A 76-year-old man was found dead after a fire in his retirement village had started at around 7am. Neighbors heard the smoke alarms going off and ran to check on the man. The inspector stated that the man was found alone, lying unresponsive on his lounge room floor.
Continue Reading...The hiring process for nursing homes need to be evaluated by the state more closely so that families aren’t victimized by a worker’s negligence or lack of care. A former nurse was sentenced to probation after she was linked to six different deaths from residents at a nursing home.
Continue Reading...Four Nursing homes in Kansas are among 81 that are being targeted for better care after they were cited with ten or more deficiencies for each of the home’s three most recent inspections. The four homes have over 10 deficiencies each, one even having 30. Some of the violations included cases that can cause actual harm and immediate jeopardy and/or deficiencies that can be classified as mistreatment of residents.
Continue Reading...A nursing home in West Virginia received a verdict stating that the level of injuries and neglect caused by the residents must be punished. The nursing home found that the nursing home failed to feed and care for an elderly woman who died in the company’s care.
Prosecutors in the state of Minnesota have argued against the fact that the state does not have a felony statute against elder neglect which resulted in many cases being sent to misdemeanor court for prosecution. In one particular case in 2007, an elderly woman was left in her home with a thin blanket and pajamas in 20-degree weather.
Continue Reading...Nursing home advocates are protesting cuts to the state's Medicaid program that will result in deep cuts in staffing. The advocates claim the cuts will result in a worse level of care and that the cuts in Ohio may be just the beginning of cuts to nursing homes around the country.
Continue Reading...A trial is set to begin in Pennsylvania for three workers at an assisted-living facility who are accused of abuse. The three were arrested after a resident's family member caught them abusing the resident with a hidden camera.
Continue Reading...A member of a volunteer state-sponsored ombudsman program that is supposed to oversee Florida assisted-living facilities claims he was fired for doing his job. This is the latest in an unfolding scandal in Florida that has revealed how state oversight of assisted-living facilities is undermined by politics and industry influence.
Continue Reading...According to new U.S Labor Department statistics, nursing home workers are accidentally injured on the job at a higher rate than workers in other types of professions. The statistics measured the injury rates by the number of injuries per every 100 full-time employees in 2010.
Continue Reading...An 84-year-old woman was being placed on a mechanical lift when she was dropped head first from several feet out of the full body lift. The two nursing home residents who were helping her have been reprimanded for failing to properly strap the woman inside the lift.
Continue Reading...In Owatonna, Minn the death of an 84-year-old man was declared as “natural causes” until it was discovered that the nursing home facility had neglected to give him his crucial anxiety drug for ten days. The nursing home staff then gave the elderly man 10 doses of the medication at once.
Continue Reading...An inspector from the Department of Health and Human Services warned Congress on Wednesday that overmedication and improper use of medication is a major problem in nursing homes and that the federal government's Medicare program should begin penalizing nursing homes that use medication improperly.
Continue Reading...A mother daughter duo in El Segundo, CA are being accused by local police authorities of conning a 90-year-old man out of thousands of dollars in cash and expensive items, including a Mercedes-Benz.
Continue Reading...Research that was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in 2011 state that elderly who are lower income have a higher risk of suffering from heart failure regardless of their educational level. This particular study is the first to link Medicare-eligible individuals with an increase in the risk of heart failure.
Continue Reading...It is devastating for any family to lose their loved one because a caretaker’s abuse and neglect. In Rock Hill, SC a 30-year-old caretaker was arrested and charged with murder of an 82-year-old woman.
Continue Reading...According to a state audit, the agency in charge of assisted living facilities and group homes in Maryland failed to perform annual inspections on 53% of the assisted-living facilities in the state last year. It also failed to inspect more than 75% of the group homes for developmentally-disabled adults under its supervision.
Continue Reading...An investigation by a local TV station revealed massive neglect and abuse at an Oklahoma nursing home. The investigation also revealed that, despite many reported cases of abuse and neglect, the state had not closed the nursing home because it lacks the power to do so.
Continue Reading...With the proliferation of elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes becoming a growing concern across the country, family members have begun using hidden video cameras, dubbed "granny cams," to catch abuse of their loved ones by nursing home staff members. Though nursing home administrators dislike the practice, hidden cameras have helped family members hold nursing homes accountable through legal action.
Continue Reading...One of this year's winner's of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, commonly known as the MacArthur "Genius" grant, is being recognized for her work in fighting elder abuse and is planning to use the $500,000 grant to continue her fight. Marie-Therese Connolly is the the director of Life Long Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based group dedicated to fighting elder abuse and she plans to use her grant money to write a book and continue traveling the country educating people on elder abuse.
Continue Reading...The elderly are constantly targeted for theft because they are seen as weak and unable to defend themselves. Whether the elderly are living in a nursing home, or are still living on their own, they can become the targets for predators who wish to make a quick buck. In Philadelphia, PA an elderly woman woke up with a stranger covering her mouth and a knife to her face. Instead of submitting to the man who had invaded her home, she outsmarted the thief.
Continue Reading...In San Diego, CA an 81-year-old man was reunited with his family after three weeks of his disappearance. The elderly man suffered from dementia took a bus from his home in Mexico City to Los Angeles, but he never arrived to his destination.
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Trying to find the right type of care for your loved one who is developmentally disabled can be extremely difficult. The developmentally disabled population is often fragile, immobile and some are unruly and inclined toward violence. Yet in some states, their care and unexplained deaths are gone ignored, and families are left to mourn the loss of their loved one whose death could have been prevented.
Continue Reading...When an elderly individual is under the care of a nursing home, we expect that since they are under constant surveillance their health will be monitored and taken care of at the best capacity. Based on a new study that was published in the Annals of Surgery, the findings suggest that the elderly who stay in a nursing home may suffer from more complications than other elderly who live on their own.
Continue Reading...The Wisconsin Legislature on Thursday passed a bill reforming the state's regulation of nursing homes. The bill gives the state more power to revoke and suspend nursing homes' licenses and sue them for violation of federal rules, but it will also result in fewer citations being issued and give the homes more time to pay fines. It is estimated that homes will pay $1.5 million less per year in fines under the new system.
Continue Reading...The former administrator of a now-closed Kentucky personal-care home as admitted to stealing over $300,000 intended for the home's disabled residents. The administrator stole over $113,000 directly from residents and also stole all of their 2009 federal stimulus checks. He plead guilty to charges of theft, exploitation, and tax evasion and has agreed to repay the money stolen from the residents.
Continue Reading...As parent’s age they end up having to depend on their children for their care and to have their best interests at heart. In some cases the family that you expect to care for you end up hurting you the most. Two brothers and a sister in Aurora, IL have been convicted of criminal abuse and neglect of their mother, which is a felony that is punishable for up to 10 years in prison
Continue Reading...The person most likely to financially take advantage of an elderly individual is someone close to them. A neighbor, a friend, and a family member are the ones most likely to take advantage of unsuspecting seniors. Financial abuse can be anything from money, to property or even valuables.
Continue Reading...It is extremely important for nursing home facilities to comply with safety and health regulations in order to preserve the high standards for their residents. There are many different types of citations that can cause a facility to shut down. In Illinois, the Columbus Manor Residential Care Home was not in compliance with 11 federal requirements for nursing homes that participate in the Medicaid program according to an Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family services notice that appeared in the Chicago Sun times in September.
Continue Reading...An elderly woman who suffered dementia passed away because staff in a local nursing home did not give her enough food. The 82-year-old woman was allegedly given a little more than one-tenth of the daily food and drink needed for an adult woman to survive. This neglect occurred in a nursing home in Sutton Bridge.
Continue Reading...A 48-year-old Georgia woman and her 18-year-old daughter were sent to jail near Augusta, Georgia and charged with murder in an elder abuse case against their aunt, whom they were caring for. Authorities discovered the body of their 85-year-old aunt in her home two weeks ago and an autopsy revealed that she died of neglect.
Continue Reading...Most people do not realize that even when they hire through a professional service to receive a caretaker for your loved one, they can still be deceived. A live-in caretaker has the access to all your loved one’s personal belongings and the most intimate possessions. It is crucial that you do appropriate background checks when choosing a caretaker for your loved one and to make sure that they can be trusted.
Continue Reading...A 52-year-old woman is being accused of stealing over $12,000 from her 100-year-old grandmother whom she was taking care of. The 52-year-old woman reportedly began stealing money from her grandmother just weeks after moving in with her mother and grandmother. The woman was charged with 39 counts of criminal use of personal information after using her grandmother’s information to steal from her bank accounts. She was also charged with theft and exploitation of the elderly as well.
Continue Reading...In Sacramento, CA, new legislation is being sent to the governor’s office that would help prevent police, doctors and others from being put on hold for long periods of time on the state’s elder abuse hotline. This new legislation would allow police and other authorities to submit reports of elder abuse or neglect via a secure website on the Internet.
Continue Reading...In Highlands County a Florida woman was charged with four counts of elder abuse after she reportedly abused an elderly man on four separate occasions. The four incidents occurred within a span of one month at a care facility used to help physically or mentally disabled adults that require ‘round-the-clock medical assistance.
Continue Reading...Elder abuse has many faces and can be subtle enough that it remains undetected for long periods of time. In Carson City, NV the state has closed down a Las Vegas assisted living center after accusations that it’s elderly residents were physically abused and had their money stolen from them.
Continue Reading...A group of male thieves have targeted many different long-term care facilities in several states and have snuck in to these facilities by dressing up as female nurses. The nursing homes in the Denver, CO area have been the targets recently with at least 20 separate attacks.
Continue Reading...As you get older it can be difficult to admit that you need help or that you have to rely on another person to do the simple tasks you used to do everyday. Some elderly individuals entrust their family members with their care and well-being and assume that you are in good hands. Unfortunately in some cases family members will neglect or endanger their elderly family members and cause them physical and emotional anguish in the process.
Continue Reading...Home invasions occur everyday, even in the safest of neighborhoods. While most break-in’s occur through a window or the front door, 9% of break in’s happen in the garage. It is terrifying to imagine anyone trying to break into your home and pose a danger to you and your family. In San Antonio, TX an elderly woman was caught off guard by a man who entered her home.
Continue Reading...The face of an attacker can come in many forms. No matter how young or vulnerable you perceive them to be. In Oahu, Hawaii the grand jury has just indicted a 19-year-old man for elder abuse. In 2011 the man had entered the elderly man’s home three times. He is currently accused of verbally threatening the man once and leaving behind a threatening note on another occasion.
Continue Reading...In San Diego, a 44-year-old woman could possibly face the death penalty if she is convicted of charges of murder and special circumstance charges of murder for financial gain following the death of an 89-year-old man whom she was caring for. The caregiver is also accused of stealing over $500,000 from the elderly man’s bank accounts as well.
Continue Reading...An 89-year-old woman died as a result of extreme elder neglect and abuse as the elderly woman was left lying in her bed covered in her own feces and rotting flesh. The woman’s daughter and her daughter’s son were on trial accused of causing her death.
Continue Reading...We rely on the buildings we live in to be safe and well taken care of, especially if we are not owners of the property. A 73-year-old man was removed from the debris of his home and suffered only cuts and bruises after the balcony of his apartment collapsed in San Diego, CA.
Continue Reading...A woman and her boyfriend pleaded guilty to charges of abduction and face sentencing at the end of this month after they were accused of locking the woman’s mother in an attic. The couple reportedly abducted the 59-year-old woman inside her own attic one year ago during a heat emergency in Ohio. Temperatures in the city of Cincinnati reached the 90s when the woman was trapped in the attic.
Continue Reading...In Murrieta, CA a 36 year-old-woman who broke into her elderly grandmother’s home and beat her with a cane is being sentenced this month. The granddaughter pleaded guilty in February to burglary and elder abuse of her 94-year-old grandmother.
In Canada a hotline is being introduced to help enforce better hospital care for elderly individuals. Many elderly individuals are released prematurely from hospitals and are denied the vital care services they desperately need. This type of rush to get the elderly out can make the health ailments they suffer from worse or neglected.
Continue Reading...In New Jersey, a 78-year-old woman was killed while her and her daughter was killed after a man unsafely backed his SUV and hit them. The man had a history of poor driving on his record.
Continue Reading...A lawsuit filed on behalf of an elderly couple filed in 2010 may be close to reaching a settlement. The Sun-Gazette report states the lawsuit should have been settled days after it was filed against the owners of a residential care center. The lawsuit was filed by the couple’s daughter and she was seeking over $25,000 in damages. The woman argued that her father was bedridden due to an amputation on his right leg. According to the lawsuit the woman filed, the elderly man developed several ulcers including one on his leg that left a hole all the way down to the bone.
Continue Reading...House fires can be caused by a variety of things and most of the dangers lie especially in the kitchen. A woman in Axedale, Australia had to be treated for smoke inhalation after her house caught on fire.
Continue Reading...Loneliness can cause anyone to easily trust a stranger who gives him or her the companionship they want. A man in Lake Butler befriended a 94-year-old woman and then swindled her out of nearly half a million dollars.
Continue Reading...Nursing homes are supposed to be a safe refuge for your elderly loved ones. You expect there to be security measures to keep them safe and enough staff to keep them guarded at all times. In Bangor, Maine an elderly woman was in her room when a 49-year-old woman whom she did not know went into her room and attempted to suffocate her.
Continue Reading...A nursing assistant in a Georgetown, TX nursing home has been terminated for reports that she had injured an 88-year-old patient. According to the attacker’s police arrest affidavit she is facing a charge of injury to the elderly and police are planning to arrest her.
Continue Reading...In Corpus Christi, police are investigating a possible case of sexual assault on an elderly woman. A neighbor of the elderly woman found her naked and bruised face down in her home.
Continue Reading...A 40-year-old man and his 63-year-old mother appeared in court on June 2nd to determine if they were eligible for a reduced bond, however, a judge denied the reduced bond and kept it at $50,000 based on evidence provided in their case. The mother and son pair were accused of beating the man’s 74-year-old father because they got upset with him when they were trying to help him change his diaper.
Continue Reading...According to the Los Angeles Times, a 91-year-old woman who was under the care of her 26-year-old great-niece died weighing only 35 pounds with sores all over her body. The 26-year-old was attempting to get her great-aunt to drink water when she stopped breathing. The woman tried calling 9-1-1 but was medical personal could not revive the woman.
Continue Reading...In El Paso, TX an 83-year-old woman has suffered first and second degree burns on her hands and face just outside of the Ambrosio Guillen Texas State Veterans Home. Fire officials stated that the woman was smoking in her wheelchair outside of the home when her cigarette fell onto her clothes and burst into flames.
Continue Reading...A 79-year-old woman got back $2,000 thanks to the assistance of an elder abuse task force in Flint, MI. The woman originally lost the money after two employees from a tree trimming service stole the money from her. The woman was allegedly approached by the two men who were persistent in convincing the woman that she should take their service. They were able to convince her that her neighbors requested them to offer her the service.
Continue Reading...A state agency in Vermont has agreed to hire new staff members, responding to calls within 48 hours, and creating new procedures to avoid future problems. According to the report, the state agency currently has a backlog of over 300 cases awaiting investigation. The Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living was facing a lawsuit from the Vermont Legal Aid and two other groups pending an agreement to the plan set out to correct the problem. The advocacy groups became aware of the backlog in a meeting held by state officials in December.
Continue Reading...In Tennessee, a 42-year-old man was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, burglary, and elder abuse after he allegedly beat a 77-year-old elderly woman with a shoe. Police arrived at the victim’s home where they found the woman laying in the hallway with several injuries. The extent of those injuries is not stated in the report.
Continue Reading...The state of New York is taking great strides in order to ensure that elderly and vulnerable missing adults will get more help from authorities. The "Gold Alert" bill creates a system to help authorities get proper notifications, coordinate resources, and investigate when people have dementia, Alzheimers, or other disabilities that go missing. The "Gold Alert" bill would use the same type of infrastructure as the Amber Alert that is already in place that quickly disseminate information about missing children.
Continue Reading...The summer month’s are here and with it are the record breaking temperatures that can put you or your elderly loved one’s in danger. Many elderly individuals will be bracing themselves for the many heat related illnesses that can occur during these hot months.
Continue Reading...A family member, a caretaker, a nurse, and a doctor can all commit elder abuse against your loved one. Older Americans are losing $2.9 billion dollars as estimated in 2008.
