nursing home abuse

Published on: April 11, 2016

Nursing Home Death Prompts Investigation, Federal Fine

A nursing home in Massachusetts is facing thousands of dollars in federal fines after a state investigation revealed the facility employees violated state law in treating an 83-year-old woman who died after falling from a mechanical lift.

Nursing home deaths resulting from falls are far too common. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report 1,800 older adults living in nursing homes die every year from fall-related injuries. Even those who live often sustain injuries that result in permanent disability and substantially reduced quality of life.

That’s why we must treat these matters with grave seriousness. Unfortunately, as one ProPublica investigation found there are often greatly disparate penalties for deadly mistakes at nursing homes. Continue reading →

Published on: March 14, 2016

Nursing Home Abuse Captured on Camera

By Dean Freeman

A 55-year-old woman has been arrested for abuse of an 89-year-old dementia patient at a nursing home in Minnesota, after the alleged victim’s daughter installed a hidden camera in patient’s room.

Investigators say snippets of video from last month showed the staffer hitting the victim in the head and on her back with her hands and a brush and also pulled her hair. Bruises were reported on the victim’s hands from trying to defend herself.

The accused has denied she struck the patient or pulled her hair, but it may be difficult to deny accusations that are clearly shown on film.

The facility has released a statement calling the incident, “detestable,” adding it was contrary to the facility’s values and “deeply offensive to us as people.” Continue reading →

Published on: February 19, 2016

Court: State Attorney General Can Sue Nursing Homes for Consumer Protection Violations

By Dean Freeman

The state attorney general in Pennsylvania has the right to pursue legal action against a number of nursing homes under consumer protection provisions for low staffing levels.

Nursing homes targeted by the action had argued the attorney general couldn’t do this because:

Only the state Department of Health had the authority to investigate or pursue litigation regarding staffing levels;
Her office had hired a private law firm to conduct the investigation – a law firm that had contributed money to the attorney general’s campaign finances.

But now, a seven-judge panel has ruled in favor of Attorney General Kathleen Kane. The judges stated that while it was true the DOH has the authority to enforce regulations and set minimum standards for staffing levels at skilled nursing facilities, they weren’t the only agency with the authority to investigate. While the DOH may be concerned with such matters as it relates to the health, safety and adequacy of each facility, it has no authority or capacity to investigate or correct the consumer marketing or billing practices of these facilities. That is properly within the realm of the state attorney general. Continue reading →

Published on: February 11, 2016

Feds: Biggest Nursing Home in Nation to Pay $125M for False Claims

By Dean Freeman

The largest nursing home rehabilitation therapy provider in the nation has agreed to a $125 million settlement after federal prosecutors accused the firm of submitting phony Medicare claims.

RehabCare, a subsidiary of Kindred Healthcare Inc., Kentucky-based company, and operators of four facilities, allegedly submitted claims for Medicare service bills that were either not reasonable, not necessary or that simply never occurred.

Why does this matter to patients in nursing homes? First, this is far from an isolated incident. Secondly, when a nursing home or other care facility is more interested in stacking its dollars than in making sure its patients get the right level of care based on their individual needs, patients are at risk for illness, injury and even death. Continue reading →

Published on: January 10, 2016

Nursing Home Patient Privacy Compromised by Staff Social Media Exploits

By Dean Freeman

At first, it seemed like it might be an isolated incident. Nursing home workers were caught posting images or videos of elderly patients that were embarrassing, humiliating and even dehumanizing.

These were clear violations of patients’ dignity, privacy and also in some cases, of the law.

Today, journalism non-profit ProPublica reports there have been nearly three dozen of these incidents across the U.S. in just the last two years. These workers are sharing video clips and image files of residents, in many cases where they are partially unclothed or totally naked. Continue reading →

Published on: November 28, 2015

Study: 10 Percent of Older Americans Are Victims of Abuse

By Dean Freeman

A review article published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine reveals a deeply troubling statistic: 1 in every 10 older adults is a victim of some form of violence or abuse.

Worse, researchers point out, this figure is all but certainly a vast underestimate considering it’s based on self-reported cases. When you consider that many victims suffer from dementia or isolation that makes them prime targets to start, these individuals may not have the ability to report what’s happening to them.

