Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

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In the promotion of an HBO series called “The Alzheimer’s Project,” The San Diego Union Tribune featured an interview with Dr. Paul Aisen, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at UCSD, who is also featured in the series. Dr. Aisen is, if anything, very optimistic about the development of Alzheimer’s treatments, and says that there are several excellent candidate drugs in clinical trials.

Do you think finding effective treatments, even a cure, for Alzheimer’s is no longer hopeless?

I do. I think the likelihood is that in the foreseeable future, we will make very major progress in controlling the disease. The science has advanced to the point where we have highly promising targets for drug development, excellent candidate drugs in clinical trials. One or more of these current programs will be successful.

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An 89-year-old nursing home patient in Australia was bitten by mice, which shredded parts of his ears, head, and neck. According to reports, this victim of elder neglect was bedridden, and had the tops of ears severely chewed. A federal official, who has launched an investigation into the matter, said it was “extremely disturbing and traumatic” for the resident and his family. We couldn’t agree more.

Here’s a video report:

Embedded video from CNN Video

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A Pico Rivera nursing home has been issued a $100,000 fine and an AA citation for the death of one of its residents in December. The California Department of Public Health announced that the citation was given to Riviera Healthcare Center on Telegraph Road after a 64-year-old man lit himself on fire while trying to light a cigarette.

According to reports, the resident, who was confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke, was left unattended in the dining room. When he caught fire, staff was alerted, but panicked, and failed to use a fire extinguisher and fire blanket that was just six feet a way.

The man was rushed to the nearby hospital with third-degree burns to his legs, groin, butt and hand. Skin grafts were attempted, but failed to take and the man died 18 days later.

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A study of bed sore rates in nursing homes with a high concentration of Hispanic residents found that Hispanics were more likely to have bed sores (or pressure ulcers) than nursing homes with less Hispanic patients. The researchers looked at two data sources, the Minimum Data Set, federally mandated health evaluations required for every patient, and the Oscar database, a collection of health information of nursing home residents.

“A systemic evaluation of the difference in the process of care between high- and low-quality nursing homes is warranted in order to reduce nursing home disparities,” said Michael Gerardo, adjunct assistant professor at Brown University.

Only nursing home residents living in free-standing nursing facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas were included in the study.

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The Ombudsman Services of Northern California, an organization dedicated to creating a corps of compassionate advocates for residents in long-term care facilities believes that state budget cuts to its ombudsman program will lead directly to an increase in cases of elder abuse and neglect.

This year the organization, which tracks approximately 1,600 nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, lost two-thirds of its staff due to shortfalls in the state budget. According to Joan Parks, nursing facilities are already taking advantage of the lack of oversight.

“Our monitoring in these homes was seen as a form of prevention,” Parks said.

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In increasing numbers, young and middle-aged mentally ill patients are being housed with older people in nursing homes. It has proved to be a dangerous practice for older residents. The younger, stronger, mentally-disturbed residents have lashed out at the older, frailer residents who often are defenseless against the attacks. Sons and daughters of the elderly victims of attacks are left wondering why their loved ones were not protected better.

In the past seven years, there has been a 41 percent increase in the number of mentally ill patients housed in nursing homes, which as led to a correlated increase in peer-on-peer physical abuse. The reasons for the increase are multi-fold, including the fact that states have failed to provide adequate facilities for the mentally ill. It is also financially advantageous to house the mentally ill and the elderly together. But while it may make financial sense, it puts the elderly at risk and inadequate measures have been taken to protect the elderly.

Under state and federal law, nursing home residents are guaranteed freedom from physical abuse. At Walton Law Firm LLP, we have represented victims of violent attacks in nursing homes. These attacks are often a result of negligence on the part of the facility including a failure to provide adequate staffing. If you have questions about the care of your loved one in a nursing home, please contact Walton Law Firm LLP for a free and confidential consultation.

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Every year the typical nursing home will report approximately 1.5 falls per bed, and most falls go unreported. In fact, studies show that 75% of nursing home residents will fall at least once in a year, and nearly one-third of those involve a resident who is deemed non-ambulatory. Sadly, approximately 1,800 people living a nursing facility die every year due to a fall.