Continue Reading...A woman in Long Beach who worked as a caretaker was sentenced to 4 years in state prison after she was accused and convicted of elder abuse, forgery and fraud. The woman reportedly stole a 74-year-old elderly woman’s life savings while she provided in-home care for the woman.
Continue Reading...A 31-year-old caregiver caring for an 81-year-old man was arrested and is suspected of 90 criminal counts including forgery, grand theft, and elder abuse. The report on KTLA.com states that the woman allegedly wrote several checks to herself from the elderly man’s account totaling over $287,000.
Continue Reading...According to a report in the Sun Sentinel in Florida, an 84-year-old woman was found abandoned living in a shed in the backyard of her son’s home. Her 54-year-old son was arrested and charged with elder abuse after purposely neglecting his mother and forcing her to live with no food, water, or electricity.
Continue Reading...The supervisor of a nursing home where 6 residents allegedly died as a result of morphine overdoses was acquitted of all charges in connection with the incident. The supervisor was accused of turning a blind eye when a nursing home employee was allegedly knowingly overdosing 6 patients with morphine. The county judge that rendered the not-guilty verdict cited the fact that the prosecution did not show enough evidence demonstrating that the supervisor was knowingly allowing these actions to occur or that she had mal-intent in her actions.
Continue Reading...A nursing home aide in New York has been sentenced to up to seven years in prison after sexually abusing a disabled 61-year-old woman. The perpetrator faces one count of first degree sexual abuse, one second degree count of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, and one count of endangering the welfare of a disabled person. The sentences for these charges will run concurrently with one another and the perpetrator will be required to register as a sex offender and face 10 years of supervision from authorities upon his release.
Continue Reading...In Lafayette, Indiana, an 82-year-old woman was scammed out of $11,500 by a 31-year-old man claiming to be a construction worker offering to build an additional room for her home. The construction was to take place in November of 2009 but the 31-year-old man and his associate left the job unfinished and completely disappeared according to the elderly woman. The woman stated she tried to call the man but his phone number had reportedly been disconnected.
Continue Reading...A 71-year-old New Zealand man was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly punched an 81-year-old man he was taking care of with a stick, causing injuries to the man’s eyes nearly blinding him. The 81-year-old man was reportedly living in the younger man’s van and agreed to pay him and his wife $500 a week to live there.
Continue Reading...A North Wales nursing home was fined earlier in the week after an 89-year-old woman got trapped in the railing of her bed and died of asphyxiation. The Walesonline report states that the woman’s head got wedged between that were meant to keep the woman from falling. This incident was the second one to occur in roughly three weeks at the same facility.
Continue Reading...A 78-year-old woman was allegedly the victim of elder abuse at the hands of three staff members from a nursing home in Haverford, PA. The facility’s license was rescinded following charges of negligence and misconduct. The three employees are accused of beating up the 78-year-old woman. The victim’s family stated that the victim is not the type of person that would fight back against an attacker.
Continue Reading...Three employees at a Winterville, GA retirement home including one administrator have been accused of assault and embezzlement in separate incidents, according to the Onlineathens.com report. The 47-year-old administrator of the facility is accused of stealing over $4,000 in social security payments from a 69-year-old resident of the home. The administrator was arrested and charged with three counts of theft and two counts of exploiting an elderly or disabled person.
Continue Reading...A study from the American Journal of Infection Control shows at least 15% of the nursing homes represented in the study have been cited for violations on infection control. The study was conducted between 2000 and 2007 and incorporated roughly 96% of all United States nursing homes.
Continue Reading...A Tulsa, OK nursing home has been the recipient of over 40 citations for violations in their residents’ care including six involving potentially life threatening situations. Some of the citations that were given included failure to protect against abuse, failure to provide necessary treatments including pain medication, failure to treat bed sores, and insufficient staffing and supervision.
Continue Reading...A highly rated nursing home facility in Salem, MA has lost 4 workers and two administrators after allegations of elder abuse against patients. State investigators found at least 12 incidents of abuse against patients at the nursing home including one elderly patient recorded on a cell phone camera being forced to answer questions despite her mental capacity being diminished due to dementia.
Continue Reading...Minnesota lawmakers have developed a bill that will close a loophole in the state’s sexual predator laws. The bill would make it so that nursing home employees convicted on charges of criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult are automatically added to the state’s list of predatory offenders.
Continue Reading...Two men arrested and charged with assault and several other charges in 2009 have been acquitted of those charges after a judge ruled that the case against the two men was weak. The men were both arrested in June of 2009 after police investigated several complaints from other staff members at the group home where they were employed.
Continue Reading...The ATB Financial bank has joined with Edmonton and Calgary police in Canada to try and put a stop to elder financial abuse. The financial institution has developed a training program for its employees to recognize when people are trying to take advantage of elders and steal their money. The financial institution is one of the first ones to work with law enforcement to develop this training program.
Continue Reading...A licensed nurse’s assistant at Thompson House in New Hampshire was accused of financial exploitation against an elderly woman living at the facility. The woman was accused of making cash withdrawals from the elderly woman’s credit card. In total, The woman reportedly stole $8,000 from the woman’s accounts. The 85-year-old woman was reportedly admitted to the hospital when a Thompson House employee found her in her wheelchair unresponsive. Following the financial exploitation accusations, the Brattleboro Police Department joined with the Medicaid.
Continue Reading...Despite a law in the state of Indiana that would provide state funding for health-care services, Indiana taxpayers are still paying $300 million per year toward nursing home costs. The law would allow elderly residents to get medical services while living in their homes. The report on the Chicago Tribune website states that roughly 18% of Indiana’s nursing homes remain empty and roughly 6,000 people wait on a list for services.
Continue Reading...A children’s representative appointed by the province of British Columbia has launched an investigation on group homes in the province after an incident occurred involving an 11-year-old boy being shocked by a Taser gun. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond stated that she has made her concerns known regarding certain group homes’ use of police force in disciplinary matters with group home residents.
Continue Reading...A 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement but she avoided a prison sentence in favor of repaying $600 per month in compensation to her 76-year-old mother over a period of 5 years. In total, Carol Brazeika owes $355,800 in compensation which includes $1,600 prior to receiving her sentencing.
Continue Reading...Three aides in a Pennsylvania nursing home were arrested and charged with aggravated assault, neglect of a care-dependent person, and several other charges in connection with an incident that occurred in the nursing home. A nanny cam placed in one of the residents’ rooms showed a female patient being mocked and assaulted as she tried to escape from her room.
Continue Reading...A Montana woman reportedly used a reverse mortgage on her mother’s home to steal $140,000 to fund a condo for herself according to the Missoulian. Paulette Homer got a check for $141,308 from the reverse mortgage and wrote out checks totaling over $120,000. This included making payments to a Lowe’s store, a credit union, a Zales jewelry store and several other transactions.
Continue Reading...A Sacramento California man filed an elder abuse claim arguing that the elder care facility his mother was at completely neglected her and ignored her medical needs, leading to her death. An appeals court made the decision that a trial is warranted in this matter after a Superior Court Judge originally denied the request for a trial. A three-justice panel reversed the decision leaving it to a jury to determine whether the facility truly conducted itself in a negligent manner.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that state social workers conducted roughly 2,048 investigations into allegations of adult abuse and neglect in nursing homes last year and discovered 368 of those reports actually involved some sort of abuse or neglect. In addition, the investigation uncovered 7,365 investigations of abuse of people aged 60 and older and 1,859 of those investigations proved to involve abuse against victims.
Oakland police have been searching for a man suspected of scamming over $20,000 from two elderly residents. 70-year-old Carl Talton is suspected of elder abuse, grand theft, and attempted elder abuse after he created a scheme to steal money from residents. The scheme involves telling victims that they will be given a small piece of an inheritance that will be collected if a donation is made to a church or charity.
Continue Reading...The Elder Financial Protection Network launched its 8th annual “Call to Action” summit on April 31 to discuss elder abuse prevention practices and bring special attention to the many scams that plague the elderly. Among the speakers on hand for the event were California Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones and San Francisco District Attorney, George Gascon.
Continue Reading...A man in Monterey County, CA is facing a possible sentence of life imprisonment after he allegedly attacked his grandmother with a deadly weapon. 35-year-old Stephen Paul Kennedy was charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, making criminal threats, and brandishing a knife in connection with this incident. The prosecuting attorney in this case stated that Kennedy has other prior convictions and has had six prison terms against him. The prison terms were for crimes that included grand theft, transporting narcotics, hit-and-run causing injury or death, and first-degree burglary.
Continue Reading...A New York man was sentenced to spend weekends in jail for an entire year and had to pay $388,063 in compensation after he reportedly forged several checks and transferred thousands of dollars from accounts belonging to a 98-year-old man. Harry Abrams pleaded guilty to charges of grand larceny, forgery, and money laundering in this incident of elder financial abuse.
Continue Reading...A 39-year-old man has been arrested and charged with elder abuse and robbery after surveillance footage surfaced showing the man robbing a 92-year-old man at an ATM machine. 39-year-old Saaga Saaga reportedly grabbed the 92-year-old’s wallet as he was removing his ATM card from the machine and pushed him to the ground. The 39-year-old then fled the scene of the crime on foot. The elderly man suffered minor injuries in the incident as a result of the fall. Police found Saaga in a public parking lot. There is no information on any court dates or sentencing for this incident.
Continue Reading...A Chillicothe, OH nurse’s aide is currently facing an investigation after she allegedly threw a bed pan at him, hitting him in the stomach and causing a bruise the size of a 50-cent coin. Another patient that witnessed the incident stated that the aide yelled at the elderly man and threw the bed pan from roughly 5 feet away. The patient’s daughter complained to the Area Agency on Aging and an investigation began.
Continue Reading...The Motion Picture & Television Fund, a charity organization created to help people involved in the movie and T.V. industry, has been sued over the death of an 89-year-old woman under the care of their elder care facility. Carrie DeLay was found at the bottom of a staircase at a long-term care facility owned by the MPTF. DeLay had apparently suffered a fall from her wheelchair and died a week after suffering the fall.
Continue Reading...The daughter of an 86-year-old woman was arrested for negligence against her mother after leaving her in unsanitary conditions with 13 sick dogs. The unidentified woman was found in her bed with soiled clothing and open sores. 60-year-old Janice Bartness and elderly woman’s son-in-law Gregory were both arrested in connection with this incident.
Continue Reading...In Kissimmee, FL, a 46-year-old woman was arrested after paramedics discovered her mother had been left severely neglected in completely unsanitary conditions. Corrine Marion’s 82-year-old mother was found covered in feces and urine. The incident caught police attention when an emergency medical call had been placed to Kissimmee authorities and firefighters responded. The call came from Hacienda Circle and the report was for an elderly woman suffering breathing difficulties.
Continue Reading...In a serious case of elder abuse, a 68-year-old woman was neglected and forced to live in a garage by a Toronto couple. 43-yeaer-old Kwong Yan and 28-year-old Qi Tan were reportedly charged with failing to provide the necessities of life and criminal negligence causing bodily harm after they left the 68-year-old woman unattended in a garage. The woman was transported to a medical facility in life-threatening condition according to the CP24 report. The Toronto couple was denied bail in a court hearing where they appeared through video feed.
Continue Reading...Three nursing home workers were arrested on March 2nd suspected of elder abuse after an incident occurred where one of the workers reportedly yanked an elderly man’s genitals and the other two employees did nothing to prevent it. 27-year-old Arnold Samson, 22-year-old Ryan Tan, and 50-year-old Ricardo Martinez were all arrested in connection with the incident. Samson was the person that committed the act of elder abuse and the other 2 employees failed to report it, which is mandated by law. Samson faces misdemeanor charges of elder abuse and battery in connection with this incident.
In a possible case of elder financial abuse in San Diego, investigators and the police department are asking the public for assistance to find two suspects wanted in connection with several scams against elderly individuals. According to authorities, two cases that occurred recently could be linked involving a male and female posing as roofing inspectors. The two perpetrators would enter an elderly person’s home and one would distract the victim.
Continue Reading...Attorney General Tom Horne in Arizona has announced the launch of a new task force formed to combat elder abuse cases. The Taskforce Against Senior Abuse (TASA) is part of the Attorney General’s office’s Public Advocacy Division according to ABC15. The taskforce will be used as a means of protecting seniors from elder abuse by mandating prosecution for elder abuse, elder neglect, exploitation, and scams that target elders. The report states that a hotline has been established where people can report possible incidents of elder abuse or neglect. The taskforce can be reached by phone at 602-542-2124 or via email at seniorabuse@azag.gov.
Continue Reading...A former Keiser Hospital Nurse in Redwood City, California has been sentenced to four days in county jail and two years probation after being accused of punching a 91-year-old patient in the mouth when she refused to take her medication. 59-year old Joan Rogers pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor elder abuse charge in connection with the October 2009 incident. The incident originally occurred when the elderly woman was taken to the hospital with a hip fracture.
Continue Reading...A 45-year-old woman faces 17 felony charges of grand theft and elder abuse after she was accused of and arrested for draining her husband’s bank accounts. According to The Press-Enterprise website, 45-year-old Shawna Verdugo stole $500,000 from her husband, 74-year-old Johannes Holzel. Verdugo also reportedly took out a fraudulent life insurance policy on her husband as well.
Continue Reading...The Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts reports that while reports of elder abuse and neglect continue to rise in the state, cuts in funding continue to put a strain in the assistance of state is able to provide for abuse victims. A legislative meeting took place on the 16th to discuss the problem and several state agencies spoke on behalf of many abuse victims that they are trying to assist.
Continue Reading...According to a report from KHON news channel 2 in Hawaii, a man was charged with theft after he was arrested for going door-to-door claiming he would assist elderly individuals with their yard only to take their money without cleaning their yard. Vilisoni Mafi took over $2,700 from elderly victims claiming he would help them.
Continue Reading...This coming Tuesday and Wednesday, Clay County law enforcement officials will be receiving training in elder abuse prevention from the Clay County Elder Abuse training team. In 2009, the county’s attorney’s office received a grant from the Department of Justice for training purposes. The coordinator that was in charge of handing out the grant money stated that the training will be used to inform law enforcement officers of the best ways to go about responding to and investigating elder abuse incidents in Clay County. The amount of the grant totaled $290,000, according to the report.
Continue Reading...In Cason City, Nevada, a legislative committee unanimously supported a bill that would add fines to differing forms of elder abuse. Legislative Bill 5855 allows the attorney general to place fines against crimes of fraud against a person over 60 as well as crimes of abuse, neglect and isolation. The amount in fines ranges from $5,000 for first-offenders and $30,000 thereafter. The bill will reportedly also help with compensation for victims of elder abuse or neglect. The bill will now go to the Senate floor.
Continue Reading...A San Diego residential care facility operator has been charged with financial elder abuse and forgery among other charges stemming from a series of alleged acts of embezzlement from two elderly residents. 54- year-old Maria Corazon Park has been accused of embezzling a total of $665,000 from a 91-year-old man and an 89-year-old man.
Continue Reading...A Santa Cruz real estate broker has been on the run from authorities after she was accused of stealing over $500,000 from her clients in 2007. 56-year-old Louisa Katrina Dubinsky faces 39 counts of embezzlement of funds as well as financial elder abuse and writing bad checks from at least one person’s account. Dubinsky is being accused of writing at least four bad checks to two separate people.
Continue Reading...Lowell Noble, an 82-year-old man that suffered a severe beating at the hands of a 49-year-old assailant in May of 1999 died on January 7th as a result of a traumatic brain injury. Noble suffered from heart problems and diabetes and required a walker to get around places. However, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner discovered that Noble’s health problems and advanced age did not contribute to his death but instead traumatic brain injury resulting from aspiration pneumonia, inflammation in the lungs and airways.
Continue Reading...In Riverside, CA, a couple is accused of starving and whipping a mentally disabled elderly woman who suffered from a stroke. 41-year-old Timothy James Welch and 38-year-old Rebecca Marie Perez-Welch were reportedly paid to care for 70-year-old Joann Phillips and are being charged with second degree murder and elder abuse.