Still, even this estimate underscores how widespread the problem is, and the fact that families must be on alert for potential problems.

Interestingly, although elder abuse has been in existed in some form since the dawn of humanity, it wasn’t described by Western researchers until the early 1970s. In most cases, attempts to define the problem or respond to it have largely been limited because most studies focused on a small number of anecdotes. Even those that attempted to broaden the understanding were mostly flawed epidemiologically. That has started to change in the last decade, and that’s how we have come to this greater understanding about how serious this problem actually is. Continue reading →

Published on: October 25, 2015

For-Profit Nursing Homes Jeopardize Patient Safety

By Dean Freeman

The patient was not yet 70. He’d had a stroke and was recovering at a Massachusetts for-profit nursing home. A week after he arrived, staffers dropped him while transferring him from a bed to a chair. Staffers called 911, but canceled the call when he seemed to stabilize. That night, though, he became unresponsive and he was rushed to a hospital. The fall had caused a brain bleed, and he died several days later.

His son hired a lawyer who thereafter discovered a pre-dispute arbitration agreement, as are forced in front of patients and loved ones upon admission, stripping them of the right to a civil trial if something goes wrong. Thankfully, the court found a provision in the agreement rendered it unenforceable.

But we are bound to see more cases like this, as a growing number of facilities are purchased by for-profit corporations, which then have almost complete control over our most fragile and vulnerable. These huge corporate entities amass major profits, and the business models are more geared toward making money than helping those who are gravely sick, physically disabled and cognitively impaired. Continue reading →

Published on: October 20, 2015

Report: Resident-on-Resident Abuse a Pervasive Problem in Nursing Homes

By Dean Freeman

Most families in search of a trustworthy nursing home in which to place loved ones are acutely aware of the possible dangers of abuse or mistreatment by staff. What they may be less attuned to is the danger posed by other residents.

They should know it is the duty of the nursing home to be aware of this potential, to guard against it and to address it immediately when it becomes known.

However, a new investigative report by the Buffalo News/ New America Media reveals one in every five residents experiences at least some form of aggression by another resident every month. Some of these conflicts involve stealing personal items. Some involve invading personal space. Others may escalate into verbal attacks or cursing. There may be sexually aggressive behavior, or advances toward individuals who are unwilling or are not capable of reciprocating. In some cases, residents may suffer slaps, shoves and even more violent actions. Continue reading →

Published on: September 17, 2015

Nurse Admits Cover-Up of Sexual Abuse, Neglect at Nursing Home

By Dean Freeman

A registered nurse and former director of a nursing home care center in New York has pleaded guilty to intentionally acting to cover up sexual abuse and neglect of patients at the center.

News reports indicate defendant pleaded guilty to two felony counts of tampering with evidence. The local state attorney called the neglect shown by leadership at this center was “shocking.” She was originally handed a 40-count indictment when she was first charged. However, she ultimately only pleaded guilty to two of those charges.

The 40-year-old is alleged to have engaged in a number of actions to protect her employer – to the detriment of those vulnerable patients she had promised to protect when she took the job. Although she faces up to eight years in prison on the two felony charges, she will only receive probation if she cooperates with prosecutors, who are working to obtain evidence in other pending cases surrounding the center. Continue reading →

Published on: September 3, 2015

Large Nursing Home Owner Sued for Neglect, in Regulator Cross Hairs

By Dean Freeman

California’s largest nursing home has grown rapidly in recent years. Now, it’s descent seems equally meteoric.

According to media reports with the Sacramento Bee, the entrepreneur who launched the facility is facing not only civil lawsuits, but criminal charges in connection with the treatment of elderly and disabled patients in Southern California.

Just days after the family of one resident, now deceased, announced they were filing a lawsuit against the facility and the owner, the California attorney general announced she was filing criminal charges against the facility and two nurses in connection with a resident’s death.

The charge of involuntary manslaughter stems from the care given to a man who had burns over 90 percent of his body due to an arson fire decades before. The AG office doesn’t make mention of another case – of a mentally ill patient who committed suicide by lighting herself on fire – though the woman’s family have since filed a formal wrongful death lawsuit. Continue reading →