Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

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This story makes one wonder what would happen if a hidden camera sting was done in every nursing home. The attorney general of New York placed a hidden camera in a single room of a long-term care facility, which resulted in an indictment against nine nurses, the nursing home, for a whopping 169 separate crimes.

The indictment filed in the case alleges 57 instances of neglect during a three-month period in 2009. With the family’s permission, a hidden camera was placed in the room of a 53-year-old resident who suffers from multiple sclerosis and other mental and physical illnesses. The video revealed that the nurses failed, on several occasions, to turn the patient regularly as required, failed to medicate as needed, treat his pressure ulcers, or even change the resident’s clothing. Of course, in the medical chart, these nurses stated that all this care had been provided. The fraudulent medical charting resulted in further criminal charges.

In interesting footnote to the story, when the alleged abuse revealed, several people came to The Record newspaper to tell their stories of abuse or neglect inside the facility, including unanswered call lights and untreated infections and bed sores.

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There has been a string of large verdicts against nursing homes for poor care. A few months ago, a Northern California jury returned a verdict of over $600 million against a nursing home chain for deliberately understaffing its homes and putting residents at risk. Two weeks ago an Orange County jury awarded $3.1 million in a case involving a morphine overdose. And last week, a Georgia jury awarded $43 million in a wrongful death lawsuit, believed to be the largest in the state’s history against a nursing home.

In the Georgia case, the surviving family members of 80-year-old Morris Ellison sued after their father died after a stay at the Moran Lake Nursing Home. Mr. Ellison fell numerous times in the home, including one fall that broke his hip. According to reports, the nursing home failed to notify doctors when Mr. Ellison suffered his fracture.

The nursing home was operated by a company called the Forum Group Corp., which was owned by attorney George Houser. Houser represented himself and the nursing home during the trial, and, of course, lost big. But after the verdict, things only got worse for Houser. Immediately after the verdict was rendered, Houser was arrested and taken into custody for contempt of court.

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The AP has a story out today about the Skilled Healthcare Group verdict in Northern California, where a Humboldt jury awarded a class of plaintiffs $677 million dollars for what it determined was chronic and deliberate pattern of understaffing at its nursing homes that left elderly residents at risk of harm. The jury found that Skilled Healthcare regularly violated state regulations requiring it to keep a minimum number of nurses on duty at its 22 homes in the state.

One witness in the case recalled visiting her father, who had Alzheimer’s disease, and frequently finding him lying in urine-soaked sheets. She said it would routinely take up to 20 minutes for someone to respond to a call light.

“The major problem for most nursing homes in California and in the nation is staffing,” Pat McGinnis, executive director and founder of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, told the AP.

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A resident of St. Edna skilled nursing facility in Santa Ana (a Covenant Care facility) was awarded $3.1 million by an Orange County after the jury found that the nursing home failed to recognize that the resident was overdosing on morphine. The jury also found that the nursing home acted with malice or oppression, and will award punitive damages at a hearing next Tuesday.

St. Edna’s was among the many California nursing homes who received $880 million in Medi-Cal compensation from the state in a program that began in 2004, and was designed to promote care and avoid staffing deficiencies. Many homes that received the additional money still reduced staffing, despite profiting from the additional funds. Apparently St. Ednas was one of those homes.

In this case, Barbara Lefforge was admitted to St. Edna on Sept. 17, 2007, to rehabilitate from tendon repair surgery. Her surgeon mistakenly recommended 50 mg of morphine for pain instead of 50 mg of Demerol. That is a huge dose of morphine, which Lefforge’s attorney argued should have been promptly caught by the nursing home staff. According to reports, a nurse at the facility could not get the full does, so took 30 mg from an office emergency kit and gave it to Lefforge, who suffered an overdose, which itself went unnoticed by the staff. She suffered a major brain injury.

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It was announced this morning that six nursing home workers were arrested for playing a cruel prank on several residents at the Valley View Skilled Nursing Facility. According to a release from the California Attorney General’s office, the employees applied a slippery ointment cream over the bodies of seven elderly nursing home residents to make them “slippery” for the oncoming shift. It is believed that the residents were selected because all suffered from advanced dementia, and could not object to the mistreatment.