Continue Reading...A 62-year-old insurance agent has been charged with 14 counts of theft as well as insurance fraud after stealing over $45,000 from elderly insurance customers in several areas in Pennsylvania. The insurance fraud activity occurred between 2006 and 2009 and Brian Reid Johnson was charged in August of 2009. The incident occurred when Johnson allegedly took the insurance premiums that the 14 customers paid to him for life insurance and long-term care insurance.
Continue Reading...In San Diego, a 93-year-old man was believed to be the victim of elder abuse and neglect as he was found in his home disoriented, dehydrated and living in unsanitary conditions early in the week. Arnold V. Bauer, a Pearl Harbor survivor suffering from dementia and prostate cancer was taken to a Veterans Affairs hospital after he was discovered in his home.
Continue Reading...In Hilton Head Island, South Carolina a caregiver at an assisted living center was charged with elder abuse that she committed against several of the women staying there. The Hilton Head assisted living center reported that the 41-year-old Sonia King of Estill will be charged with three counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult.
Continue Reading...A 21-year-old man was arrested after allegedly robbing an 85-year-old man on a bus and attempting to hijack a parking enforcement vehicle. Tyler Dean Davies reportedly robbed 85-year-old Robert Grim on the city bus and fleeing the scene of the incident. The 21-year-old then jumped into a parking enforcement vehicle in an attempt to get the parking official to help him flee.
Continue Reading...Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has proposed to enact legislation that would allow the Medicare and Medicaid and Elderly Abuse Unit to subpoena all records from nursing homes that are under investigation. This would allow investigators to determine if there is a pattern of abuse in the facility either from various staff members in the facility or from specific staff members. Cuccinelli stated the proposal for this legislation is being backed by the House Delegate Chris Peace and State Senator Ralph Smith.
Continue Reading...A 73-year-old woman was reportedly abused by staff members at the Fair Oaks Residential Elderly Care facility. This incident was caught on a video camera that the woman’s grandson installed in her room. According to the report, these cameras are known as “granny cams” and they are used for the protection of seniors.
Continue Reading...A woman that worked as a nurse in a nursing home was accused and charged with stealing medication from the elderly residents. 64-year-old Sandra Delp is facing 8 to 12 months in prison and a three year probation sentence in connection with the incident. Delp argued that although she did steal the medication, she never used them for herself in any way.
Continue Reading...A caretaker at the Carolina House nursing home has been accused of elder abuse after allegedly verbally and physically abusing a 93-year-old woman at the nursing home. 41-year-old Sonia King turned herself in to the Sheriff’s Office on Thursday the 13th and was charged with 3 counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult in connection with the incident.
Continue Reading...In Illinois, a nursing home where a 12-year-old boy was killed negotiated with state officials to reduce a fine of $50,000 down to $10,000 following the incident. In the entire state, several other locations have successfully negotiated fines down to only 21% of the initial amount. 9 other homes had to pay a total amount of $220, 000 but only paid $45,000 in fines despite a high number of deaths in each facility. In another incident, a facility was fined $25,000 after a 28-year-old woman died as a result of pneumonia.
Continue Reading...In an incident that occurred in October 7th, a nursing home patient has accused a nurse from Berkshire Health Systems of assaulting her. In the incident, the nurse was reportedly drawing blood from the elderly woman when she began complaining that the nurse was hurting her. The woman began to flail her arms trying to release the nurses grasp.
Continue Reading...The Mercury reported the accomplice of a home health aide in Pennsylvania that allegedly stole over $11,000 from an elderly patient was arrested this past week. 21-year-old Goanutaye Goanue reportedly worked together with 24-year-old Mercy Nagbe to steal from an 84-year-old woman. Nagbe was working in the elderly woman’s home when she reportedly stole two credit cards and some of the woman’s checks.
Continue Reading...A company known as The Sun Valley Group has been investigated and that investigation found several charges made to elderly patients under the group’s care. Jenette Long and her sister Marie shared roughly $1.3 million in savings when the court-appointed group began caring for Marie. The two owners of the company hired themselves to care for the woman and collected $15,000 a month in fees as well as fees for their guardianship.
Continue Reading...In Pittsboro, NC Becky Fisher, 80, is seeking compensation from her assisted living center in Chatman County after surviving an attack by a housekeeper that left two other residents dead. The attack was four years ago with two her friends Peg Murta and Mary Corcoran. Barbara Clark is now serving life in prison because she killed Murta and Corcoran because the three women confronted her about stealing $1,000 from their checking account. Becky Fisher was lucky to survive the attack, suffering a cracked skull and brain injuries from Clark beating her with a walking cane.
Continue Reading...WCTV in Florida reports that complaints against nursing homes have risen 8.8 percent in the last year ending in September. In addition, staffing and volunteer positions are falling as a result of the economic downturn.
Continue Reading...A former nursing home operator in Brooksville, FL pleaded guilty to charges of elderly neglect and owning or operating an assisted living facility without a license. Gloria Olson will serve a 3-year probation sentence and pay $8,000 in fines. Olson will be barred from running a nursing home or assisted living center from now on. The probation sentence and fine was likely given due to the lack of any criminal history on Olson.
Continue Reading...A caregiver in a group home has been accused of abuse of a vulnerable adult after he allegedly placed a 53-year-old man suffering from physical and mental disabilities in scalding hot water. The man suffered second-degree burns to his legs, feet, back and buttocks according to the report on Hometownlife.com.
Continue Reading...50-year-old Calvin Wallace was arrested January 2nd and charged with home-invasion robbery, abuse of an elderly adult, and impairing a telephone to further a burglary. Wallace broke into the home of a 98-year-old woman and robbed her. Wallace reportedly pulled the telephone cord out of the wall and threatened to kill the woman if she made any noise or tried to get help. Wallace arrived to the woman’s house and told the woman he needed $20 from her because her nephew was in trouble.
Continue Reading...The Nursing Home Complaint Center is now making cases of sepsis, septic shock, wrongful death and broken bones in elder care facilities its highest priority. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Nursing Home Complaint Center will investigate any case where relatives of elderly individuals have proof that their loved ones died as a result of neglect or abuse that led to their suffering from any of these ailments.
Continue Reading...In Fall River, MA, 21-year-old Corey Cabral pleaded not guilty to charges of negligence when he was arraigned in Superior Court. The charges against Cabral stem from an incident when Cabral and his family had to take his 80-year-old grandmother to the hospital. When she arrived at the hospital, doctors discovered the elderly woman had suffered severe, deep bedsores that exposed tendons in her elbow as well as a blood infection and pneumonia. The 80-year-old woman died just two days after being admitted to the hospital.
Continue Reading...A nursing home employee in South Carolina has been suspended on suspicion of elder abuse against an 83-year-old female resident. The 41-year-old employee is suspected of physically harming the resident, giving her a bloody nose. An internal investigation as well as an investigation from South Carolina authorities is currently in effect to determine the validity to this incident. The victim did not suffer any other injuries as a result of this incident, according to the report from the islandpacket.com website. There is no information on whether other incidents have occurred in the facility in the past or not.
Continue Reading...A nursing home employee in Eugene, OR has pled not guilty to charges of first degree sexual abuse. In an incident that occurred on December 22nd, Robert Price allegedly made sexual contact with an elderly woman that was reportedly mentally and physically incapable of defending herself. The director of the facility stated they are cooperating with police on the investigation in the matter.
Continue Reading...The company Your Friends and Neighbors, the parent company for several group homes in the Fort Wayne area had its property seized and/or frozen as a result of a class-action lawsuit against them. 29 former employees filed a class-action lawsuit arguing that they were not paid wages, vacation pay or overtime pay that they should have been paid before or while the company was closing its doors in October.
Continue Reading...Nursing homes in the Southern California area could be required to display their scores on several examinations including quality of care scores. These new laws apply to skilled nursing homes under Medicaid and Medicare insurance.
Continue Reading...A woman in Kalamazoo, MI still mourns the death of her elderly mother who died in August 2010 at her nursing home. The elderly woman’s tracheostomy tube was somehow caught around a bed rail and became dislodged.
Continue Reading...The Human Development Center in Tampa, Florida has come under investigation several times because of complaints from both residents and others regarding the policy the company utilizes regulating sexual behavior for its residents. According to the Tampaybay.com website, the facility has a permissive policy allowing its residents to participate in sexual behavior amongst each other at their own discretion. This facility is reportedly for male residents that have some sort of mental disability, some of which had records as sex offenders.
Continue Reading...ElderPlus in Baltimore and the nationwide PACE (Program for All-Inclusive Care for Elderly) are working together to provide care for elderly individuals in an attempt to keep them out of assisted living and nursing homes. According to washingtonpost.com, over 23,000 people are enrolled in the PACE program in 29 states.
Continue Reading...State officials in Illinois are currently discussing regulations that would increase fines on facilities with repeated neglect complaints from residents at nursing homes. A panel consisting of state officials created by Governor Pat Quinn is considering legislation that would be instated in March and would increase the amount in fines a facility would receive if a facility’s employees interfere in an investigation of the facility. In addition, this legislation would limit the number of admissions a facility could allow until the facility fixes any known violations.
Continue Reading...A woman in Reno, NV reportedly stole and pawned an 89-year-old hospice patient’s wedding ring, according to a story on mynews4.com. Michelle Smith was caring for the 89-year-old woman when she allegedly removed a solitaire ring and a wedding band from her finger and replaced them with fake jewelry.
Continue Reading...In Victoria, British Columbia, the Community Living B.C. company has reportedly closed 19 group homes across British Columbia but they are not providing information as to who operated the homes and where they were located. The company stated they were not providing such information due to contractual obligations for privacy to the group homes that were closed. The closures began in April and spanned all the way to September.
Continue Reading...Charleston, S.C. police arrived at the home of a 98-year-old woman who was believed to have been the victim of neglect from her daughter. According to the Associated Press, police found a parrot that Anne Copeland owned and they stated the bird kept repeating the word “help” followed by laughter. Police stated the laughter was most likely an imitation of the victim’s daughter’s laughter. Copeland’s daughter is currently charged with abuse and neglect against her mother and she is being held on $3,000 bond.
Continue Reading...Two salesmen selling water purification systems have been arrested and charged with exploitation of the elderly after selling systems to an 88-year-old woman for over $37,000. The equipment is actually valued at a much lower price. The sales occurred in isolated incidents, the first one occurring when a salesman kept returning to the woman’s house to sell her equipment that he said was necessary for treating her water system.
Continue Reading...According to NPR, an analysis of information from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that 14% of residents in nursing homes today range in age from 31-64. The NPR report outlines one specific case in which a 33-year-old woman is now a quadriplegic after suffering injuries resulting from a serious automobile accident. Today, the woman requires attendants in order to keep from being taken to a nursing home for the medical care that she now requires.
Continue Reading...A scam targeting elderly diabetes sufferers has been discovered and is currently under investigation by police in Tazewell, VA. In an incident that occurred on Tuesday the 7th, an elderly woman received a phone call from somebody who claimed to be part of a company that provides glucose testing meters. The man told her his company would provide one for her and asked her for her birth date, Social Security number and Medicare number.
Continue Reading...A nursing home facility located in Clawson, Mich is being investigated for a recent outbreak of an illness in their facility. An outbreak of an gastrointestinal virus was reported at Cambridge North Health and Rehabilitation Center after several of the residents had symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea.
Continue Reading...In Willmar, MN a nursing home is being blamed for the death of a resident who chocked on raw cucumbers that should not have been served for her according to reports by state officials.
Pennsylvania’s news website reported a former nurse who is facing a trial on charges of elder abuse. The former nurse was responsible for treating a resident that was suffering from pneumonia and dementia. The charges allege that the nurse disconnected an 81-year-old woman’s ventilator in a nursing home facility and watched her turn blue.
Continue Reading...In Springfield, Missouri, a group home that has been open since 2008 is now facing accusations that they are in violation of the zoning laws in Missouri. The home was set up to assist drug and alcohol addicts in recovery. The facility is reportedly operating without a zoning permit. An assistant prosecutor in Missouri reportedly filed a misdemeanor complaint against the facility.
Continue Reading...The Lehigh Acres Citizen reports that an investigation in Cape Coral, Florida has been launched as a result of alleged elder abuse. On November 16th, Cape Coral police were contacted after two people reported that they received information that their relatives were being abused in the facility.
Continue Reading...According to a report from KTVZ.com in Oregon, the state of Oregon has had a growing concern over the number of elder abuse cases they have seen. Statistics in the report show that 3 to 5 million people age 65+ have experienced some form of elder abuse but only one in every five cases is reported to authorities.
Continue Reading...The family of a 92-year-old man that died while staying at a Hopkins County, Kentucky nursing home has been awarded $42.75 million in damages. According to a report from Kentucky.com, the man’s family filed a lawsuit claiming the nursing home’s negligence directly led to the man’s death.
Continue Reading...News channel 9 in Calhoun, GA has reported that a 20-year-old woman working at a nursing home has been charged with battery after reportedly playing a prank on a resident at the nursing home. According to the report, Christy Myranda Hardin-Simerly placed an 83-year-old resident of the nursing home into a wheelchair and began spinning her around several times.
Continue Reading...The Sun in California reports that a Riverside, CA man has been sentenced to 9 years in prison for felony charges of grand theft, elder abuse and filing false documents after the man allegedly conducted a Ponzi scheme. 39-year-old Ronald Paul Shade pled guilty to 29 felony counts of the aforementioned charges and had to pay $3.5M in compensation to the victims of the Ponzi scheme.
Continue Reading...According to the Napa Valley Register, Nancy and Arthur Niebling testified against their son Jeffrey Niebling who was accused of poisoning them in an attempt to murder them. The two provided video testimony on Tuesday on the incident that occurred back in June. Jeffrey Niebling is currently charged with two counts of premeditated attempted murder and elder abuse with injury.
Continue Reading...A Missoula, Montana group is currently working to educate elderly people on how they can prevent from falling. Community Medical Center physical therapist Mary Thane states that there are various classes that elderly individuals may take in order to learn what they can do to prevent falls.
Continue Reading...A 49-year-old woman in Folsom, CA has pleaded guilty to abuse after an elderly woman who died in the residential care facility that she owned. Adriana Lucica Catuna faces a year in county jail for the death of 82-year-old Georgia Fitsos three years ago. The incident occurred in August of 2007 when Fitsos was left in the facility under the care of an attendant that did not speak English well and as a result did not know that the situation was urgent when Fitsos was having difficulty breathing.
Continue Reading...Investigators in Calabasas, CA have launched an investigation to discover how a 94-year-old woman ended up being trapped in a walk-in freezer in a Calabasas retirement home. Mollye Fischer was discovered in the facility’s walk-in freezer but the report states nobody seemed to know how she wound up in there. The retirement home is reported to be an upscale home, costing $70,000 a year to house residents. According to the report, the incident occurred on October 28th when facility employees were unable to find the 94-year-old woman anywhere in the facility.
Continue Reading...ABC affiliate KGOTV in San Francisco, CA conducted an investigation into the number of senior care providers with felony convictions. In addition, the investigation also discovered that city legislation put in place to protect against elder abuse is being ignored. This law allows the state’s In-Home Support Services program authority to conduct background checks on behalf of seniors and disabled adults seeking caretakers. However, these background checks are not considered mandatory and, as a result, are not always enforced.
Continue Reading...A 92-year-old woman has lost her entire life savings as a result of financial abuse from a live-in caregiver. Dorothy Linklater lost over $82,000 in savings in 3 years. In addition, according to the report on the Toronto Sun, Linklater also owed over $7,000 for utility bills in her home. The report states that Linklater’s niece tried to assist her elderly aunt as much as possible to recover what she could.
Continue Reading...The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that a nursing home employee has been convicted of endangering the welfare of an incompetent person when she reportedly threw an elderly person to the floor and began dragging her by her ankles around the floor. 53-year-old Elizabeth Peters will face sentencing on January 5th and she could potentially face up to a year in jail.
Continue Reading...A 73-year-old man’s body was discovered in the Hillsborough River in Tampa Bay, according to a report on tampabay.com. Michael Wilson reportedly lived in a nursing home but was free to leave on his own volition; he was not committed to the nursing home.
Continue Reading...The Governor of Connecticut has announced that the state received $2 million in federal funding for health care to develop a new way to conduct background checks for nursing home employees. Connecticut is reportedly one of six states to receive the federal grant through the Affordable Care Act. According to the report, the new background checks will allow employers to determine if a potential employee has any previous criminal charges or any other information that may disqualify them from employment.
