The son of Maria Cobian, the elderly woman who was hit by a car and killed when she wandered away from her nursing home, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Vista Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that Palomar Heights Continuing Care Center in Escondido negligently failed to supervise Ms.…
Nursing home abuse and neglect is not always perpetrated by staff members. New research from Cornell University suggests that aggression and violence between residents may be more prevalent than abuse or mistreatment from nursing home employees. According to the study, peer-on-peer abuse is nursing home is a problem that has…
New research shows that elderly people suffering from dementia who are given antipsychotic drugs are more likely to end up in a hospital or die, even if the drugs are administered for a very short period of time. Antipsychotic drugs are frequently used in nursing homes to address the behavioral…
Washington D.C.’s most powerful lobbyists are being hired by the nursing home industry to fight congressional efforts to reform the industry. The industry is closely watching bipartisan legislation that would significantly increase oversight and enforcement of nursing homes around the country. The new legislation, recently introduced by Sens. Grassley (R)…
The California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform has issued its 2007 Nursing Home Citation Report. CANHR has prepared a citation summary, including the name of the nursing facility, the date, the level of citation, and a brief summary of the facts that led up to the citation. There is also…
Every skilled nursing facility (nursing home) in California is licensed by the California Department of Public Health (DPH). DPH, in turn, is charged with the responsibility of monitoring nursing homes in the state, which includes conducting annual inspections and investigating complaints of abuse or neglect. Most complaints involve allegations of…
A report from the Government Accountability Office states that widespread deficiencies addressing malnutrition, bedsores, medication errors, and abuse of nursing home residents are often understated. Congressional investigators have confirmed in the report something advocates for the elderly have known for sometime. That is, nursing home inspectors routinely miss, overlook, or…
A jury in Arizona has awarded $6 million to the family of Sylvia Culpepper after the 81 year old died from an overdose of morphine in a nursing home. Culpepper, who was an active senior, was in the ManorCare nursing home only to recover from a back injury, and was…
When entering a nursing home, residents or their family are usually presented with a stack of documents that address everything from the fees to be paid to the type of pillow the resident prefers. More than a dozen signatures can be required to complete the admissions process. Often buried within…
In California, approximately 200,000 claims of elder abuse are investigated every year by California social services. Because of proposed cuts to the California state budget, the ability to investigate claims of neglect or abuse could be reduced dramatically at a time when a greater portion of our population will be…