“As part of a cruel and shocking prank, these caregivers abused defenseless elders,” AG Jerry Brown said. “This is despicable behavior by people placed in a position of trust.”

After an investigation by the California Bureau of Elder Abuse, the district attorney’s office has filed a misdemeanor criminal charge against each employee for injury to elder or dependent adult; battery committed on elder or a dependent adult; conspiracy; and battery committed while on hospital property.

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San Diego’s 10News I-Team has conducted an investigation into what it is calling the chemical restraint of elderly residents of nursing homes. That is, using anti-psychotic drugs not necessarily for their prescribed use, but to control behavior in residents who otherwise wouldn’t be candidates for the drugs.

The investigation profiles the family of Dr. Keith Blair, a retired dentist, who died at age 86 after a stay at Arbor Hills Nursing Center in La Mesa. The family contends Dr. Blair’s death was expedited by the use of the anti-psychotic drugs Risperdal and Haldol that were given without consent. Both drugs contain warnings that state the drugs are “associated with an increased risk of mortality in elderly patients.”

Upon one visit to the nursing home to see her father, Marian Hollingsworth told the I-Team that her father was “completely out of it. I shook him on the bed, I hollered his name. I asked the nurse what was going on. I couldn’t wake him up. She said, ‘Oh, he was sleepy last night.'”

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A jury has awarded the family of a 76-year-old nursing home resident $114 million for egregious nursing home abuse and neglect. The family’s lawsuit against the nursing home alleged that the staff knew Juanita Jackson was at a high risk for falls but failed to take preventative measures. She fell within two weeks of admission and suffered a closed head trauma and fractured her upper arm, injuries from which she never fully recovered. The family also alleged that Integrated Health Services, the nursing home where Ms. Jackson lived, failed to provide the elder woman adequate care, including allowing her to become malnourished and dehydrated.

The verdict may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. According to news accounts, the nursing home quit defending itself in the lawsuit several weeks ago after many years of litigation, and the family was able to get a default judgment. The judge then asked the jury to determine the proper amount of damages. After some deliberation, the jury awarded $14 million in compensatory damages, and $100 million in punitive damages. The nursing home, of course, was not there to defend itself.

The family intends to do everything it can to collect on the judgment, and told the TheLedger.com that it was proud of itself for standing up for their mother.

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Johnnie Esco, age 77, was hospitalized because of pneumonia, and her husband of 61 years was at her bedside every day. When she recovered, she was sent to a local nursing home for physical therapy, to help her regain her strength, and then she was headed home, where she wanted to be. That day would never come.

After only two weeks in the nursing home, Johnnie’s health had deteriorated to the point that she needed an emergency transport to the hospital, where she died a short time later. Her family was stunned, and now believes that the nursing home’s failure to provide adequate care caused Johnnie’s death.

“If she had received proper care, she would still be alive today,” Johnnie’s husband Don told KCRA news.

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“Elvis impersonator Donald Trapani is about to leave the building. But not just yet.” So begins an article in yesterday Arizona Republic paper about hospice patient Donald Trapani, who spends his days entertaining his fellow hospice patients with his impersonation of Elvis Presley. What a nice story.

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The nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers at the Walton Law Firm represent seniors and disabled and dependent adults who have been abused or neglected in the skilled nursing facility, residential care facility for the elderly, and assisted living setting. Call (866) 607-1325 for a free and confidential consultation.

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Disability Rights California, a non-profit that advocates for the rights of the disabled, recently released a report finding that the physical abuse of disabled adults in nursing homes are frequently not treated as crimes. The study analyzed 12 cases, including the following

• For months, a middle aged nursing home resident suffering from cerebral palsy with cognitive impairment was paraded naked and soaking wet in front of others after being forced by staff to take cold showers. Despite many witnesses, nothing was done.

• A disabled resident in his 40s was punched in the mouth by a staff member and then slapped, drawing blood. When he complained, it took days for the facility to report it to authorities. No charges were brought.

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