Southern California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

A California nursing home in Los Angeles County was fined $75,000 after state investigators concluded that a patient’s feeding tube had been inserted incorrectly. The 78-year-old patient, who suffered from Alzheimer’s and was also recovering from a stroke, died six days later.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the patient, who was admitted into the Whittier facility in 2008, complained of abdominal pain and of having trouble breathing after the tube was inserted. Shortly after the man arrived at the emergency room, doctors discovered that the man’s stomach was inflamed. The man underwent an operation and was put on a ventilator, but could not be saved.

Feeding tubes are usually categorized by their intended use and the site of insertion. One of the most common types is the gastric feeding tube (also know as a gastrostomy tube or g-tube), which delivers food and medication into a patient’s stomach. Feeding tubes are frequently used when a patient cannot eat or drink because he or she cannot swallow. Though usually rare, a variety of complications can occur, including a loosening of the tube, leaking at the insertion site, which can lead to infection, and irritation at the insertion site. Improper insertion of a feeding tube can lead to serious complications, however, and even death.

At a time when reports of elder abuse are on the rise across the nation, our San Diego elder abuse attorney knows it is important to be aware of the various types of abuse and the associated signs and symptoms.

Typically, elder abuse or neglect is often thought to be physical or sexual. For example, at negligent nursing homes some indicators of physical abuse may include unexplained bruises or signs of use of restraints such as rope burns or other suspicious marks. Neglect can include untreated infections, serious bed sores, or a lack of proper supervision.

Elder financial exploitation is also common. According to the San Jose Mercury News, 563 reports of financial abuse of people over 65 were filed in one central California county in 2010 alone.

For nearly half a century California has been a pioneer in the field of adult day health care, creating a system designed to provide health and social services to the elderly and disabled. The Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) system was established in the 1970s, in part as a response to stories of nursing home abuse or neglect like bed sores, infections, falls, inadequate supervision, misuse of medication, malnutrition, and dehydration.

The California ADHC benefit provided a system of community services to medically needy elderly and disabled individuals by qualified health care providers, including nurses, social workers, and physical therapists. According to an article in the Times-Standard, which called the California legislature’s recent elimination of the ADHC model the “unkindest cut,” the California ADHC benefit served approximately 55,000 seniors and people with disabilities annually. The ADHC benefit aimed to keep elderly loved ones out of institutions while also easing the caretaking duties of family members. Thus, for the past forty years, the California ADHC benefit has protected some of our most vulnerable citizens and has helped to prevent California elder abuse.

Our San Diego elder abuse attorney knows that the recent budget cuts may soon render elderly and disabled citizens more vulnerable. In March of this year, California legislators voted to eliminate the ADHC’s network of support. California is now grappling with its difficult decision and its subsequent, and somewhat hastily assembled, plan to transition elderly and disabled patients who are currently receiving care under the ADHC benefit to alternative facilities and placements. What was once the nation’s “gold standard” for elder care is now placing elders and their families at risk. Seniors who were receiving community care may have to be placed in nursing homes, increasing their risk for abuse and straining the finances of their families.

Most instances of California nursing home neglect are indirectly harmful situations –such as when a resident develops problems like pressure sores or experience a deadly fall because staff members failed to provide close care and observation. However, some instances of outright abuse are also reported. These are situations where nursing home employees engage in knowing or intentional actions that harm these vulnerable residents. Our San Diego nursing home abuse attorney knows that these are often the most stomach-turning cases where justice demands both civil and criminal accountability.

One of the more shocking nursing home abuse cases to be brought to light recently involved an apparent “prank” between employees at a long-term care facility with unsuspecting residents used as the props. According to reports, two nursing home workers at the Valley View Skilled Nursing Facility orchestrated a prank where they apparently rubbed down the bodies of several residents with an ointment. The elderly dementia patients were covered from head to foot with the gel so that they would be slippery when handled. The employees wanted to have a laugh with the evening shift of staff members that were arriving. The workers bizarrely assumed that it would be considered funny for the next crew to have difficulty working with the slippery residents.

Fortunately, some of those who learned about the situation did not find it funny and reported the situation to authorities. The full extent of the situation came out during the investigation. The two leaders of the prank were charged with elder abuse while three other employees were cited for failing to report elder abuse after learning about the situation but staying silent. All five employees had their nursing assistant licenses revoked. The Huffington Post reports that last week two of those employees were also sentenced after being found guilty of California elder abuse. They will each spend 20 days in county jail, will be placed on two year probation, and must perform community service.

A California nursing home neglect case can come in many forms. The most common situation involves a senior resident who begins living in a facility and develops health problems caused by substandard care. In many of these cases it is the family members of the victim who notice the problem, have suspicions about negligent care, and then contact a California nursing home abuse attorney to initiate the legal action. However, with a growing array of at-home care arrangements, many lawsuits now stem from poor care provided in different assisted-living contexts.

For example, Outpatient Surgery News reported this weekend on the latest actions in a Southern California negligence case against a nursing home chain that provided at-home assistance to a disabled resident. The victim in the case was only 24 years old when she underwent surgery to implant a spinal cord stimulator to reduce pain cause by a previous ankle injury. Several months later she underwent a second surgery to reposition the device.

Following these procedures she required at-home nursing care to aid in her recovery. As is common in these cases, the young woman hired a nurse employed by a nursing home firm to provide that necessary assistance. The worker was supposed to visit the woman twice a day for the first week after her surgery. Specifically, the nurse was needed to hook up a morphine pump at the designated intervals. Unfortunately, the care worker was unfamiliar with the processes of using the pumping mechanism. She mistakenly activated the device six times within the first four hours of use, causing it to lock out.

A few hours later the victim’s mother called 911 after being unable to rouse her sleeping daughter. Emergency responders arrived and administered a morphine reversal agent after finding her unconscious. The young woman was eventually diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy caused by the morphine drip error. She suffered a permanent brain injury likely necessitating around the clock care for the rest of her life.

Following the tragedy the family of the young woman initiated a California nursing home lawsuit on her behalf. They sought to hold the company which employed the nurse liable for the debilitating injuries caused by her negligence. Upon hearing the evidence in the case the jury eventually awarded the victim $9.9 million to cover the necessary medical care for the rest of her life. A California appeals court recently upheld the decision last week.

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