Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Many of us have heard tales of elder nursing home patients wandering beyond facility bounds—only to be found hours later by police or local citizens. Sometimes, nursing home staff have no idea that the individual was even gone. There are other stories, including the inspections done by Operation Guardians, which tell of horrific conditions. Of course, these events beg a multitude of questions: Are these isolated incidents or based on any series of patterns? How often do this occur?

Well, now ProPublica has an app for that.

Yesterday ProPublica, a non-profit, New York City-based corporation, is launching Nursing Home Inspect—a tool that allows members of the public to an easier access to data found in nursing home inspections conducted throughout the nation. Drawing on government reports posted online last month, the app has an easily searchable database of recent nursing home inspections, most completed since January 2011. That massive catalog includes nearly 118,000 deficiencies cited against 14,565 homes, though ProPublica intends to add more each month as new reports become available. This tool, unlike anything before allows individuals to analyze in-depth nursing homes throughout the Unite States.

A recent study has found that California nursing homes are in poor conditions, according the Los Angeles Times. Conducted by Operation Guardians, a project of the Department of Justice, the review discovered widespread health and safety problems in the elder residences. Yet, the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) were who demanded that these inspections be released to the public. The reports are from extensive investigation dating from January 2010 to March 2012, accumulating a number of nursing homes throughout the state. Even after countless measures to prevent the negligence and abuse, the report unearths a glaring lack of enforcement from the Department of Public Health (DPH).

The investigation portrays horrific details, including grimy bedrooms, showers, and kitchens, medicals inaccuracies leading to countless drug overdoses, the unauthorized administration of psychotropic drugs, and patients with untreated bed sores and infections. Beyond those, the report even told of elderly individuals lying in their own feces and urine. These nursing homes appear more like houses of horror than anything reminiscent of comfort and security. Furthermore, as seen so tragically often in elderly abuse cases, some of these nursing homes were submitting falsified medical records and fraudulently billing for services.

Normally, after Operation Guardians inspections were completed, evaluations of facilities’ quality of care and basic sanitation were filed. Each inspection generally generated two reports, one by the inspection team as a whole that assessed the general sanitation and care provided by the facility staff and a medical report written by a medical doctor who specializes in geriatrics.

A news report in The Star-Ledger again highlights the danger of abuse against elders suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Two residents at an assisted living home in New Jersey filed a lawsuit last week based on injuries they sustained in 2010 due to suspected abuse. Though only two residents filed suit, a total of four residents were taken to local hospitals around the same time period because of alleged abuse. The two victims were Henry Glowacki, 92, and Robert Prochazka, 89. Both men alleged facility staff repeatedly and extensively beat them, and photos of the men depict old and fresh bruises across the men’s torsos, arms, and stomachs.

After the local prosecutor’s office conducted a criminal investigation (no criminal charges have been filed), the families of the victims contacted an elder abuse attorney and filed a civil suit. In December 2010, just a few days before Christmas, local police were called to the assisted living facility after the director of operations told authorities four residents appeared to have been badly abused. According to police, the two men directly responsible for the victims’ care were placed on administrative leave.

A care manager first discovered the bruising and alleged abuse five days prior to police involvement. While cleaning the older of the two men, Mr. Glowacki, the care manager noted that the elderly man refused to sit down because he was in too much pain due to injuries on his buttocks. Although the care manager documented the bruises, the assisted living facility failed to investigate the report. The state Department of Health and Senior Services later cited the home for this violation. The other victim, Mr. Prochazka, also suffered from extensive bruising and sustained fractures to his ribs and one of his fingers.

The two victims are still living at the facility where they suffered the abuse. According to the article, the families felt their fathers would be safer there because state officials are closely watching the home. At a new assisted living facility, they worried, abuse might occur again.

Unfortunately, at many facilities where abuse occurs, prior abuse has been reported. That is why our San Diego County nursing home abuse lawyers recommend thoroughly researching a home before admitting a loved one. More importantly, it is crucial to visit various facilities to compare them, meet the staff and administrators, and assess their safety and cleanliness.

For example, the company that runs the facility where Mr. Glowacki and Mr. Prochazka were abused has been accused of wrongdoing in the past. A facility in another state had its license revoked (later reinstated) when a hidden camera showed employees taunting and assaulting a woman suffering from dementia. The company has also been investigated for financial reporting fraud, but settled that suit in 2010.