Continue Reading...The Yuma Sun reports that the Yuma County Elder Abuse Task Force hosted an event in Arizona to provide senior citizens the proper tools and information to be able to protect themselves against elder abuse. The Yuma County Elder Abuse Task Force worked together with the Western Arizona Council of Governments to host the event at the Yuma Art Center.
Continue Reading...According to the website ajc.com, a woman who ran an assisted living center in George is facing elder abuse charges after she allegedly stole $10,000 from an elderly man in her care. 39-year-old Veronica Martin reportedly turned herself in to police on Friday and was subsequently released. Police stated that during their investigation, they discovered Martin was able to pose as a family member and gained access to the elderly man’s assets and records.
Continue Reading...A Hawaii woman has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of a hip replacement system arguing that the device was defective and continues to bother her, months after it was implanted. Jacqueline Lum is suing Depuy Orthopedics for an undisclosed amount in punitive damages. According to the report, the defects in the hip replacement system are so severe; it is depositing heavy metals into Lum’s bloodstream including cobalt and chromium.
Continue Reading...An assisted living facility employee has been handed down charges in connection with several thefts from elderly individuals in the facility. 43-year-old Yesenia Matilde Surillo is accused of stealing jewelry and cash from residents of the assisted living center where she works. According to the report, Surillo stole property that was out in the open and locked away in lockboxes or dressers and pawned it for cash.
Continue Reading...CNN Health reports that the Government Accountability Office conducted an investigation and discovered over 45 incidents of elder abuse by legal guardians. According to the report, 20 of those incidents involved guardians stealing roughly $5.4 million from 158 people. Six of those cases involved court-appointed legal guardians that were not screened or monitored in any way. In one of those six cases, a convicted bank robber was appointed legal guardian over a wealthy, elderly individual with no family connections. The legal guardian reportedly stole over $600,000 when the elderly man began to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Continue Reading...Many elderly individuals choose to live alone despite persistent health complications. This can be dangerous and can cause death or serious injury if they are unable to contact authorities or medical aid. In Fairfield, Maine 89-year-old Ruth Shillinglaw Johnson was found laying on her bathroom floor after a neighbor called authorities about her absence.
Continue Reading...According to a report on unionleader.com, the New Hampshire Bureau of elderly and Adult Services has been given $1.4 million in federal funding to help provide better long-term care to seniors and disabled adults.
Continue Reading...The Salem News has posted a report about a task force formed by Elder Services in Danvers, MA to contend with the issue of hoarding. The report states in one incident a Danvers woman was seriously injured and sent to the hospital after a pile of her things fell on top of her. The woman was reportedly trapped underneath the pile for about a day before she was discovered.
Continue Reading...The family of an elderly woman that died as a result of alleged abuse from the staff of the Evangelical Good Samaritan Company in South Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the company. The family claims that the company did not regulate its employees’ actions against elder residents.
Continue Reading...Statistics from Bristol Elder Services, the Rhode Island Department of Elderly Affairs and the RI Coalition Against Domestic Violence show that cases of elder abuse and domestic violence continue to rise. A report from turnto10.com, an NBC affiliate in Rhode Island, states that over 1,800 cases of elder abuse were reported in Massachusetts last year.
Continue Reading...A report from Visalia Time-Delta in Visalia, CA states that a woman was arrested on Friday for suspicion of financial elder abuse, felony neglect of an elderly or dependent adult and in-home supportive services fraud. There is no information on the incident or incidents that prompted police to arrest Marlene Brant. Brant’s bail is set at $110,000 according to the report.
Continue Reading...A home health-care provider is under suspicion of using an elderly woman’s credit card to purchase groceries and other things. 34-year-old Angela Lynn Thornton was charged with exploitation and neglect of the elderly, fraudulent use of a credit card and grand theft.
Continue Reading...Austrian Independent has reported that a woman was discovered trapped in her bathtub. 78-year-old Maria Rauscher was found by her daughter when she showed up to visit her. Rauscher was trapped in the bathtub for four days because she was unable to get up from the tub.
Continue Reading...The Canadian federal government is providing funding that will help non-profit organizations that assist in making seniors renovate their facilities and acquire new equipment. The funding program allows facilities up to $25,000 to make these renovations. The program was launched on August 30th and the deadline to apply for funding was October 8th.
Continue Reading...The Canadian government is trying to raise awareness of elder financial abuse as part of its Elder Abuse Awareness Campaign. The website Marketwire.com reports the campaign is used to help elderly individuals and other people discern the signs of elder financial abuse.
Continue Reading...UPI.com reports that the U.S. government has given money for six states to develop programs for criminal background checks for people that want to apply for positions as long-term care providers. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius has stated that the Affordable Care Act will include the National Background Check Program, which will provide the ability to determine a person’s qualifications regarding prior criminal charges.
Continue Reading...The Nursing Home Complaint Center, a national advocacy group for nursing home residents' rights, is launching a nationwide investigation into wrongful deaths at nursing homes. The group is asking for family members who suspe ct their loved ones were the victims of wrongful death to contact them.
Continue Reading...Today marks the beginning of Residents Rights Week. This event, which will run through October 11, is designed to raise awareness of the rights of residents of all long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, group homes, and assisted living facilities. This year's theme is "Recipe for Home: Defining and Creating Home in Long-Term Care Facilities."
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A nursing home worker in Wisconsin is accused of punching a 93-year-old resident in the head. A criminal complaint was filed when a police officer saw the resident and noticed a "baseball-sized" bruise on her head. After speaking with the resident, it was discovered that the abuse was a regular occurrence.
Continue Reading...In Salinas, CA, a report from the Monterey County Herald states that a man that is well-known for grand prix motorcycle racing and fundraising for cancer-prevention has been arrested and charged with elder abuse, grand theft and money laundering for stealing $500,000 from his parents. 40-year-old Joe Cubbage pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors in the matter argued that Cubbage’s intent was to empty his father’s account that was setup for his retirement.
Continue Reading...The website vvdailypress.com has posted a report about an 87-year-old woman that was the victim of a vicious beating that left her within inches of losing her life. The woman reportedly had clumps of hair ripped from her skull and suffered extremely serious wounds.
Continue Reading...A report from the Lodi News Sentinel has stated that a 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of elder abuse and burglary. Billy Melvin Huber was arrested after he reportedly scammed an elderly woman of $76 and stole her credit card. According to the report, Huber followed the woman to her home and told her that there was a rag hanging from the back of her car. He reportedly said he would fix the problem for her and she gave him $76 to fix the problem.
Continue Reading...In Kentucky, State Representative Tom Burch will introduce a new proposal to the House of Health and Welfare committee that could aid in reducing or possibly halting abuse and neglect cases in nursing homes by having nursing homes report all deaths to the coroner. According to the report from CBS affiliate WKYT, current law does not require nursing home staff to report a death if it is believed to be caused by natural causes.
Continue Reading...According to a report on the Ukiah Daily Journal, the county of Mendocino in California will be hiring an investigator to examine cases of elder abuse. The District Attorney in Mendocino County stated the investigator will be specifically working on cases of elder abuse to prosecute people that abuse elders either physically or financially.
Continue Reading...On Tuesday, September 21, the 16th Annual World Alzheimer's Day, over 55 Alzheimer's researchers arrived on Capitol Hill to urge action on the National Alzheimer's Project Act, a bill that would make Alzheimer's a national health care priority. The event was the culmination of cross country bike ride that gathered more than 100,000 signatures supporting the bill.
Continue Reading...The Seattle Times has launched a large scale investigation into hundreds of deaths at poorly regulated adult homes. The "Seniors for Sale" series investigates 263 deaths at the adult homes that were not properly investigated and may have been the result of neglect or abuse.
Continue Reading...An investigation into sexual abuse by a nurse at an Albany nursing home led to the arrest of 14 additional employees on various neglect charges. To gather evidence against the aid suspected of sexual abuse, investigators placed a hidden camera in the nursing home. In addition to leading to the prosecution of the sex offender, the hidden camera also revealed several other cases of neglect.
Continue Reading...Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky has accepted a report on nursing home and elder abuse reform by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS). The report was commissioned after a series of nursing home abuse cases in Kentucky and allegations that the state did not investigate them properly. It suggests changes to the procedures for reporting incidents of neglect or abuse. The governor has ordered that the recommendations be implemented immediately.
Continue Reading...Boston Herald.com reports that 68-year-old John T. Hallinan faces a court decision to determine if he is a danger to the community after his 93-year-old father was found lying in excrement in his home. Hallinan’s father was found only wearing a t-shirt and diaper and he reportedly had bruises all over his body.
Continue Reading...The Daily Journal in Redwood City, CA has reported that a bank teller faces a year in prison after stealing roughly $40,000 from her elderly aunt’s bank account and $33,000 from a 16-year-old girl’s account. 28-year-old Arcelia Barajas Aguilar reportedly stole her mother’s Social Security number to get a job as a bank teller and stole the money.
Continue Reading...According to a report posted on Wyomingnews.com from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, the Supreme Court in Wyoming reversed a conviction of elder abuse against a man arguing that his actions did not meet the legal definition of elder abuse.
Continue Reading...According to Mercurynews.com, a Santa Cruz bank teller prevented theft of a large sum of money. According to the report, a 90-year-old woman showed up to the bank and attempted to take out a large sum of money, stating that a man with a badge came to her and told her she was required to pay a bond associated with an accident she was in.
Continue Reading...In Lufkin, TX a nursing home employee was arrested on Wednesday for alleged abuse of an elderly resident. 43-year-old Sherree Denise Jones worked at Grace Care Center Nursing Home as a certified nurse aid when the alleged incident occurred on August 21st.
Continue Reading...According to a report from the San Francisco Herald, a judge halted certain restrictions set in place by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that would restrict anybody with felony convictions from providing in-home care to elderly and disabled adults.
Continue Reading...VCstar.com reports that Ventura County social workers have been given a $654,000 award to fund a project that would allow medical specialists to go to the homes of elderly individuals and adults that feel they are unable to care for themselves and assist them in any way.
Continue Reading...According to a report posted on Bakersfield.com, a nurse in a hospital has been arrested and charged with abuse of an elderly patient. 65-year-old Rene Gachon Gotico was arrested on the 23rd of August after the hospital employees reported the incident.
Continue Reading...The Republican Herald has posted a report about a woman who admitted to stealing over $163,000 from an elderly woman between 2006 and 2008. 39-year-old Michelle A. Connors pleaded guilty to charges of theft and receiving stolen property in connection with the incident. According to the report, the exact amount stolen from the elderly woman was $163,358.93.
Continue Reading...On August 12th, three teenagers in Detroit, MI have been charged with raping a 90-year-old woman. Maurice Randall, 17, Anthony Hardy, 18, and a 15-year-old boy whose name is not being released because he is a juvenile were arraigned immediately.
Continue Reading...In Plainfield, IN a former nursing home worker Brenda Chaney is claiming that discrimination played a part in her termination from the nursing home where she worked.
Continue Reading...According to a report from the Willows Journal in Willows, California, a woman was convicted and sentenced to three years of probation following misdemeanor elder abuse charges. The report states Susan Ivy’s sentence was originally set for 6 months in a county jail at the recommendation of the District Attorney, however, the court judge suspended the sentence pending Ivy’s completion of her probation sentence.
Continue Reading...According to a report by KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis Missouri, a Jennings Missouri woman is charged with second-degree elder abuse and armed criminal action after she reportedly attacked her 69-year-old boyfriend with a trophy.
The Lexington, Kentucky NBC Affiliate, LEX18 has reported that an administrator for Hazard Nursing Home Incorporated and the company itself have been charged with failure to report suspected elder abuse. The report states that 61-year-old Sheila Noe was allegedly aware of a possible case of elder sexual abuse from one patient to another and did not report the incident to proper authorities.
Continue Reading...According to a report posted on presstelegram.com, a Long Beach woman wanted by police for stealing over $4 million from an elderly stroke victim has turned herself into authorities. 54-year-old Li Ching Liu entered a plea of not guilty to Long Beach Superior Court on charges of elder abuse and robbery.
Continue Reading...A 33-year-old man was found guilty of elder abuse in a case in Ventura County, CA according to a report posted by the Ventura County Star. 33-year-old Edmundo Prieto Ramirez was found guilty on five counts of elder abuse by theft.
Continue Reading...The CBS affiliate WRGB in Albany, New York has posted a report discussing the many signs that often point to elder abuse. According to the report, there are many signs that can indicate potential elder abuse.
Continue Reading...A report posted by the Paragould Daily News in Paragould, AR is reporting that a 44-year-old woman was arrested on June 2nd charged with neglecting her elderly mother. Joan Dollins faces charges of abuse of an adult – a class B felony charge. The report states that this charge includes negligence and abuse or exploitation of any endangered or impaired person, if the abuse causes substantial physical injury or risk of death.
Continue Reading...The Willows Journal has posted a report regarding police executing two search warrants in a possible elder financial abuse case. Both warrants were reportedly executed earlier this month, the first at the home of Jodene and Harry Sage, and the second at Butte Community Bank.
Continue Reading...According to a news report from WOWKTV in Charleston, WV, the YWCA has developed a program that will be used to assist women that are victims of elder abuse. Together with the YWCA, the Shanklin Center Apartments in West Virginia offer permanent housing to people that have been victimized and rendered homeless as a result of elder abuse.
Continue Reading...The website sfappeal.com is reporting that a San Francisco man – 50-year-old Michael Croslin – is facing 3 years in prison after a conviction of elder abuse and assault. The jury in the case deliberated for two days and the trial itself lasted for two weeks before the sentence was handed down to Croslin.
Continue Reading...84-year-old Emma Jean Sullan was hospitalized after a thief broke into her home in southwest Detroit. The intruder broke through Sullan’s back door and then attacked her and went through her belongings.
Continue Reading...In the early morning of August 7th, 2010 in Beverly, MA the Beverly police responded to a report of an assault at the Blueberry Hill Nursing Home. One of the nursing home residents allegedly attacked another resident is being taken to court on charges of attempted murder and assault and battery on an elderly person.
Continue Reading...Rgj.com has reported that an 87-year-old woman has been the victim of elder abuse when a neighbor of hers obtained power of attorney over the woman’s estate and wiped out the woman’s bank accounts. The 87-year-old woman reportedly saved an inheritance she obtained when her children died. The woman’s neighbor – Peggy Six – reportedly gambled part of the money that she stole from the woman and purchased a mobile home and a car with the rest.
Continue Reading...Summers in Phoenix can cause a number of different health afflictions. The police and fire department receive calls on a daily basis with heat related situations. Most of these accidents are preventable. Elderly are especially affected with heat related injuries, due to their various health afflictions and own vulnerability. On Saturday July 17, a 78 year-old man was taken to a Phoenix hospital suffering second degree burns on his feet.
Continue Reading...The California news website Mercedsunstar.com reports that a woman in Merced, CA was arrested on allegations that she robbed an elderly man. 49-year-old Denise Mayfield reportedly entered the house of an 86-year-old man, pushed him to the floor and robbed him. According to the report, the victim of the crime recognized Mayfield only by the sound of her voice as he had poor eyesight.
Continue Reading...A woman in Illinois has been charged with criminal neglect following the death of her mother. 53-year-old Brenda Tucker could potentially face up to 5 years in jail if she is convicted in the death of her 82-year-old mother Betty Tucker. According to the report, the prosecutors in this case argued that Tucker did not provide adequate care for her mother and should face criminal penalties for her death.
Continue Reading...A man in Coconut Creek, FL has been charged with felony elder abuse in connection with the death of his 62-year-old brother. The 62-year-old man was reportedly sleeping on a couch in his own waste for about three months until his death last week. The man was discovered emaciated covered with small sores all over his body.
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According to a report posted on therolladailynews.com, a Missouri nursing home worker faces one count of forgery, one count of stealing by deceit, and one count of abuse of a person receiving health care. Connie Jean Beckerman admitted to forging checks and stealing money from the Perryville Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center.
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The Napa Valley Register in California reports that a man accused of trying to kill his parents using prescription drugs pleaded not guilty to the charges he faced. 49-year-old Jeffrey Niebling has been charged with several things including two counts of premeditated attempted murder, two counts of elder abuse with injury and one charge of poisoning.
