DO YOU SUSPECT ABUSE OR NEGLECT? Contact Us for a Free Consultation

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A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine confirmed that abused and neglected elderly persons face much higher risks for hospitalization, and not necessarily for injuries suffered as a result of their mistreatment. According to Dr. Theresa Soriano, an associate professor of medicine in geriatrics and palliative care in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, “It is understandable how a vulnerable older person experiencing abuse may fail to prioritize the prevention or care of their health conditions.”

Hospitalization rates especially tend to increase when elderly persons rely upon an abusive family member as a caregiver. They can miss medical appointments, adhere poorly to required diets and medication schedules, and they can experience increased stress and anxiety. As a result, all of these things can contribute to “poor control of any medical conditions and increased hospitalizations,” according to an article in Health magazine.

Details of the Study

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Just last week, a South Dakota court granted a nursing home abuse defendant access to the victim’s medical records, according to a news release from the Nursing Home Abuse Center. Heather Lynn Laird, a 36-year-old former employee of the Dell Rapids Nursing and Rehab Center, was indicted last December for felony abuse and neglect of an elderly person. Now, Laird and her attorney have the right to view the victim’s medical records. Laird and her attorney hope that these medical records will prove relevant in the defense.

In January, Laird pled not guilty to the charges against her. Yet her record as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) suggests that this isn’t the first complaint.

Defendant’s History as an LPN Caregiver

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Last month, a California nursing home abuse case was delayed when the defendant requested extra time to weigh her options for a plea deal. The California Attorney General charged Sylvia Cata with involuntary manslaughter for the death of a dementia resident in her care. Do you have a loved one in a nursing home or a private care facility? This case raises questions about the level of oversight from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS).

History of the Case

Cata operated “Super Home Care” out of her own home since the mid-1990s. According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, Cata’s home was located on “a dead-end street in Sacramento’s Gardenland neighborhood, a residential enclave flanked by tire shops, lube and oil joints, and a check-cashing store on the corner.” This description doesn’t sound like an ideal site for an elder-care facility, and the CDSS suspected as much.

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Do you have a loved one who is suffering from Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia? According to a recent article in the New York Times, dementia care costs are projected to double by the year 2040. This story comes just a few days after a new report in The New England Journal of Medicine that measured the monetary costs of dementia in America.

What do these new figures mean for nursing home costs and long-term care facilities in the San Diego area? While experts can’t make definitive predictions, many researchers fear that “it’s going to swamp the system,” creating more elderly persons in need of care than there are available caregivers and facilities.

How the Study was Conducted

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The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) cited the San Diego care facility Villa Rancho Bernardo Care Center (Center) for inadequate elder care, which resulted in the death of one of its residents. According to a story from NBC San Diego, the Center received the most severe penalty under state law, a “AA” citation that is accompanied by a $100,000 fine from the State of California. This isn’t the first time the Center has been cited by the CDPH. In fact, a previous citation occurred only a few years ago. Is this care center safe for patients?

What Led to the Recent Citation?

The Center had specific physician’s orders for a 61-year-old dementia patient’s diet. The patient had been admitted to the facility with a diagnosis of dementia, and his physician’s orders later stated that he had cognitive/behavior impairment (or decreased mental status).

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We often hear stories about elder abuse in nursing homes, but there are other places where seniors face threats of abuse. Perhaps we don’t like to think about older adults being abused by their caregivers, but according to a recent report in US News, nearly 10 percent of adults over the age of 60 experience some kind of abuse, and “it’s often perpetrated by a victim’s own offspring.”

In the past few years, certain nursing homes have been taking action to help these elder adults to find a safe place for shelter, medication, and care.

What Kinds of Abuse Occur in the Home?

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Do you have an elderly parent or loved one who has survived cardiac arrest in a nursing home or assisted-living facility? A recent post in the New York Times blog “The New Old Age” suggested that recent medical studies show encouraging results for patient survival after experiencing a heart attack or other medical situation requiring resuscitation. This new study may have implications for certain patients’ medical decisions and advanced health care directives in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

In many cases, elderly patients have already made “do not resuscitate” (DNR) decisions, indicating that, in the case of cardiac arrest, the patient does not want to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Depending on the type of “code blue” that the patient experiences, resuscitation can involve either an electric shock to the heart with a defibrillator, or a medication that’s intended to restore circulation. While cardiac arrest in a medical facility is “more often than not a killer,” you have a greater chance of living through the incident than in years past, and some doctors suggest that this may be a good reason to re-think a DNR decision in your advanced health care directive.

Study Shows Better Odds for Resuscitation Patients

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Do you have an elderly parent or loved one in a Southern California nursing home? A recent study of nursing facilities within our state found that in 20 out of 22 facilities tested, the drug-resistant and often deadly skin infection “MRSA was present. San Diego’s local ABC 10 News referred to it as a “superbug,” and warned that it is “rampant in nursing homes.” MRSA can be scary—it moves quickly, it’s highly contagious, and it can seriously affect elderly residents.

Until recently, researchers tended to focus on the spread of MRSA in hospitals, often neglecting to track the infection in nursing-home settings.

What is MRSA and what does its presence mean for nursing homes in California? Keep reading to learn more about this infection that is resistant to many “common antibiotics” used in nursing facilities.

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Are you concerned that a loved one may be experiencing nursing home abuse or neglect? Recently, New Yorker Diana Valentin suspected that her grandmother’s care in a Bronx nursing home might have been substandard after noticing physical injuries to her grandmother’s arms. Valentin’s grandmother raised her, and she wanted to ensure that her grandmother was receiving quality care. In order to find out whether her suspicions were accurate, she installed a hidden camera in the elderly woman’s room. According to a report from the Nursing Home Abuse Center, the “results were devastating.”

While this case occurred in New York, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a detailed article about this particular instance of abuse, alerting us to the possibility of similar harm in California nursing homes.

What Led to Suspicion of Abuse?

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A Northern Kentucky nursing home just reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office to pay a substantial settlement for false Medicare and Medicaid claims filed over the past decade. While this case concerns a nursing facility in Kentucky, it may have a significant impact on nationwide lawsuits under the False Claims Act (FCA) and nursing home issues in California.

According to a local ABC News article, the settlement requires that the owners of the health care facility pay the U.S. Government $350,000 in damages and that they retain an independent compliance consultant to ensure that these crimes are not repeated in the future. Lexington’s local news station, WTVQ, reported that this case represents the first lawsuit in Kentucky accusing a nursing home of violating the FCA by defrauding Medicaid and Medicare.

What is the False Claims Act and How Does it Relate to Nursing Home Abuse?

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