Can falls be prevented? Yes, and they should be. With proper care planning, many if not most falls can be prevented in the skilled nursing setting. For example, each resident must be accurately assessed on a regular basis for risk of falling, and when there is a fall, proper assessment must be performed to determine the cause of the fall, and how another might be prevented in the future.

In addition, physical changes in the nursing home can help prevent falls, including the placement of grab bars, lowering beds, and raising toilet seats. Bed alarms can also prevent a fall in a resident who is a known risk.

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U.S. News & World Report is out with an article on the common problems found in U.S. nursing homes in an interview with attorney Eric Carlson, author of 20 Common Nursing Home Problems. As a nursing home abuse lawyer, I found the article enormously helpful; particularly the answer to the first question, which I think is the most important:

What can consumers do to best protect themselves up front?

Be aggressive about questioning a prospective home about staffing and staff training. A nursing home generally receives $4,000 to $9,000 a month for the care of one resident, so it should be responsive to both residents and potential customers. Talk to residents and visitors without nursing home staff hovering nearby. Visit several times, at different hours and on different days. Make at least one visit at mealtime. Examine inspection reports. Each nursing home that accepts Medicare or Medicaid payment is inspected approximately once a year. And the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform offers a consumer guide to getting good care in a nursing home.

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This list contains the issuance of citations to Southern California nursing facilities by the California Department of Public Health over the last six months. All the citations listed are issued for reasons related to patient care. For verification of the citation, please contact the local department office or Walton Law Firm LLP.

 

<font size=’2′Facility Date Citation
Los Angeles County
Briarcrest Nursing Center 10/28/08 Class A
Casa Bonita 12/09/08 Class A
Casa Bonita 12/19/08 Class AA
Chatsworth Park Care Center 12/22/08 Class B
Country Manor Healthcare 11/21/08 Class B
Del Rio Convalescent 10/10/08 Class B
Hillcrest Care Center 7/28/08 Class B
Inglewood Health Care Center 11/18/08 Class B
Santa Monica Health Care Center 12/05/08 Class B
View Park Convalescent Center 01/12/09 Class B
Windsor Convalescent North Long Beach 09/25/08 Class B
Orange County
Anaheim Crest Nursing Center 01/30/09 Class AA
Flagship Healthcare Center 01/06/09 Class B
Palm Terrace Healthcare & Rehab Center 12/22/08 Class A, B
Riverside County
Extended Care Hospital Riverside 12/04/08 Class B
San Diego County
Care With Dignity Convalescent 11/06/08 Class B
Carmel Mountain Rehabilitation 01/07/09 Class B
La Jolla Nursing and Rehabilitation. 12/12/08 Class B
Ventura County
Camarillo Healthcare Center 12/18/08 Class A
OakView at University Village 1/28/09 Class B
Shoreline Care Center 1/28/09 Class B
Camarillo Healthcare Center 12/18/08. Class A
Victoria Care Center 12/18/09 Class B

 

Class AA: The most serious violation, AA citations are issued when a resident death has occurred in such a way that it has been directly and officially attributed to the responsibility of the facility, and carry fines of $25,000 to $100,000.

Class A: Class A citations are issued when violations present imminent danger to patients or the substantial probability of death or serious harm, and carry fines from $2,000 to $20,000.

Class B: Class B citations carry fines from $100 to $1000 and are issued for violations which have a direct or immediate relationship to health, safety, or security, but do not qualify as A or AA citations.

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Just before leaving the White House, President Bush enacted a rule that designates state inspectors of nursing homes as federal employees, making it more difficult to obtain evidence obtained by those inspectors in private lawsuits against nursing homes for abuse or neglect, such as those pursued by Walton Law Firm LLP.

The new restriction affects about 16,000 nursing facilities in the United States, and will require litigants to go to greater lengths to obtain information that used to be routinely given. In short, the rule prohibits state health departments (such as the Department of Public Health in California) from participating in private lawsuits that are in the federal assistance program.

Bloomberg.com has more on the story here.

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