Continue Reading...According to Mercurynews.com in California, a Los Angeles man was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his mother in 2008. 48-year-old Richard Carlton Barbera faces the maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison for the murder of 74-year-old Mary Barbera.
Continue Reading...A woman in Albuquerque, NM has been sent to jail for three years following an incident where she and her former husband stole approximately $40,000 from her mother-in-law. 32-year-old Christina Dreischmeyer will spend three years in prison on charges of fraud, neglect, residential abuse and attempted larceny against her 72-year-old mother-in-law.
Continue Reading...According to www.times-standard.com, an Arcata, CA bank employee was arrested on Tuesday after being charged with elder abuse and embezzlement. The report states that 32-year-old Elliot Shane has been booked on suspicion of embezzling a total of over $100,000 from 5 different customers, all of which were either unaware of changes in their bank account or were elderly people that may have been unaware of changes in their banking.
Continue Reading...According to a report posted by the Associated Press, six California nursing home workers have been arrested after attempting to play a prank on their co-workers. The workers covered many of the nursing home residents with cream in order for them to slip when other workers attempted to help them in any way.
Continue Reading...A Massachusetts elderly woman has died due to injuries she suffered resulting from severe neglect. Five residents of Fall River, MA reportedly left the 80-year-old woman lying in a recliner in her own urine and feces for over a month.
Continue Reading...A 67-year-old woman was left with a fractured eye socket and several other injuries following an attack against her from her son, 45-year-old Bradley Stewart. Stewart reportedly barged into his mother’s house while he was intoxicated and he threatened the woman’s life and the lives of her grandchildren.
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According to an article by CBS 4 in Tallahasse, FL, disturbing findings have been released that in almost all nursing homes and hospitals in Florida the food being served to the residents is not being inspected.
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In Jefferson, Indiana an elderly woman was victimized by her caregiver who stole approximately $30,000 over a period of six months while working for her. 86-year old Merlene Black has stated that the caregiver had isolated her from her friends and family, not allowing them to visit and even listening to her phone conversations.
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A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Vian Nursing Home in Sequeoyah, Oklahoma on behalf of the estate of one of its former patients – Raymond Foreman. Foreman died almost two years ago while he was a resident in the facility from December 2006 through July 2008. On July 20, 2008, Foreman died as a result of a maggot infestation.
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The website woai.com has reported that they have received several complaints about a San Antonio nursing home that reportedly has not had air conditioning for several weeks. The complaints stem from the fact that residents have been asked on numerous occasions to remain out of the dining room area and eat in their rooms because of the lack of air conditioning.
Continue Reading...The Illinois Government News Network has posted a report on their website discussing a bill that Governor Pat Quinn has signed that will protect elderly individuals in Illinois from suffering elder financial abuse. The report states that this new law will call for financial institutions to set stronger methods in place to identify and report financial abuse of elderly individuals.
Continue Reading...A Michigan group home for mentally disabled adults and adults with traumatic brain injuries has faced a series of investigations due to several complaints that have been made. According to the report, 21 complaints have been made to police in one year.
Continue Reading...Justicenewsflash.com reports that the family of a Florida woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a residential treatment center where the woman was being treated for depression. The woman was found drowned two weeks before she was set to be released by the facility.
Continue Reading...According to a report on citizen-times.com, The 30th Judicial District Domestic Violence-Sexual Assault Alliance is currently sponsoring training sessions in North Carolina to recognize and prevent elder abuse. According to the report, training will not only be for the public but for law enforcement, medical personnel and agencies as well.
Continue Reading...A deadly fire in a Vallejo, CA retirement home killed 3 residents that were staying in the home. Five people pleaded not guilty in Superior Court on Tuesday. All five people own or operate the retirement home and each one faces two counts of manslaughter, two counts of elder abuse causing death and one count of elder abuse.
Continue Reading...An Illinois man has filed a lawsuit against a nursing home in the premature death of his mother. 66-year-old Neida Niles died after a fall in 2007. The suit claims that the nursing home did not properly assess her risk of a fall and did not treat the bed sores and skin infection that developed because of the fall.
Continue Reading...A New Jersey hospice worker has been accused of stealing money from a dying patient. Tristan Chang, 23, allegedly used the hospice patient's ATM card and PIN number to withdraw $700, the full amount the patient had in their account.
Continue Reading...Following a series of newspaper stories on the prevalence of nursing home abuse in Kentucky, an advocacy group is calling for the governor to appoint a special task force to combat the problem. A series in the Kentucky Herald-Leader has reported that Kentucky nursing homes have had more than 100 citations for serious violations over the past three years, but that few have been prosecuted as crimes.
Continue Reading...A former worker at an assisted living facility has withdrawn her guilty plea in an elder abuse case. The former worker, Iindia Weatherly, had originally plead guilty to a fourth-degree felony in the death of an 87-year-old resident at her facility last summer. Weatherly will now stand trial, as she admits she was careless but denies intentionally injuring the victim.
Continue Reading...While society has made great strides in highlighting and fighting abuse against women and children over the last 30 years, elder abuse has not gained the same amount of attention. A first-of-its-kind center at the University of California-Irvine is hoping to change that. The Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse & Neglect provides technical assistance, best-practices information, multidisciplinary training, and research to elder care professionals throughout the state.
Continue Reading...The state of Rhode Island has shut down a group home for teenage boys with behavioral or emotional problems amid allegations of inadequate facilities and improper confinement. The group home's license has been placed on probation pending further investigation and the boys have been moved to different homes.
Continue Reading...A Sacramento Superior Court judge has upheld a $29 million judgment against a Northern California nursing home. The judgment stems from the 2005 death of patient Frances Tanner and the judge ruled that there was "overwhelming" and "devastatingly powerful" evidence to support the large punitive damages judgment.
Continue Reading...According to the website newsobserver.com, a nurse at a North Carolina nursing home is facing murder charges following the death of one of her patients due to high levels of morphine. The facility where the nurse worked is also facing a lawsuit from two other patients because they suffered injuries resulting from negligence on the part of the facility.
Continue Reading...According to Newyourkinjurynews.com, a Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against a man claiming to be a doctor after she suffered burns to her underarms following inferior laser hair removal treatment. According to the report, 22-year-old Monica Jimenez is suing Larry DeJesus after she suffered second and third-degree burns from the treatment
Continue Reading...A 19-year-old worker at a Virginia hospice facility has been arrested for overmedicating a patient. Julie Ann Fischer is accused of putting a crushed pill into the patient's food in order to put him to sleep. The charge is a class three felony and carries up to 20 years in prison. This case highlights the prevalent problem of overmedication in nursing homes, hospices, and assisted living facilities.
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Jean Engstrom, a 51-year old woman living in Chicago, IL died as a result of a tragic drowning in her bathtub at a Rogers Park nursing home on Sunday night. She was taken to Saint Francis Hospital and at 9:15pm was pronounced dead according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Continue Reading...A report by the state auditor has found that the California Department of Public Health has done a poor job of administering and collecting fines from nursing homes that violate regulations. The lax collection of fines has allowed nursing homes to go without punishment for violating regulations and has deprived the department of nearly $ 9 million in revenue that could have been used to fight nursing home abuse and neglect.
Continue Reading...A 93-year-old Alzheimer's patient at an assisted living facility in Delray Beach, Florida has died after accidentally swallowing diswasher detergent. The state agency is investigating and the facility may face a $10,000 fine for not properly securing its kitchen, which allowed this tragic event to occur.
Continue Reading...Officials in South Texas have formed a task force to fight elder abuse. Reported crimes against the elderly were up 15% in Texas last year, and the task force will attempt to fight this problem by focusing on training for nursing home staff and financial exploitation of the elderly.
Continue Reading...A report in the Cleveland Jewish News documents the growing problem of financial exploitation of the elderly. Americans aged 70-90 are the wealthiest age group in the country and new technologies such online banking have made financial exploitation easier than ever.
Continue Reading...An investigation by the Bristol Herald Courier in Bristol, Virginia has revealed that police failed to question a serial rapist in a nursing home sexual assault case three years despite strong evidence that he was a suspect. The newspaper's ongoing investigation has revealed that failures by both the nursing home staff and law enforcement allowed the rapist to remain free and sexually assault at least a dozen residents at two different long-term care facilities over a period of 10 years.
Continue Reading...Police in Howard County, Maryland are looking for a mentally disabled man who disappeared from his group home on Saturday, June 19. 42-year-old Everett Lee Clark left his group home on Saturday and has not been seen since. He does not have a cell phone or identification and may not be able to prove his address. Anyone with information on Mr. Clark's whereabouts should call 911.
Continue Reading...A former employee at a Los Angeles-area senior living facility has been sentenced to life in prison for abusing several elderly residents. 21-year-old Cesar Ulloa was convicted of toture and seven counts of elder abuse. The victims all suffered from dementia and were unable to speak or report the abuse.
Continue Reading...The New York Times reports on the frightening increase in a syndrome known as "hospital delirium." According to the American Geriatric Society, this condition, which can cause frightening and disorienting hallucinations, affects one third of hospital patients over 70. Though the causes are not fully understood, the Times says that many cases may be caused by doctors and nurses who do not know how to properly treat the elderly. Additionally, the syndrome is often misdiagnosed, leading to more complications later.
Continue Reading...Two New Jersey group home operators were arrested due to a fatal fire that killed one of their residents last August. After an extensive investigation, police and fire officials determined that the group home did not have proper safety measures in place to prevent the fire.
Continue Reading...An Orlando assisted living facility is being investigated for excessive use of restraints on a disabled man. The man, Bryan Barboka, 26, suffers from cerebral palsy and is paralyzed except for the use of his left arm. After being restrained, he suffered a fractured shoulder and severe bruising.
Continue Reading...Following the death of a nursing home resident who had been given a lethal dose of morphine, a North Carolina attorney is investigating the use of drugs in nursing homes. Attorney Carma Henson is representing three of the nine residents at Britthaven nursing home who tested positive for morphine following the death of Rachel Holliday on Feb. 16.
Continue Reading...Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has announced a Senior Anti-Crime University in Sedona on June 24. This free half-day seminar will feature classes on consumer scams, investment fraud, personal safety, elder abuse, financial exploitation and other issues affecting seniors.
Continue Reading...A North Carolina nursing home worker has been arrested for murder after allegedly giving an Alzheimer's patient a lethal dose of morphine. Angela Almore also faces felony abuse charges for overmedicating at least six other residents with morphine. It is believed that Almore overmedicated the residents in order to keep them docile and manageable.
Continue Reading...June 15 is the fifth annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The event is organized by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) to raise awareness of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The day will feature events around the country and the world designed to educate about elder abuse.
Continue Reading...NBC affiliate WOWT in Nebraska is reporting that Nebraska police officers are currently investigating a potential elder abuse incident. The report states a 74-year-old man was discovered in his apartment lying on a couch. Police said they discovered the environment was unsanitary, including discovering trash, rotting food, and cat and human feces in the apartment.
Continue Reading...Among the millions of missing person’s each year, many are elderly who had resided at a nursing home and wandered off. Accoding to an article by Enterprisenews.com, Thomas Gould, 54, was reported missing two weeks ago from Old Colony Rest Home where he had resided for several years.
Continue Reading...An employee at a nursing home repeatedly molested at least seven residents between 2000 and 2007. Now, an investigation by a local newspaper has shown that the abuse was allowed to continue even though there were warning signs. The investigation also documents the torment the abused residents must still live with, even though the molester is now in prison.
Continue Reading...Local police and officials at nationally renowned school for disadvantaged children in Pennsylvania failed to follow up on an allegation of molestation in 1998. This failure allowed the pedophile to continue visiting the school and molest at least 17 more children before finally being arrested in 2008.
Continue Reading...A couple in Tallahassee, Florida has been arrested for operating an assisted living facility without a license. The arrest came after an investigation that uncovered severe neglect of elderly residents.
Continue Reading...The former CEO of a Milwaukee nursing home who stole from her nursing home while patients were neglected is going to prison for tax evasion. The CEO is alleged to have stolen over $1 million from her nursing home while patients were denied baths and clean sheets and one resident jumped to his death after the staff ignored his threats of suicide.
Continue Reading...A new study suggest that seniors who live in assisted living facilities and nursing homes may be at a higher risk for suicide than those that live alone. This study highlights the importance of nursing home and assisted living staff watching out for signs of suicidal thoughts in residents. Neglectful staff can miss such signs and even contribute to a resident's risk for suicide.
Continue Reading...The family of a woman in Bakersfield, CA is accusing her nursing home of not treating severe burns and allowing them to spread over a large portion of her body. Doctors believe the burns were a result of medication the woman was taking, but the failure of the nursing home staff to notice and take proper action caused the problem to become much more severe. This case highlights what can happen when nursing home staffers are inattentive and neglectful.
Continue Reading...This article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette details efforts by groups around the country to change the culture of nursing homes. The culture change movement focuses on increasing choice and independence for the elderly and moving away from the traditional institutional nursing home model.
Continue Reading...An Oregon mental health worker is suing the state for $1 million, claiming that she was verbally abused after she complained about the abuse of group home clients. The woman claims that co-workers at the State Department of Health Services verbally attacked her and used racial epithets after she raised concerns about abuse and improper care at the state-run group homes and the stress caused by these attacks eventually forced her to leave her job.
Continue Reading...The ABC15 Investigators are investigating Arizona adult guardian group Sun Valley Group of Tempe after several allegations of abuse and possibly criminal behavior. Adult guardians are court-appointed representatives who are entrusted with protecting the rights and interests of adults who cannot make decisions for themselves, such elders who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's disease. In addition to the many complaints from family members documented by ABC15, Sun Valley Group is also the subject of two separate criminal investigations.
Continue Reading...A nursing home near Sacramento, California has been ordered to pay $28 million in punitive damages for the death of a resident. The nursing home was found to be deliberately understaffed and to provide substandard care. The large punitive damages amount is a record for Sacramento county and was meant to send a message to the home that they can no longer save money by cutting corners.
Continue Reading...A North Carolina nursing home worker has been accused of sexually assaulting an elderly resident. The assault allegedly took place in February, but the victim only recently came forward.
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Tucson nursing home Devon Gables has reached a settlement in wrongful death lawsuit bought by the family of a hospice patient who died from sepsis after developing severe pressure sores. It is one of three lawsuits for neglect and abuse that the Tucson nursing home currently has pending against it.
Continue Reading...A nursing home in Brooklyn that neglected a 76-year-old man and caused him to get more than 20 bedsores will be required to pay nearly $19 million to the victim’s family. 76-year-old John Danzy lost nearly 100 pounds and suffered from a serious infection as a result of his bedsores after six months of staying at the Brooklyn Queens Nursing Home. It was also discovered that the nursing home had doctored records to cover up their neglect. As a result, the jury awarded $3.5 million for pain and suffering and $15 million in punitive damages for the doctored records.
Bed sores are one of the most common and most serious results of nursing home neglect. They are caused when a patient is forced to lay or sit in the same position for a long period of time. Nursing homes are required to turn or move patients on a regular basis to prevent bed sores from occurring and keep records of these movements to ensure that they are done properly. Bed sores can erode skin and cause holes in the body and lead to serious infections and even death. If you have a loved one in a nursing home, you should check for bed sores and ask to see records to ensure that bed sores are not developing.
A former nursing home worker in Lufkin, TX was recently sentenced to 20 months in jail after pleading guilty to abuse of a 77-year-old nursing home patient. The victim’s husband had noticed signs of abuse, but due to his wife’s mental state, it was difficult to prove that abuse was taking place. The husband then planted a hidden camera in his wife’s room and recorded two instances of the worker abusing his wife by grabbing her arm and twisting it violently and striking her repeatedly on the arm.
This case illustrates several problems that nursing home residents and their families must deal with. Since many nursing home residents suffer from Alzheimer’s, dementia, and similar disorders, they may not be able to report abuse themselves, so family members must be vigilant in looking for signs of abuse. In addition, since this abuse happened repeatedly, after the husband had noticed it, the administrators of the nursing home may be found liable for the abuse, as they allowed it to happen on multiple occasions despite there being signs that abuse was taking place. If you believe your loved one is being abused in a nursing home, you should contact a nursing home abuse attorney to discuss your case and decide on the best course of action.
