osburn has filed the lawsuit, claiming that the her husband John Osburn died as a result of severe nursing home abuse and negligence while residing in the home.

Resident Dies From Sepsis—Home Sued by Family for Negligence and Wrongful Death

July 22, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Maryland nursing home neglect lawyers have been following, a Convalescent Center is being sued by the family of a resident, after alleged nursing home negligence led to the decline of health of the resident’s health.

According to the lawsuit, Helen Hammes became sick after receiving improper care while she resided at the care facility. The lawsuit claims that the home failed to develop a care plan that was comprehensive, failed to transfer Hammes to another nursing facility, and neglected to monitor her bowel movement after showing signs of polyuria, a problem with the overproduction of urine. The home is also being accused of failing to follow the physician’s orders by performing a rectal exam, and failing to discontinue diuretic therapy even after the patient experienced dehydration.

The lawsuit claims several violations of the state Nursing Home Care Act, and claims that Hammes suffered physical pain and developed sepsis as a result of the improper care.

As our lawyers have reported in a previous Maryland nursing home blog post, sepsis is a deadly blood disease that develops when an infection in the body spreads quickly—causing blood poisoning, tissue damage and often organ failure. It is reported that every year, over 200,000 people die from different forms of sepsis. Sepsis is dangerous with nursing home residents, as their immune systems are often weak.

Hospital to Pay $5.4M in Bedsore Injury Lawsuit

July 19, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Frederick County nursing home negligence lawyers have been following the recent announcement that a New York State jury has awarded over $5 million in monetary damages in a negligence case, after a patient at the Staten Island University Hospital and the Golden Gate Rehabilitation and Health Care Center reportedly developed severe and untreated bedsores that caused great suffering while staying at both facilities.

According to the lawsuit, Robert Messina. 63, was staying at the hospital and rehabilitation center after a brain dysfunction caused him to collapse in August of 2006. While a resident of both facilities, Messina reportedly developed pressure sores, or bedsores, that caused him to lose the ability to walk and led to a hip infection.

Messina claims in the lawsuit that the bedsores went untreated and developed into massive ulcers affecting his buttocks, genitals, mouth and ankles, leading to a spinal ulcer and a bone infection, or osteomyelitis.

In a related Baltimore nursing home injury lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the danger of bedsores in nursing homes, and the importance of detecting and treating pressure ulcers early, to prevent the life-threatening infections that can stem from the advanced stages of bed sores like sepsis, a blood infection, and osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of the bone.

Daughter Sues Sunny Hill Nursing Home for Wrongful Death, Negligence

July 15, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Baltimore nursing home lawyers have been following, a nursing home resident’s daughter in a Chicago-area home claims that the nursing home neglected to investigate symptoms of her mother’s illness—that allegedly lead to the resident’s wrongful death.

According to Jodine Murphy Sistek, who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sunny Hill Nursing Home, her mother, Pauline Benedict lived as a resident at the home for over three years. In the days before her death, Benedict reportedly complained to the nursing home staff of stomach pains that according to the wrongful death lawsuit, were symptoms of a bowel distention.

Sunny Hill is being accused of ignoring Benedict’s stomach pain complaints, neglecting to tell her physician or family about her medical condition, and failing to immediately send the resident to the hospital. Benedict was reportedly taken to the hospital on July 8, 2009, and died the following day.

If a Baltimore, Maryland nursing home fails to protect residents from developing symptoms that can result in personal injury or wrongful death, the nursing home could be held liable for nursing home negligence or wrongful death. At Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, our attorneys represent victims and their families in the state of Maryland and the Washington D.C. area who have suffered from nursing home negligence and harm. Call our lawyers toll-free, at 1-800-654-1949, for a free consultation about your nursing home rights.

Family Installs “Granny Cam” to Catch Nursing Home Abuse—Sues for Wrongful Death

July 7, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to a recent Baltimore County nursing home lawyer blog entry, our attorneys discussed recent cases of nursing home abuse and negligence, where hidden cameras or “Granny Cams” were used in nursing homes by families who suspected that their loved ones were being treated with abuse or negligence, and didn’t trust the nursing home staff responsible for their healthcare and safety—filing lawsuits after the abuse was revealed on-camera.

In another recent nursing home abuse lawsuit, the children of an 87-year-old resident of a New Jersey nursing home have sued the home for wrongful death, after the children caught the their mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, being physically abused by a nurse on a hidden camera placed in her room—which they claim led to her death.

