nursing home abuse

Published on: March 19, 2015

Report: Nursing Home Regulators Influenced by Industry Lobbyists

State inspectors of nursing homes have an important job: Ensuring that facilities are doing all they should be to protect and provide adequate care for our elderly, vulnerable loved ones.

Some might argue inspections don’t occur frequently enough and may not be as thorough as they should be.

But we would not expect regulators, bound to uphold the laws and guidelines set forth by the people, to be influenced in their work by nursing home industry lobbyists. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what one news team in Pennsylvania discovered when it requested a series of emails.

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Published on: March 11, 2015

Federal Jury Awards $1.2M in Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit

By Dean Freeman

For the abuse and wrongful death of a 96-year-old woman in a nursing home facility three years ago, a facility will have to pay $1.2 million to her surviving daughters.

The abuse came to light after the victim’s family installed a hidden camera to catch an apparent thief who was stealing their mother’s belongings. What they discovered instead was far more horrifying.

Footage revealed on one occasion, a nurse aide stuffed a rubber glove into the elderly woman’s mouth. She was also slapped in the head and face as another aide looked on, without voicing concern or complaint. Other images showed the woman being thrown onto the bed, poked in the chest and yelled at.

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Published on: March 6, 2015

Lemaire v. Covenant Care – Nursing Home Neglect Verdict Reversed

By Dean Freeman

Most states, including Florida, have established a list of rights to which nursing home residents are entitled. Violation of these provisions may result in state or federal sanctions or the right of the resident and/or surviving family member to pursue civil action against the facility or staffers.

For example, F.S. 400.022 states residents have the right to be treated with dignity, respect and fairness, be free from any form of abuse, receive necessary services to maintain and preserve health and well-being, receive written and oral information regarding medical care and nursing services and maintain private communication with family members and loved ones. These are just a few of the rights outlined in the statute.

A similar law exists in California, where the recent case of Lemaire v. Covenant Care Cal., LLC was reviewed by the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Six. In that state, each violation of the statute entitles a plaintiff to receive $500. And based on that statute, a plaintiff suing for the wrongful death of her mother at a nursing home facility (due to what she alleged was inadequate care), received $1.1 million, which included $270,000 in statutory damage.

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Published on: December 27, 2014

Report: Medication Errors Top Concern at Florida Nursing Homes

By Dean Freeman

An elderly resident at a Florida nursing home received double his daily medication for a full year before anyone discovered the mistake. This error is egregious in itself, but the greater problem is it’s not an isolated incident throughout the state – and it puts vulnerable patients at grave risk of serious harm.

A recent report by the Daytona News-Journal indicated the same nursing home that wrongly doubled the patient’s prescription had been cited twice before for previous medication errors – including for a time accidentally switching two patient’s pills. In the last three years, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services revealed nearly 45 percent of nursing homes in Florida have been cited for deficiencies that were either directly or indirectly related to medication mistakes.

Brian Lee, director of consumer watchdog group Families for Better Care, said the problem is far too common, and both patients and families have a right to accountability in these matters.

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Published on: November 27, 2014

Report: Low-Rated Nursing Homes Receive Billions in Taxpayer-Backed Loans

By Dean Freeman

Low-rated nursing homes are being rewarded with billions in federal funding to secure better interest rates on mortgages, despite having been cited for egregious instances of abuse and neglect of patients.

An investigation, launched by the Center for Public Integrity, indicated that since 2009, hundreds of nursing homes across the country raked in an estimated $2 billion in low-cost mortgages, guaranteed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development – even after being stamped with the lowest possible rating for quality of services.

In total, the center discovered some 240 nursing homes given just one star in the federal rating system received the loans backed by HUD. Some of these homes received chronically low ratings – in one case, for seven consecutive reporting cycles. In fact, not only did these centers receive HUD-backed mortgages and refinance offers, they also received federal guarantees for construction and improvement loans. From 2009 to 2012, the number of these “bad apples” getting the best interest rates on federally-backed loans increased year-over-year.

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Published on: November 23, 2014

1 in 5 Nursing Home Patients Suffer Resident-on-Resident Abuse

By Dean Freeman

There has been increased media coverage and attention given to the rise in nursing home abuse and neglect, and for good reason. According to a recent report, one in five nursing home patients suffers abuse by another resident. The study found that 19.8 percent of residents at 10 nursing home suffered some kind of abuse within the period of review. During the four-week period of investigation 16 percent of residents suffered from verbal abuse, while 5.7 suffered from a physical attack, such as hitting or kicking. The reports indicated that 1.3 suffered from sexual incidents and 10.5 percent suffered from invasive behavior.

These cases involved resident-on-resident mistreatment involve only a fraction of the abuse that may also occur involving nursing home aids or other employees. Commonly we hear of abuse committed by overworked health aids, but a new category of abuse is also putting residents at risk—resident-on-resident abuse and injury. These injuries are inflicted by a roommate or another resident in the nursing home. According to the research one in five residents were involved in such incidences within the four-week period.