A former nursing home worker in Lufkin, TX was recently sentenced to 20 months in jail after pleading guilty to abuse of a 77-year-old nursing home patient. The victim’s husband had noticed signs of abuse, but due to his wife’s mental state, it was difficult to prove that abuse was taking place. The husband then planted a hidden camera in his wife’s room and recorded two instances of the worker abusing his wife by grabbing her arm and twisting it violently and striking her repeatedly on the arm.
This case illustrates several problems that nursing home residents and their families must deal with. Since many nursing home residents suffer from Alzheimer’s, dementia, and similar disorders, they may not be able to report abuse themselves, so family members must be vigilant in looking for signs of abuse. In addition, since this abuse happened repeatedly, after the husband had noticed it, the administrators of the nursing home may be found liable for the abuse, as they allowed it to happen on multiple occasions despite there being signs that abuse was taking place. If you believe your loved one is being abused in a nursing home, you should contact a nursing home abuse attorney to discuss your case and decide on the best course of action.
According to a recent report in the Washington Post, Washington, D.C. is severely lagging in investigating abuse at group homes for people with developmental disabilities. The report found that the city had not filed timely reports for over 400 cases. This report illustrates the problem of group home abuse investigations throughout the country, as underfunded and overworked government agencies cannot keep up with the number of abuse cases. Additionally, these are just the cases that are reported. Many cases of group home abuse go unreported.
Here in Arizona, our government agencies face similar problems properly overseeing group homes that care for adults with developmental and physical disabilities. Therefore, if you have a friend or loved one in such a facility, it is important to be diligent in looking for signs of abuse. These signs could include depression, welts, lethargy, or other sudden and unexplained changes in mood or behavior. If you believe your loved one is being abused, you should contact an experienced group home abuse attorney to discuss your case and decide the best course of action.
An Albuquerque group home for children with hearing impairment may be shut down due to excessive calls to the police. The Albuquerque news reports that the police have been to the home "dozens of times," responding to violence and threats. Some of the teens reportedly threatened to kill staff members, broke windows and slapped their caregivers.
The operators admit the situation is not appropriate. They claim to have taken steps towards a better environment, including giving staff "additional training." This begs the question, "why wasn't the staff trained properly to begin with?" Additionally, one wonders how healthy this environment can be for the teens when the staff can't control the situation and police must be called. A group home is supposed to be a supportive environment that helps its members adapt and function in society. This level of chaos and stress would surely hinder that kind of development
This article indicates the importance of a properly trained staff and safe group home environment. If a member of your family is in a group home, be sure to make sure they caregivers manage issues constructively. And, always be aware of the signs of abuse or neglect that may be occurring.
When loved ones enter the hospital or assisted living centers, we expect them to receive quality care from experienced professionals. But what if your family member was actually being ignored by a recently hired nurse whose license was suspended in another state? A recent report by the LA Times detailed that exact situation, and reveals similar situations occur more than we realize.
The problem the article explores is the lack of oversight in the temporary nurse staffing industry. Staffing companies provide temp nurses to hospitals and nursing homes when demand increases or if the nursing home prefers to use temp staffing. While these companies are needed to help keep nursing homes and hospitals staffed, problems arise when neither the temp company nor the nursing home perform background checks on the temp nurse.
The Arizona Republic reported that these temp nurses have been known to steal medication, fall asleep on the job, and even fail to perform critical tests on patients. Nurses can be disciplined at other hospitals and even lose their licenses, but moving to another state lets them get hired again, putting patients at risk.
This study illustrates that seniors in nursing homes rely on quality care from the institution as well as their individual caregivers. A normally decent home could unwittingly hire a neglectful nurse who doesn't give your loved one the proper care or attention needed and deserved. When visiting family in a nursing home, it is critical to know the signs of neglect and prevent such problems from escalating to serious health concerns.
During the holiday season it is only natural for thoughts to drift to family and friends. Unfortunately, seniors living in nursing homes sometimes feel isolated from family who have limited time to visit or live out of state. These feelings are only intensified by the lack of activities in a nursing home setting. Thankfully, a group of college students in Yuma put together a project to reach out to seniors in nursing homes this holiday season.
The Yuma Sun reports that these NAU-Yuma students went above and beyond their assignment and actually implemented their class project. Wanting to help their community, they collaborated with local businesses to bring entertaining performances and informative workshops to local nursing homes. The workshops teach hobbies and skills seniors can use to stay connected and engaged with the community.
This student project will go a long way to help Yuma seniors stay connected and engaged. Their efforts are especially helpful in nursing homes, where seniors can feel isolated and idle. Lack of adequate staffing or materials leaves residents with little to do with their time. If you visit family in a nursing home this holiday, you may want to ask what kind activities are offered, as well as making sure their basic health and comfort needs are being met.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that hundreds of cases of group home abuse in Washington D.C. are going uninvestigated due to a lengthy backlog of reports. This backlog was created when the Department on Disability Services reformed its oversight methods and began investigating privately run group homes, thus discovering many cases of neglect and abuse that had gone on with impunity.
The department reported a 60 percent increase in serious incidents, up to 1057 in 2009, and will be hiring additional investigators to resolve the claims. But, this inability to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens in our nation’s capital speaks to the difficulties faced by those living in group homes.
As Arizona’s budget crisis deepens, deep cuts will be made to the Arizona Department of Economic Security and Department of Health Services, negatively affecting the care and wellbeing of group home residents. With government agencies falling behind, it is now more important than ever for family members to know the signs of neglect in group homes and nursing homes. Families serve as the first and best line of defense to protect the health and happiness of their loved ones.
Arizona is one of the few states in the country that has a unique statutory definition of “abuse” of nursing home patients.
“Abuse” means:
1. Intentional infliction of physical harm.
2. Injury caused by negligent acts or omissions.
3. Sexual abuse or sexual assault.
This definition is broader than the common definition of abuse and therefore includes what would ordinarily be classified as simple negligence. This expanded definition is helpful in asserting claims for poor care given to Arizona nursing home patients.
Many patients remain in the nursing home setting for the balance of their lives. Their final years can either be comfortable or tragic depending on the quality of care they receive.
It is difficult for an individual family to influence the nursing home’s management to improve patient care.
The best opportunity for success in improving patient care is through the nursing home’s Family Council.
Members of the council are the families of the residents. They can set their own agendas and present the facility with their concerns which must be addressed by management.
There are care issues that are common in nursing homes. The following is an outline of several of them and how they can affect nursing home patients’ quality of life.
1. Nutrition. When there is a shortage of staff in the facility, patients who are unable to feed themselves independently, suffer.
2. Hydration. A lack of adequate fluid intake is a cause of significant problems for residents including confusion, falls, and urinary tract infections.
Residents must have water conveniently located in their room. The water container must be regularly filled. Patients must be encouraged to drink water throughout the day.
Once again, inadequate staffing is usually the underlying problem when patients are dehydrated.
3. Assistance with Activities of Daily Living. Another area of concern is the insufficient number of nursing assistants to provide patients with assistance in their activities of daily living.
These activities include: bathing, dressing, grooming, transfers to bed and chair, ambulation, toileting, and eating (as discussed above).
The Family Council through its family members can provide factual accounts of care concerns at the facility and request that the facility provide adequate staff to attend to their vulnerable patients.
If cooperation isn’t forthcoming, the Council should then request the Arizona Department of Health Services to investigate the inadequacy in the facility’s level of care.
The adage “there is safety in numbers” is particularly true in the nursing home setting. Federal nursing home regulations provide a vehicle for enhancing patient safety, by requiring nursing homes to have “family councils”.
Family councils are made up of resident’s family members that meet regularly to discuss issues pertaining to resident care at the facility.
The nursing home must assist the council by making a “private” space available for the families to meet. In addition, a facility representative may only attend the meeting by invitation of the council, and must respond to council concerns.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home, participating in the family council is a must. If there isn’t an active council, start one!
Placing a family member in a nursing home is painful and difficult, yet necessary when the medical and physical demands make other options unacceptable.
The nursing home environment and staff procedures may be overwhelming for the family as well as the patient. In order to function in this new environment the family must learn a new set of rules and procedures.
The Nursing Home Family “Toolkit” is a structure that families can utilize to get their bearings in an otherwise confusing situation.
The “Toolkit” is a protocol for gathering information about the facility, its caregivers, management, and the other residents and their families.
Caregivers, Management, Residents and Families
There are many caregivers in the nursing home setting. It’s important for the family to know the names, positions and shifts of all caregivers in order to understand which caregiver is responsible for the delivery of care during each shift.
To the extent possible, it is advisable for the family to meet each of the patient’s caregivers to establish a personal relationship between the family and the facility staff.
Obtaining the names of all supervisory staff and their shifts enables families to understand the chain of command.
The family should learn the name of the Director of Nursing, the Medical Director, and the Administrator and the times they are in the building.
Since there is considerable turnover in nursing homes, the information should be updated quarterly.
Finally, the name of the treating physician, the days and times he is usually in the building is also important.
Other Residents and their Families
You and your loved one are now in the new “community” with other residents and their families. There is a lot to learn and the other residents and families can be very helpful.
They will have information and opinions about the staff and administration which they can share with you. They can keep an eye on your loved one when you are not there and call potential problems to your attention.
Make sure to get the complete names of the other residents and their families, as well as their addresses and phone numbers.
Keeping a Diary
As a lawyer, I review many nursing home neglect and abuse cases. It is very helpful to visit with a family that has kept a diary of the events surrounding the care of their loved one. Details about the problems confronting the family and their efforts to obtain necessary care can go a long way in establishing nursing home accountability.
Contained in a joint draft bill of the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education committees are provisions that eliminate the secret ownership of Nursing Homes.
If these transparency provisions remain in the eventual legislation, patient advocates will score a significant victory on behalf of patients and their families.
Nursing Homes would be required to disclose ownership and organizational information, as well as their regulatory compliance and ethics programs.
Additional disclosures, involving financial expenditures for direct and indirect care, capital assets, and administrative costs will be also required to be disclosed.
Skilled nursing facilities provide vital services to our most vulnerable patients. In order to deliver quality care, facilities must allocate sufficient resources to nursing, dietary, oversight and safety services.
There is a direct correlation between dollars spent and the services provided to patients. Mandating full public disclosure of expenditures and ownership will advance owner accountability and help ensure quality patient care.
It is always difficult to tell a family that I am unable to represent them regarding the loss or severe injury of their loved one in a nursing home.
However, arriving at the right decision as to whether to accept a nursing home neglect and abuse case is the foundation of a nursing home practice.
Difficult decisions are made at the junction where emotion and intellect intersect.
Emotion is the first to weigh in when a death or life changing event is presented to me for review. It is difficult not to become incensed at the poor care given to our most vulnerable patients or to become attached to a family that has lost a loved one.
Since intellect, in the form of practical considerations, are slow to appear, caution in the decision process is well advised.
Nursing home, assisted living, and group home cases are expensive, labor intensive and emotionally draining for an attorney. They are also difficult for families because they take a long time to resolve and therefore there is delayed closure of the emotional wound.
The first consideration is whether the neglect or abuse resulted in significant injury or death.
The second consideration is whether the injury or death was the result of neglect or abuse.
Having said that, my analysis as to whether to move forward is based on a broad view of the nursing home (including both the specific facility and the parent organization).
I examine the history of the nursing home to determine whether they have had similar problems in the delivery of patient care. Have they learned from their prior mistakes or are they continuing with the same conduct?
I determine whether the harm was the result of a systemic failure such as inadequate staffing, training or oversight. These systemic failures are evidence that the facility was incapable of providing quality care.
I then determine whether the systemic failures were the result of corporate business decisions. In other words, did the nursing home corporation decide to place profits over quality patient care and did that decision lead to the injury or death?
The answer to this question will determine whether the facility’s conduct warrants an award of punitive damages. Punitive damages are assessed against a facility to punish it for outrageous conduct.
Going through these considerations in the case selection process enables me to decide whether to accept or reject a nursing home case. However, it doesn’t make it any easier to tell a family that I am unable to help them.
The United States Government Accounting Office (GAO) recently completed a study of public and private schools and reported to Congress on the abuse of vulnerable children who were students at those institutions.
The GAO first testified that there were no federal laws restricting seclusion or restraints in public or private schools and that state laws were widely divergent.
Most significant was their report that found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death related to the use of restraints on school children during the last 20 years.
The use of restraints on vulnerable adults in the nursing home setting has been band except under very limited circumstances with physician supervision. There is no good reason to continue this dangerous practice with disabled children in the school setting.
Assisted Living Facilities are private pay organizations where fees can cost $6,000 or more per month.
They are not skilled nursing facilities and are unable to provide care to residents with complex nursing or medical needs.
In order to fill empty beds, assisted living managers may stretch, in terms of promises they make to families, as to the level of care their facility is equipped or competent to provide.
It may be difficult for a family to place a loved one in a nursing home when they believe that an attractive assisted living facility is willing to accept the patient. However, it is the quality of care that is critical not the quality of the ambiance.
So beware of promises made by assisted living admission representatives and inquire of your loved one’s treating physician about the level of care necessary before making this important decision.
Senators Grassley and Kohl have sponsored a bill that would require drug companies and manufacturers of medical equipment to publicly disclose payments to physicians that exceed $500 per year.
In discussing the need for this legislation, Senator Grassley reported that drug companies are paying fees and expenses to physicians who are supposed to be objectively reviewing the effectiveness of medications.
Grassley explained that a physician had recently been paid in excess of a half a million dollars in fees and expenses by a major drug company during the time the physician was the lead physician on a study evaluating the company’s new drug.
Treating physicians must be able to rely on independent studies to make medical decisions regarding treatment. Even the suggestion of impropriety can have serious treatment implications. We hope Congress will implement this legislation in this new era of recapturing public trust.
When a loved one dies while receiving care in a nursing home, the family is entitled to know whether the death could have been avoided by good nursing care.
According to an article in the New York Times, after a death occurs at a nursing facility, it is not uncommon for the family to mistrust what they have been told by the facility as to the cause of the death.
In my experience, this is particularly true of deaths occurring at nursing homes where the history of care has been questionable.
It may not be helpful to rely on the nursing home treating physician for answers, as many of the treating physicians in nursing homes are also the facility’s medical director.
Even a death certificate stating the cause of death may be suspect as the physician signing the certificate may have only limited information as to the circumstances surrounding the death.
What is a family to do?
The answer may be an autopsy, either performed by the county medical examiner or by a private pathologist.
The county medical examiner will usually only perform an autopsy if the circumstances surrounding the death calls into question whether the death was by natural means.
To have a private autopsy performed in Arizona can cost between $3,500 - $4,500. However, it may be the only way to determine the cause of death and give the family closure they deserve.
A nursing home is a nursing institution that is managed by an Administrator, who is not a medical professional.
The highest level of medical management in the nursing home is the Medical Director.
It is also common for the Medical Director to be the primary treating physician for his own patients in the facility.
Under Federal Regulation, the nursing home Medical Director is responsible for “the coordination of medical care in the facility.” This means that the Medical Director is responsible for assuring that the nursing staff is providing appropriate care to its patients.
In addition, the Medical Director is a member of the clinical care oversight committee which is charged with addressing all facility deficiencies as identified by the state’s Department of Health Services.
The role of the Medical Director requires an investment of time for the analysis of the facility’s operations and should not be taken lightly by any physician. The Medical Director must become familiar with the system of healthcare delivery within the facility and assure that it functions properly.
With this responsibility comes accountability which means liability, should the Medical Director fail to perform as required.
Can I do anything to improve the care my loved one is receiving at the nursing home?
This is a common question. Today I would like to discuss what I believe is a reasonable methodology to assist families in playing a positive role in the care of their nursing home patient.
Family participating in their loved ones care is becoming more important every year. However, there is little information available to inform and educate families as to how they can successfully advocate for their loved one. The following is an introduction to Family Advocacy 101.
Inadequate Communication in the Nursing Home
One of the major impediments to good care in the nursing home is inadequate communication among health care providers (nursing assistants, nurses, physicians, and nursing home management).
The nursing staff is responsible for continually assessing patients for changes in condition and for the accuracy and completeness of charting the patients’ condition. Facility understaffing places many hurdles in the path of staff-to-staff communication.
It is not the family’s job to facilitate staff communication in the nursing home. However, a family that is knowledgeable enough to understand the weakness in the nursing home’s system of communication is able to provide a communication bridge between the patient and the nursing home staff.