Sadly, elder abuse occurs all too often. Our experienced San Diego and San Bernardino negligence lawyers have handled numerous cases against nursing homes and assisted living facilities involving elder abuse and neglect. If you are concerned about a loved one, please consult us for a free and confidential consultation today.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Family of Deceased Man Files “Quality of Care” Suit Against Retirement Facility

Nurse Arrested for Stealing Elderly Patient’s Medication

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According to a recent report by All Voices, understaffing is a prevalent problem in local nursing homes. Our San Diego nursing home abuse attorneys know that understaffing at Southern California nursing homes is a serious issue because it has consistently been shown to lead to increased instances of elder abuse or neglect. For example, at facilities where there is understaffing, caretakers may become frustrated and impatient with residents who need extra care and attention. When nursing home employees are overworked due to understaffing, residents often face a higher risk of injuries—e.g. from wandering or falls—due to inadequate supervision.

The latest report listed California as one of the states with the highest rate of elder abuse. Approximately 33% of nursing homes have been reported for abuse. According to the report, 89% of those abused in nursing homes never report their abuse. Tragically, per the reasonable standards laid out by a variety of organization, a tragic 90% of nursing homes do not have adequate staffing. Clearly, it is a problem that can have serious implications for California nursing home residents and their loved ones. Specifically, understaffing can lead to many significant problems, including: low staff to patient ratios, under training, high levels of staff stress and burnout, high staff turnover, false charting, and under- or over-medication.

According to the Center for Disease Control’s 2004 report on nursing homes, the current nursing staff to patient ratio is 1 nursing staff member for every 1.64 residents. Low staff-to-patient ratios mean that employees must undertake too many tasks, so there is not enough time for staff members to spend adequate time with residents. The result is that the amount of time recommended per day for staff to spend with residents is not being met. For example, the federal government suggests that staff members should spend 3.45 hours per day with a resident. Nursing home experts recommend even more face time with staff at 4 hours per day. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently proposed requiring nursing home aides to spend a minimum of 2 hours per day with each resident, but 53% of nursing homes presently do not meet this standard.

Another serious effect of understaffing is that nursing home staff may be undertrained. Since staff-to-patient ratios are often so low, employees are frequently faced with completing tasks that they have not been trained to perform. Our Orange County elder abuse lawyers previously explained that facilities where staff members feel supported and well trained also report better rates of satisfaction from their residents. When understaffing occurs, however, nursing home employees usually experience high levels of stress and burnout, which frequently leads to high rates of staff turnover. Staff turnover disrupts patient care and also contributes to the problem of inadequate training. If staff members are stressed out and burnt out, they can lose compassion and respect for their residents, which can lead to California elder abuse.

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Our San Diego nursing home abuse lawyers know that both federal and state law guarantee elderly patients certain rights and protections, including the right to adequate medical treatment and care, as well as the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Those protections include the right to be free from physical or chemical restraints that nursing home staff may wrongfully use to control or discipline patients.

On the other hand, some unscrupulous staff members may deny elderly residents treatment or take medications from their patients. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, a forty-year-old registered nurse, Amy M. Armstrong, was recently caught stealing pills from an elderly hospice patient. The nurse was employed by a hospice agency to provide care for the patient in the patient’s home. A family member of the victim suspected that the nurse was stealing the medication and alerted police. Police set up video cameras in the victim’s home so they could catch the nurse in the act.

While police watched, the nurse removed the victim’s narcotic painkillers from the victim’s home. When officers moved in to arrest the nurse, they discovered the narcotic painkillers and anti-depressants on the nurse’s person. The nurse was charged with two counts of felony theft by taking, two counts of California elder abuse, and two counts of possession of controlled substances. She is currently being held on bond.

One of the main challenges faced by victims of San Diego nursing home abuse is the difficulty in identifying and documenting specific instances of poor care. Many area nursing home residents do not understand their right to receive proper care or recognize when they have received substandard treatment. Even when they are aware of negligence by employees, many seniors and their families are unsure what they should do to document the problem.

Documentation is often important in these matters, because judges, juries, and state regulatory bodies often rely on a paper trail to understand the sort of care that a resident received. Unfortunately, there remain lax standards when it comes to keeping track of reports of San Diego nursing home neglect. The problem exists throughout the state as facilities in all corners of California are currently not required to document when a resident or family member files a complaint suggesting substandard treatment.

One local advocate is seeking to change that, and is urging that the state pass legislation which would force nursing homes to keep track of neglect and abuse charges. The North Country Times reported on the legislative push last month. The effort is being spearheaded by Lynda Tammone, an area resident who became frustrated after her husband received substandard treatment while spending a year in a nearby nursing home following sudden health problems.