The abuses can range from aggressive and abusive language to physical attacks. Not only are they invasive and disruptive for other residents, but resident-on-resident abuses can also cause serious physical harm. According to the report, the incidences are so common that many of the workers are unaware or do not choose to get involved. The results of this investigation were made public at the Gerontological Society of America, providing a harrowing account of life inside the facilities for the 1.4 million nursing home residents in the United States. Of the total number of nursing home residents in the country, more than 72,000 of them reside in the state of Florida.

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Published on: November 17, 2014

Two Florida Aides Caught on Camera Abusing Alzheimer’s Patient

By Dean Freeman

Making the decision to put your elderly loved one in 24-hour-care can be emotional and difficult. In Florida, families should be concerned with the quality of care being provided, as well as the potential for negligence and abuse. In a recent case, a nursing home resident who suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia was abused by his caretakers. According to local reports, the nursing home aides were caught after the victim’s son installed hidden cameras in his room. He decided to install the cameras after he noticed unexplained bruising on his father.

The certified nursing assistants were 28 and 35-years-old, working at Palm Garden. Since the discovery of the abuse, the aids have been charged criminally, for the battery of a person over the age of 65. The two nursing assistants as well as several other staff members were suspended without pay, according to the chief operating officer of Palm Healthcare Management. Palm Healthcare Management is responsible for the hiring and oversight at the Winter Haven nursing home facility. The case is still under investigation and the aids as well as the nursing home management company could also face civil lawsuits.

According to reports, the 76-year-old nursing home patient was diagnosed with dementia and psychosis. His son installed hidden cameras in his room to help identify where the bruises were coming from. The video cameras captured the aids physically harassing the patient when they repositioned him in bed. More footage documented one of the defendants and a second employee trying to move the patient from his wheelchair to bed and the aids appeared to stomp on his feet or legs. On a separate occasion, other employees were changing the victims’ clothes when they grabbed his wrists and struggled. They pinned down the man’s legs, grabbed his wrists, and slapped him on the head. When he tried to sit up, the employees ran out of the room. Both defendants are being held without bond.

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Published on: October 29, 2014

Long-Awaited GTCR Nursing Home Abuse Trial Begins

By Dean Freeman

Every year, thousands of nursing homes are the subject of lawsuits and litigation throughout the country. Rarely do those cases make national headlines. A private equity firm has been the target of a long-awaited trial that is being held in a Tampa bankruptcy court. According to Huffington Post, the case has been brought on behalf of six elderly victims who suffered from abuse, neglect, and inadequate care while under the care of nursing homes owned by Trans Healthcare, INC (“THI”).

There is no dispute in this case about whether elderly victims suffered abuse at the hands of their caretakers, and the operators of the many nursing homes. State courts have already awarded damages in excess of $1 billion in these cases. The issue is where the monetary awards should come from. Even though the families have been awarded these damages in previous state cases, none of the victims’ families have been able to collect due to an alleged unlawful abuse of bankruptcy laws.

The judge in this case stated that it has, “all the makings of a legal thriller.” The case has been the subject of wide dispute as victims suffered abuse in nursing homes acquired by GTCR in 1998. Bruce Rauner, the Republican candidate for governor of Illinois, was also the chairman of the Chicago based company during the time that the company became the subject of litigation. The company bought over 200 nursing homes throughout the country.

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Published on: October 22, 2014

Boler v. Security Health Care – Arbitration Agreement Invalid

By Dean Freeman

It is becoming standard in many nursing home abuse and negligence cases to find defendants pushing to have claims settled in arbitration.

Often when nursing home patients are admitted, they and/or their relatives are bombarded with stacks of paperwork, which often include an “arbitration agreement,” binding parties who sign to resolve any disputes that arise from care before an arbitrator, rather than a judge.

What this paperwork often doesn’t clearly spell out is that by signing you are in effect signing away rights and protections and the ability to hold the company accountable for poor standards of care. It is possible – though not as likely – for plaintiffs to succeed in arbitration. Even so, damages tend to be more modest and settlements are often confidential, meaning there is no opportunity to warn others of the potential danger they may face when taking their loved ones to that facility.

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Published on: October 9, 2014

Nursing Home-Hospice Relationships Garner Increased Government Scrutiny

By Dean Freeman

For years, the government has warned nursing homes and hospices about requesting or providing illegal compensation to influence where nursing homes refer patients for hospice care. Such action is in direct violation of both the federal False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute.

Now, in a series of prosecutions, the government is actively going after hospices and nursing homes that are violating these statutes by offering and accepting incentives deemed improper.

Some of the actions targeted have included:
–Requests by nursing homes that hospice providers offer services not technically considered hospice services. Some examples are around-the-clock, non-skilled companion services.
–Hospices found offering or giving free services or goods to staffers at nursing homes, including gift cards and baked goods.
–Hospices offering staff services at its own expense to the nursing home, when such services would normally be performed by the nursing home staff.
–Hospice providers giving services at the request of the nursing home facility, rather than in strict accordance to what the patient actually requires from a medical standpoint.
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