The family can thus make a significant contribution to the patient’s well being by facilitating awareness and understanding of the patient’s condition.
The Nursing Home Chart
The “chart” is a collection of records, first created when the patient is admitted to the nursing home and supplemented throughout the patient’s stay.
The purpose of the chart is to enable any healthcare provider to obtain a history and current status of the patient.
Understanding the Chart
This is not as difficult as you may think. Families with the patient’s permission may examine the patient’s chart.
There are certain documents in the chart that are key to evaluating care. We’ll briefly discuss each and also how it can be utilized by the family.
Hospital Transfer Records
The patient is usually accompanied to the nursing home with Hospital Transfer Records. These are records which explain the patient’s condition upon discharge from the hospital. The records also include a list of the medications the patient is taking, and any physician orders for continued medication and care.
The Admission Record
When a patient is admitted into a nursing home an Admission Record is completed by the admitting nurse. The Hospital Transfer Records are reviewed and incorporated into the admission records for the consideration of the nursing home admitting physician.
The admitting nurse must review the hospital transfer records, examine the patient, obtain information from the patient, and educate the patient’s family regarding the patient’s needs and abilities.
The Family re: Admission Process
The family should read the patient’s Hospital Transfer Records and the Admission Records in order to make sure that they accurately reflect the patient’s condition at the time of admission to the nursing home.
Advising the nursing staff about any discrepancies or omissions will facilitate an accurate understanding of the patient. It also ensures that the staff and admitting physician will be in a better position to address all of the patient’s needs.
Treatment / Medication Administration Records
The Treatment Record documents all the treatments that the patient’s physician has ordered for the patient. There is a place on the Treatment Record for the nursing staff to document when each treatment is provided.
The Medication Administration Record documents all the medications that were ordered for the patient and there is a place for the nurses to document when each medication is administered.
The timely performance of treatments and administration of medication is important to the welfare of the patient. Failure to provide either may result in patient debility or death.
The Family: Treatments and Medication
The family should examine the treatments ordered for the patient and the medication to be administered and verify that the patient is receiving the treatments and medications as were ordered.
Pay particular attention to any new treatments and medications and tell the nursing staff and the physician if there are any changes in the patient’s condition once the new treatments and medications have been given.
A change in treatment or medication can sometimes have a negative consequence and therefore patients should be closely monitored when new therapies are implemented or new medications are administered.
Vital Signs and Weight Records
The nursing assistants commonly record the patient’s vital signs (temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration) and weights. Weights are usually taken monthly unless ordered otherwise.
Any unusual readings must be retaken to allow for the possibility of error and timely reported to the patient’s physician in the event it is determined that the reading was accurate.
An elevated temperature may be a sign of infection or dehydration and must be addressed with the patient’s physician immediately.
Any unplanned weight loss must also be addressed immediately with the patient’s physician and the dietitian. In addition, a patient who has lost weight should be placed on a weekly weight plan.
It is not uncommon for recording the vitals and weights to be neglected by nursing when they are understaffed and overworked.
The Family: Vitals and Weights
Once again, the family can play an important role in assuring that the patient’s vitals and weights are regularly recorded by the staff.
By examining the vitals and weight records weekly and reporting any failures of entry to the nurse in charge and the patient’s physician, the family can help avert potential problems.
Nursing Assistant Flow Sheets
Nursing assistants provide much of the hands on care in the nursing home. They document certain elements of the care that they provide on Nursing Assistants Flow Sheets.
One of the more important aspects of their charting responsibility is to document the percentage of meals and fluids consumed by the patient.
The flow sheet forms have columns for the days of the week and cross-columns for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Each box for a particular date and meal should be filled in with the accurate meal and fluid percentages that the patient consumes.
In a busy nursing home, that lacks an adequate number of nursing assistants, it is not unusual for Flow Sheet charting to be incomplete. Unfortunately, it is also not unusual for the meals percentages documented to be fabricated, especially at times when the facility is short staffed and the percentages are recorded at a later date.
The Family: Flow Sheets
As stated before, any unplanned weight loss in an elderly patient is a serous condition and must be addressed as quickly as possible.
The family should examine the patient’s Nursing Assistant Flow Sheet weekly and report any blank boxes to the Director of Nurses.
The family should also examine the percentages of meals consumed in light of the patient’s physical condition.
For example, when a patient has unintentionally lost weight and the Nurse Assistant Flow Sheet indicates that the patient has been eating 100% of his meals, the family should be suspicious. The weight loss may be the consequence of a medical condition or may be a situation where the nursing assistants are fabricating the meal percentages that the patient has eaten.
Becoming aware of this conflict between the weight loss and the meal percentages enables the family to call this matter to the attention of the Director of Nursing and the patient’s physician.
Families place their trust in the nursing home to provide quality care. Although the nursing home staff should be an advocate for the patient, this rarely occurs because the facility is understaffed and the staff is overworked just trying to provide basic services to all the patients.
There is an increased risk of falling among the frail patient population of nursing homes. The risk even exists for patients while they are in bed and roll off onto the floor.
Bed rails are the first thing a lay family member may suggest; however, a leading cause of strangulation of patients in nursing homes is bed rails. It may be counterintuitive that a bed rail, customarily thought of as protecting patients from falling out of bed, can cause more harm than good.
Yet, it’s a fact that a poorly designed bed rail is a deadly instrument when a patient’s body is caught between the bed rail and the mattress. This configuration constricts the patient’s chest thereby causing death by strangulation.
There are safer and more efficient ways of minimizing the risk of a patient falling out of bed, such as lowering the mattress or placing the mattress on the floor.
An important yet overlooked consideration in the care of the elderly is the impact of medication on nutrition.
It is not uncommon for nursing home residents to be taking 9 or more medications. It is also not uncommon for physicians and nurses caring for nursing home patients to fail to consider the impact that medications may have on their patient’s appetite and their ability to absorb nutrients.
The remedy is simple and simply overlooked.
There is a dietary guide (Drug-Nutrient Resource) available in nursing homes and used by dietitians to assist them in evaluating unplanned weight loss.
The guide outlines the nutritional side effects of medications including appetite changes, weight changes, edema, altered taste, thirst, dry mouth, the risk of dental problems, GI distress, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, blood pressure changes, drowsiness/weakness, etc.
However, in nursing homes, where communication among disciplines is poor; physicians, nurses and dietitians don’t customarily discuss common interactions between medications and nutrition.
Informed advocates and families may be the only source of information pertaining to this risk.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a pilot program for nursing homes based upon incentive payments according to a report by Todd Neal, a staff writer for MedPage Today.
Participation in the pilot program will be offered to nursing homes in four states (Arizona, Mississippi, New York and Washington).
Nursing homes that show the greatest improvement in the quality of their care will be awarded monetary payments.
Quality will be measured by improvement in staffing, avoidable hospitalizations, resident outcomes and survey deficiencies.
It is gratifying that quality of care is finding its way back into fashion now that we have a new administration in Washington.
Every time I interview a nurse in one of my nursing home neglect and abuse cases, I find myself sympathizing with the position in which they find themselves.
Nurses know that their facilities are short staffed and they also know that their patients are not receiving needed care. Many of them are ashamed at working in such an environment and have lost the spark that once made their work enjoyable.
The essence of caregiving has always been supportive and nurturing. Even though nursing is hard work, and many times thankless, nurses continue to provide care because of the heartfelt joy that caregiving provides them.
However, what takes the joy out of nursing home caregiving is the knowledge that the nursing staff is not receiving the support they need from management to properly care for their patients.
In many respects, nurses as well as patients are the victims of corporate indifference and greed.
When nursing home owners limit the number of nursing staff at their facilities, the remaining nurses must struggle, and many times fail, to provide adequate care.
When patients suffer so do their nurses.
When checking mom into a nursing home, in addition to telling them about her favorite foods, you are likely signing away her rights.
Buried in the stack of documents you will be signing is a promise not to sue the nursing home in court if they harm or kill mom.
It's called an "Agreement to Arbitrate" and it is underhanded and a pitiful abuse of trust.
An arbitration is a non-judicial proceeding where an "independent" third person (arbitrator) is given the facts of a dispute and decides the dispute impartially.
However, there is nothing impartial or independent about these nursing home arbitration agreements.
They are one-way agreements giving nursing homes the right to have any dispute, no matter how serious, decided by an "arbitrator" of their choice and they get to decide the rules by which the arbitration will be conducted.
These agreements have been used to prevent courts from holding nursing homes accountable for the injuries and deaths they cause to nursing home patients.
Now there is a bill before Congress that will stop these tactics. It is called The Fairness in Arbitration Act of 2009 (H.R.1237)
This proposed legislation will make these one-sided agreements unenforceable.
Write your Congressman and ask them to support this elder friendly legislation.
For us Arizonans, write to your Congressman:
86303 - 1st District - Kirkpatrick, Ann
85308 - 2nd District - Franks, Trent
85016 - 3rd District - Shadegg, John
85004 - 4th District - Pastor, Ed
85251 - 5th District - Mitchell, Harry E.
85204 - 6th District - Flake, Jeff
85364 - 7th District - Grijalva, Raul
85635 - 8th District - Giffords, Gabrielle
The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act was reintroduced into the Senate this week. The bill is intended to prevent workers with criminal histories from working in skilled nursing facilities.
The bill requires each state to establish coordinated systems that include checks against neglect and abuse registries, the FBI database and state police records.
The bill had been introduced last year but failed to make it out of Congress.
State background investigation requirements are checkered and lack any uniformity making it easy for someone with a criminal conviction in one state to escape detection in another.
If this legislation becomes law, it will go a long way in reducing violence to nursing home residents.
The world of nursing home care changed in 1987 when Congress enacted the OBRA (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) regulations.
OBRA is a comprehensive set of rules created by clinicians and designed to be a blueprint for quality nursing home care.
I’ve studied and worked with these regulations for over ten years, and I believe that there are four principal regulations that form the backbone of quality care.
The four are:
1. Quality of Life (42 USC 483.15)
2. Quality of Care (42 USC 483.25)
3. Nursing Services (42 USC 483.30)
4. Administration (42 USC 483.75)
1. Quality of Life
“The facility must care for its residents in a manner and in an environment that promotes maintenance or enhancement of each resident’s quality of life.” (42 USC 483.15)
What does “quality of life” in a nursing home mean?
It means that each resident is entitled to:
1. Dignity
2. Self-determination
3. Participation in resident and family groups
4. Accommodation of needs
5. Activities
6. Social Services
7. Safe, clean and comfortable physical environment
Dignity
Each resident must receive care in a manner and in an environment that promotes dignity and respect.
Self-determination
Each resident must be given the opportunity to make their own choices of activities and services.
Participation in resident and family groups
Each resident must be given the opportunity to organize with other residents to discuss issues of common interest and concern.
Families of residents must also be given the opportunity to meet with other families to discuss grievances.
Under both circumstances, the facility must be responsive to concerns and grievances that are raised by these groups.
Accommodation of Needs
Each resident is to receive services in a manner that recognizes any special resident needs such as food choices or accessability requirements.
Activities
Each resident must be offered a program of activities that meets the interests, physical, mental and social abilities. Residents must be afforded the opportunity to participate in social, religious, and community activities of their choice.
Social Services
Each resident must receive medically related social services.
Safe, Clean and Comfortable Physical Environment
Each resident must be provided with a clean, safe and well lighted and ventilated living space.
2. Quality of Care
“Each resident must receive the necessary care and services to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental and psychosocial well-being based on each resident’s assessment and plan of care.” (42 USC 483.25)
This requirement is fashioned to ensure that the resident’s outcome, and not the facility’s capacity, is paramount.
Resident Assessment
Each resident must be comprehensively assessed and evaluated on abilities, needs and risks, among them are the following:
Activities of Daily Living
The resident’s ability to bathe, dress and groom himself; to transfer and ambulate; eat and toilet independently.
Mental and Psychosocial Functioning
The resident’s mental and psychosocial strengths and weaknesses.
Nutrition
The risk for malnutrition must be determined and addressed.
Pressure Sores
The risk of pressure sores must be determined and addressed.
Plan of Care
Every resident need, as well as how the facility will address them, must be outlined in a Plan of Care.
3. Nursing Services
“Each resident must receive the nursing and related services to attain their highest practicable physical, mental and psychosocial well-being.” (42 USC 483.30)
There are no minimum national staffing levels, however, the facility must have sufficient nursing staff to provide each resident with assessments, planning, evaluation, direct care needs and supervision.
4. Administration
“Facilities must be administered in a manner that enables them to use their resources effectively and efficiently to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental and psychosocial well-being of each resident.” (42 USC 483.75)
This is where the buck stops. The facility’s management must administer the facility so that it complies with all federal and state laws and regulations. The governing board sets policies and appoints the Administrator who is the general manager of the nursing home.
The Center for Medicare-Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out its new quality nursing home five star rating system on December 18, 2008.
The five star system awards points to nursing homes based on performance in three areas:
1. Inspection Surveys
2. Staffing
3. Quality Measures
The highest rating is five star which means the facility is “much above average”.
A four star rating means that the facility is “above average”, and a three star rating means the facility is “about average”.
A two star rating means the facility is “below average”, and a one star rating means the facility is “much below average”.
According to CMS’s national data, twelve percent (12%) of the nursing homes receiving medicare or medicaid dollars score five stars. Twenty two percent (22%) receive a one star rating and the rest are evenly divided between two, three, and four stars. However, facility rankings may differ somewhat from state to state.
The new five star rating system can be found on Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare website.
As with all rating systems, the five star system is of general use and is just a place to start a search for a quality nursing home.
If you work in a nursing home, be sure to ask about your facility’s ranking.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialogue with and among its readers.
Who is in the best position to report abuse and neglect in a nursing home? The nursing staff, of course. A great many nurses and nurse aides are dedicated caring professionals. Then why aren’t they reporting?
One reason may be is that there isn’t much patient neglect and abuse in nursing homes. However, we know that just isn’t true, so we must look further for the answer.
As it turns out, there is a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) which discusses this very issue.
The AMDA article reports on a study done in Iowa and concludes that, although nursing home staff is aware of their duty to report as well as the mechanism for reporting, there is little reporting of neglect and abuse by staff (53% admitted suspicion yet only 35% reported abuse).
The article concludes that the reasons for under-reporting are:
1. Inadequate education and training as to whether actions by fellow caregivers rise to the level of a reportable event.
2. Fear of lack of anonymity.
3. Fear of retaliation by fellow workers and the employer.
4. Inexperience of co-workers in dealing with difficult residents.
5. Staff fatigue resulting from being overworked.
6. Lack of comfort with the reporting agency.
Whatever the reason for inadequate reporting, it is vital to all our welfare that nursing home staff be encouraged and supported in fulfilling their duty to report suspected abuse and neglect.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialogue with and among its readers.
Nursing homes receiving Medicare or Arizona Long Term Care funds must comply with federal nursing home health and safety regulations.
Nursing homes that are unwilling or unable to provide quality care must not be allowed to retain their license to engage in business in the State of Arizona.
In Arizona, the Department of Health Services (DHS) is the enforcement agency, acting on behalf of both the federal and state governments.
DHS is responsible for ensuring that Arizona nursing homes follow state and federal regulations and provide quality care to their patients. DHS is supposed to be an advocate for nursing home patients.
Nursing homes are required to be inspected at least once every fifteen months and are to be cited for any deficiency in patient care. Inspections must occur more frequently, however, in the event a complaint is filed against a nursing home for poor care.
Poor Enforcement Equals Poor Care
When health and safety regulations are not strictly enforced, nursing homes are encouraged to neglect patient care in their pursuit of profit.
Strict Enforcement Equals Good Care
On the other hand, when nursing homes are held accountable through strict enforcement, patient care and quality of life improve.
Nursing Homes Promise to Mend Their Ways
Although cited nursing homes promise the DHS that they will correct and improve patient care, many of these same nursing homes continue to provide poor patient care.
It is up to the DHS to prevent repeat offenders from providing bad care to our most vulnerable citizens.
Failure to Strictly Enforce Regulations
All too often, however, the DHS fails to act as an advocate for quality patient care and permits nursing homes with repeat violations to continue to retain their Arizona license.
Generally, the most important health and safety regulations are those that require each nursing home have sufficient nursing staff to provide quality care to patients.