The resident’s children reportedly suspected that their mother was being abused by her nurse, and installed a hidden camera to protect her health and safety. The camera footage reportedly showed the nursing home aide removing the victim’s oxygen mask and negligently, recklessly, and intentionally hitting and abusing her while she was supposed to be providing proper healthcare.

The victim’s family claim that this kind of abuse made their mother suffer, and violated her rights as a citizen and as a nursing home resident—as all nursing home residents under law are entitled to receive quality care and attention in an environment that improves and maintains the quality of their mental and physical health.

Nursing Home Sued Again for Wrongful Death and Negligence

July 1, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed a nursing home negligence lawsuit filed by the widow of a resident—who claims in the suit that while her husband was staying in the Madison Manor nursing home, his foot infection was not properly cared for, leading to the amputation of his leg, and wrongful death.

In a related report, the same Madison Manor nursing home has been sued again by the son of a former resident who says the home failed to properly care for his mother, leading to nursing home negligence and wrongful death.

In this second lawsuit, filed just a month after the home was sued for negligence, David Drury claims that the nursing home owners, operators and staff knew that the facility could not provide the minimum standard of healthcare that was promised to his mother, Lena McKinney, causing her to suffer an accelerated deterioration of health and physical condition that was far beyond what is caused by the normal process of aging.

Drury claims that while his mother was a resident of the home from December of 2008 to July of 2009, she experienced nursing home negligence that led to fluid imbalance and malnutrition, weight loss, poor hygiene, nursing home falls, and infections including urinary tract infections and sepsis that led to acute renal failure. As our Baltimore nursing home lawyer blog has reported in the past, sepsis is a serious blood infection in the body resulting in blood poisoning, and can be a lethal condition if it progresses rapidly, leading to organ failure.

Nursing Home Worker Steals Resident’s Pain Patch for Pleasure

June 30, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to recent nursing home neglect news that our Charles County, Maryland nursing home attorneys have been following, a worker in a Saint Louis nursing home was found last week to have removed the Fentanyl drug pain patch from an 87-year-old resident, in order to take the drug herself.

Kathleen Lung, the 41-year-old nursing home worker, reportedly took the patch to ingest the pain medication for personal use. Fetanyl is an opioid pain relieving medication, often administered with patches, that as our nursing home abuse attorneys discussed in a recent Baltimore medication error blog is over 100 times stronger than morphine and should only be administered to opioid-tolerant people who have long-term and chronic pain, like cancer patients. The drug reportedly has effects on the body that are similar to heroin.

The other staff members reportedly noticed the removal of the nursing home resident’s patch and quickly replaced it. Lung was charged with criminal abuse and neglect of an elderly person, along with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Our Maryland nursing home attorneys reported on a similar case of nursing home abuse and neglect recently after a nurse’s assistant was found to have removed medication from a fentanyl medication pain patch on a 92-year-old nursing home resident—also for personal drug use. The nurse’s aide poked holes with a pin in the resident’s fentanyl patch, and reportedly squeezed the drug out of the patch, stealing the drug by licking his fingers.

“Granny Cam” Footage Documents Nursing Home Abuse of Alzheimer Resident

June 28, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of nursing home abuse in facilities across the country, and how families are fighting back by installing hidden cameras to ensure the safe and proper treatment of their loved ones.

In a recent nursing home abuse incident, the son of a 78-year-old resident installed a hidden camera in April of this year, after he feared that his mother was being mistreated at MetroHealth Medical Center’s nursing home care facilities in Ohio.

According to WKYC- Channel 3 News, Steve Piskor felt that his mother, who suffers from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, was being abused by the staff. Piskor contacted administrators to discuss marks on her face, and the fact that when he approached her, she would raise her hands to protect her face in a fearful manner. He also reported incidents of negligence, after he found the heat off and the window open in his mother’s room in the middle of winter.

After MetroHealth reportedly ignored his complaints of abuse, Piskor installed the camera to prove that his mother was experiencing nursing home abuse and mistreatment. Although the camera was hidden inside a fan, Piskor put up a sign warning workers that a camera had been installed in the room.

Piskor said that it took only a few days to capture abuse—showing a nursing aide striking his mother’s face, violently shoving her into bed and the wheelchair, and pushing her face into the wall. Other footage reportedly showed another nurse’s aide hitting his mother, while another nursing home employee turned a blind eye to the abuse. Piskor kept the hidden camera rolling for two months to ensure that MetroHealth wouldn’t dismiss the nursing home abuse.