However, in Arizona, there is no minimum staffing level required. This makes the DHS inspector’s role most important and difficult. They must determine whether the facility they are inspecting has enough nurses and nurse aides while considering the medical acuity and functional level of each patient.
This is a big job and the inspectors do not uniformly take the time necessary to perform this analysis.
It is up to us to demand patient protection through strict agency enforcement of health and safety regulations.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialogue with and among its readers.
I look forward to the evenings my wife and I go out to dinner. I confess that I enjoy food. But, it wasn’t until I represented my first nursing home patient that I began to appreciate the central role food and water play in skilled nursing case.
Good nutrition is vital for the well-being of nursing home patients. It provides the calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals necessary for improving and maintaining the quality of life. The elderly do not have the reserves nor the immunity that a young person has. So, it doesn’t take long for an elderly patient to lose ground without proper nutrition.
By the same token, inadequate nutrition cannot only diminish the quality of life, but may also begin a downward spiral resulting in death.
Understanding “nutrition” in the nursing home requires us to consider the physical act of eating, the quantity of food consumed, and the quality of the food consumed.
The Act of Eating
Eating three well-balanced meals a day can save your life if you’re a nursing home patient. You may be thinking, “doesn’t every nursing home patient get three meals a day”?
“Eating” is the operative word. When a nursing home is short staffed, which is not an uncommon event, patients who are unable to feed themselves suffer.
Feeding a stroke patient or a patient with dementia a meal takes time, as long as an hour in certain cases but mealtime is a scheduled event which begins and ends on a schedule. Attempting to rush a disabled patient with feeding can result in choking or the aspiration of food into the lungs, which can lead to pneumonia.
When a facility lacks adequate staffing, patients unable to feed themselves may go without eating meals. Food trays placed in front of disabled patients may be taken away untouched without regard to the patient’s nutritional needs.
The most productive thing the family of such a patient can do is to visit and observe during lunch and dinner.
Percentage of Meals Eaten
Nursing homes keep track of the percentage of meals eaten on a “flow sheet”. This information is documented by the nurse assistants. The quantity of food served is calculated to provide a certain amount of calories and protein at each meal. A patient who consistently fails to eat meals will neither receive sufficient calories nor protein.
Given the lax nature of documentation in nursing homes, any notation as to percentage of meals eaten must be suspect. The scale is a patient’s best friend.
Unplanned Weight Loss
Patients who are unable to feed themselves should be weighed once a week to determine whether there is loss of weight.
Any unplanned weight loss must be addressed by nursing administration, the dietitian, and the patient’s physician immediately.
Protein: The Building Block of Life
Consuming an adequate amount of protein is important for every nursing home patient. It becomes a matter of life or death for patients recovering from surgery or patients who have developed pressure ulcers (bed sores). Protein is used by the body to repair damaged tissue, so inadequate protein results in the body’s inability to heal wounds.
Every nursing home is required, by federal regulation, to have a dietitian. Families of new patients should meet the dietitian to discuss the patient’s nutritional needs. Families should also meet with the dietitian at any time the patient isn’t eating well or is losing weight.
We may live to eat, but in a nursing home you eat to live. Enjoy your next meal.
Our Next Article
Our next article will discuss the importance of strict nursing home regulation and enforcement.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
Pressure ulcers, also known as bed sores, are an all too common occurrence in nursing homes. Fortunately, however, they are always preventable with good basic nursing care.
What Are They?
Pressure ulcers are caused by unrelieved pressure to the skin which compresses underlying blood vessels causing multiple levels of tissue damage and tissue death.
Patients who are permitted to remain in bed or in a wheelchair for an extended period of time get pressure ulcers. This is because their skin is compressed between the bed mattress or wheelchair cushion and the underlying bone structure.
The most common pressure ulcer locations are the back of the head, the spine, low back (sacrum), buttocks, heels, hips, knees and ankles.
They Go From Bad To Worse
Pressure ulcers are diagnosed as “Stages” based on their severity. They start as red marks and are classified as Stage I.
These are the easiest pressure ulcers to eliminate by merely turning and repositioning the patient at regular intervals in order to relieve the pressure.
If the patient isn’t turned and repositioned, the pressure ulcer moves to a Stage II, where the skin is blistered and broken.
Once again, the nursing staff, by turning and repositioning the patient, can stop the progression of the pressure ulcer and allow the skin and tissue to heal.
Failing to address the pressure at this stage permits the ulcer to progress to Stage III, which means that more tissue underlying the skin will die enabling the wound to deepen until it reaches close to the underlying bony structures.
Continued unrelieved pressure will cause the wound to deteriorate ever further until it reaches Stage IV, which is where healthy tissue is destroyed down to the bone.
Open pressure ulcer wounds are breeding grounds for infection. Many of the infections, in Stage IV pressure ulcer wounds, result in blood poisoning (sepsis) and patient death.
Preventable, Preventable, Preventable
Pressure ulcers are preventable with good basic nursing care, nothing extraordinary, just plain old fashioned basic nursing care.
However, nurses and nurse aides have limits as to the number of patients they can properly care for at any given time. Corporate failure to provide enough nurses and nurse aides (short staffing) accounts for the explosion in the number of pressure ulcers in nursing homes.
The Government Stops Paying Hospitals for Preventable Pressure Ulcers
Beginning October 1, 2008, Medicare stopped paying hospitals for hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Medicare prohibits hospitals from billing patients for these costs.
Medicare calls these hospital-acquired pressure ulcers “never events” which means these pressure ulcers are preventable and should never occur to hospital patients.
Hopefully, Medicare will impose a similar non-payment regulation on nursing homes where most of the facility-acquired pressure ulcers occur.
Our Next Article
Our next article will discuss the importance of nutrition to the life expectancy of nursing home patients.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialogue with and among its readers.
You be the judge.
There are far too many families who are cast into the world of long term care without a lifeline or even a compass.
In my experience, there are no primers on what families can expect when a loved one is in long term care. Nor are there any guides to enable families to protect their loved ones from nursing home neglect or abuse.
This blog is for them.
There are also far too many nurses and nursing aides, working in long term care, who are victims of corporate financial decisions that make it impossible for them to provide quality care.
These health care professionals often have limited access to vital information thus preventing them from providing optimal patient care. There are also few opportunities for these caregivers to engage in candid dialog with other professionals in a non-threatening environment.
This blog is for them.
Our Next Article.
Our next article will discuss the risks to patients in nursing homes and the principal causes of those risks.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
Is it possible that a nursing home patient, in the United States, could starve to death while under the care of health professionals?
Well, to my dismay, I learned that the answer was yes. It is now over 12 years since two adult children came to my law firm and told me the story of their father. He was a stroke patient, in an Arizona nursing home, who died because he wasn’t given adequate assistance with eating.
So began my journey, representing families of injured and deceased nursing home patients who were neglected and abused.
No one chooses to live in a nursing home. It only becomes necessary when poor health or advanced age demands skilled nursing or rehabilitative care.
Quality Care.
“Quality Care” are words that have more than passing importance to families of nursing home patients. But what can families do to obtain that level of care for their loved ones?
Nursing homes, by federal mandate, are required to deliver quality care to every patient. That means every patient deserves attentive and professional nursing care as the primary purpose of a nursing home is to provide skilled nursing care.
As you will see, the greatest threat to quality care is inadequate nursing care.
Who is at Risk in a Nursing Home?
Although any patient in a nursing home can be at risk of not getting quality care, it is those patients who are non-ambulatory or who are unable to feed themselves that are at the greatest risk of being neglected and abused.
Frail patients, incapacitated patients or patients with dementia are also vulnerable to abuse and neglect because they lack the ability to protect themselves.
Appropriate Staffing is the Key of Good Care.
Nursing homes are dependent on nurses and nurses' aides to provide patient care. The appropriate number of nurses in a facility is dependent on the acuity and functional ability of the patients needing care. The greater the patient needs, the greater the number of nurses and nurses' aides required to care for those needs.
Patients who are unable to perform activities of daily living, such as dressing, walking, or eating independently, require more nursing and nurse aide hours per day than patients who are able to perform these tasks independently.
By accepting patients who are unable to care for their own needs, nursing home owners promise to provide enough nursing staff, both in quality and quantity, to deliver the appropriate care to each of those patients.
Poor Staffing Equals Poor Care.
Nursing home profits are tied to income and expenses. There are some expenses that are variable, which means they are not fixed and can be increased or decreased as the nursing home owners wish. Nursing hours are one of the most important variable expenses in running a nursing home.
Some of the other expenses that are variable are: food, supplies, and support staff (such as dietitians and rehabilitation specialists).
Nursing homes become dangerous places when their owners, in an effort to increase profits, fail to provide enough nurses or nurses' aides to care for the needs of their patients.
Our Next Article.
Our next article will discuss staffing specifics and provide a method of assessing the adequacy of staffing.
The “Guardian Blog” will continue to provide information to help families assess the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
You’ve been told that your spouse or parent needs nursing home care. You know that the nursing staff is important but what do you do next? First, you start by realizing that not all nursing homes are created equal.
Always evaluate several nursing homes to determine which facility best meets the needs of your loved one.
Although no single criteria should be the deciding factor, staffing levels are an important consideration in choosing a facility.
In evaluating staffing levels at the various facilities, there are a series of steps one must take. It is not easy but with some effort you can minimize the risk that your loved one will be placed in a facility that is unable to properly care for them.
Patient Needs.
What are the patient’s needs? Has the patient suffered a stroke, and now requires assisted feeding and assistance with ambulation? Does the patient suffer from dementia with a tendency to wander requiring a secured facility?
Use the following rule of thumb: The greater the need, the greater the number of staff necessary to care for the patient.
Nurse and Nurse Aides Available to Care for Patient Needs.
Arizona has no minimum requirement for the number of nurses or nurse aides a facility must have on duty at any given time.
Based on Arizona’s failure to require a minimum staffing level, Arizona nursing homes rank low nationally in the number of nursing staff available to care for patients.
The average number of nurses and nurse aides reported for Arizona facilities is 3.5 nursing hours per patient day. As a means of comparison, 82% of the states have a higher average number of nursing staff available to care for patients. Harrington, Carrillo, and Blank, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, September, 2008.
How to Calculate Nursing Hours per Patient Day.
1. Add the total nursing hours for all nurses on duty on any given day.
2. Divide the total nursing hours by the patient census (number of patients at the facility) for the same period of time.
Example: 2 nurses each working 8 hours in a facility that has 10 patients.
2x8=16 divided by 10 patients = 1.6 nurse staffing hours per patient day
Where to get the Staffing Schedules.
Every nursing home is required to post its current staffing schedule in the facility for the public to view.
The staffing schedule will contain information such as how many nurses, nurses' aides, and patients there are in the facility on any given day.
If after calculating the number of combined nurses and nurses aide hours at the facility, and if you arrive at a number less than 3.5 nursing hours per patient day, then you know that your facility does not even meet the staffing level of the average Arizona nursing home.
Visit the Facility.
There is no substitute for personally visiting the nursing home. Try to visit on a Sunday afternoon, as that is when most families are there to see their loved ones. Speak with several families and ask them whether they believe there are enough nurses or nurse’s aides there to be attentive to the patients.
Other Factors to Evaluate.
There are two government websites that you should look at for each facility you are considering. Each will give you information based upon inspections made by the Arizona Department of Health Services:
Finding the right nursing home is not based on a scientific formula, but instead is dependent on research and common sense. Even under the best of circumstances, family members must be attentive to the condition of their loved ones as well as the condition of the facility.
Our Next Article.
Our next article will discuss how to be attentive to the condition of your loved one in a nursing home.
The “Guardian Blog” will provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
When an Arizona parent needs nursing home care, overseeing that care usually falls on whichever child happens to live in Arizona. This article is for that “responsible” child who just happens to live here.
The first question one must ask is whether any patient can receive quality care in a nursing home. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the warehousing of nursing home patients, who are just waiting to die.
Although nursing home care in Arizona is often less than adequate, I believe that it is possible for nursing home patients to receive quality care. However, in order to receive that level of care, patients must have a knowledgeable advocate.
Nursing Home Advocacy 101.
Nursing home advocacy doesn’t require a degree in nursing or medicine, just time, tenacity, and a little information.
Communication is the First Lesson.
One of the major problems in the nursing home is lack of communication between and among families, nursing staff, and physicians.
So how do you, as the patient’s advocate open channels of communication?
Become Aware of the Patient’s Needs.
Become aware of your loved one’s needs. Are they bed bound? Can they feed themselves? Are they taking a new medication?
Communication Just Doesn’t Happen by Itself.
Very few families understand that they have to become involved in facilitating communication within the nursing home.
Families are led to believe that the nursing staff will provide the physician with all the information about the patients. Families are also led to believe that the nursing staff will provide all the nursing care the patient requires. Unfortunately, both of these assumptions are not correct.
Nurses and nurses' aides are short staffed in nursing homes and are unable to provide all the necessary care the patients require. Physicians, who are responsible for the care of patients at nursing homes, rely too heavily on the nursing staff to follow physician orders or to perform adequate nursing care.
Meet with the Patient’s Nursing Home Physician.
Discuss your loved one’s needs, in person, with the nursing home's primary care physician. Find out when the physician plans to be at the facility for his regular visits with the patients, and meet him there.
Patient advocates must take steps to encourage physicians to personally take a close look at their loved one’s condition and ensure that the nursing staff is functioning as intended.
So, when meeting with physicians at the nursing home, ask them to check the condition of the patient. For example, if the patient appears to be losing weight, ask the physician to weigh the patient. If the patient has in fact lost weight, ask the physician to meet with you, the dietitian, and the nursing staff to discuss how to encourage weight gain.
The advocate may become a “pest”, but the physician won’t be able to say that he had no idea that his orders weren’t being followed or that he was unaware that the patient’s condition has changed.
It is the primary physician’s responsibility to know the care your loved one is receiving at the nursing home. If the patient is losing weight, the physician should determine why the patient is losing weight. The physician must ensure that his patient is eating his meals and if not, the reason why not. The physician must then take action to ensure adequate nutrition.
If the patient is bed bound, the physician needs to examine the patient’s skin in order to determine whether his patient is developing pressure ulcers (bed sores). And, if the patient has pressure ulcers, the physician must ensure that his patient is being turned and repositioned regularly and is also receiving adequate nutrition.
The advocate must be the vehicle by which the physician is encouraged to completely check the patient’s status, during each visit, and not merely rely on what he is being told or not being told by the nursing staff.
Make Regular Visits to the Nursing Home.
When you visit your loved one in the nursing home, visit during the morning, lunch, and evening meals which are the busiest times of the day. This will give you the opportunity to determine whether the nursing staff is able to attend to patient needs during stressful situations.
During your visits, check the following and report any changes you observe to the nursing staff and the patient’s physician:
1. Patient’s weight.
2. The percentage of breakfast, lunch and dinner the patient has eaten.
3. The patient’s skin condition (twice a week) for signs of red, blistered, or broken skin on hips, buttocks, shoulders, or any place that comes into contact with the mattress or wheel chair cushion.
4. The patient’s medication record documenting medications that were supposed to be given.
5. Look for any change in the patient’s condition including eating patterns, sleep patterns, falls, bowel movements, agitation, etc.
Meet the Director of Nursing.
The Director of Nursing (DON) is the highest level of nurse management in the nursing home. Introduce yourself to the DON and explain what you know about your loved one’s needs, likes, and dislikes. The DON is responsible for making sure there are enough nursing staff at the facility and is the “go to” person when nursing care isn’t up to par.
If, as a result of your observations, the patient is not receiving adequate care, speak with the DON and the patient’s physician.
If matters don’t improve, speak with the Administrator, who is the general manager of the nursing home.
If there still is no improvement, consider moving the resident to another facility. If matters are such that you decide to move the patient you should inform the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) which is the regulatory agency in Arizona responsible for overseeing nursing homes.
The patient advocate is the additional oil that keeps the nursing home engine running well. When the oil is low and the engine spurts, the advocate is there to move things along.
It is unfortunate that nursing home patients need an outside observer and facilitator to get the care that Medicare and Arizona Long Term Care have paid for, and that patients are entitled to receive.
Our Next Article.
Our next article will discuss avoidable pressure ulcers (bed sores), a principal killer of nursing home patients.
The “Guardian Blog” will continue to provide information to help both families and professionals assess and improve the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
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