Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Blog

A judgment of more than $670 million against nursing home company Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. in California underscores a message I hope that all nursing home operators will hear: Staffing levels matter. Patients and family members had brought a class-action lawsuit against the company, and the Los Angeles Times recently reported that a Humboldt County, CA, jury ordered Skilled Healthcare to pay damages for having understaffed 22 assisted living facilities. The jury imposed the maximum damages for violating California health and safety codes requiring 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day, along with $58 million in restitution. The jury has not yet decided whether to require Skilled Healthcare to pay punitive damages as well. The company, which also operates nursing homes in seven other states, vowed to appeal the jury's decision. As a Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorney, I'm glad that the patients and family members stood up for themselves and that the jury found in their favor.

As I wrote several months ago, staffing levels are extremely important to the quality of care a nursing home patient receives, and ultimately to their quality of life. Low staffing levels can result in serious, negative consequences for patients. Staff members can forget to administer medication or read a patient's treatment plan. They can be delayed in responding to call buttons because they're busy with other patients. Over time, bedsores or dehydration could develop without busy staff members noticing. Some staff members feel so stressed and overworked that they take out their anger and resentment on patients. Others might see opportunities to steal from nursing home residents -- opportunities that they wouldn't act on if there were other staffers around.

We have written about many situations like these from our perspective as Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyers. Studies show that understaffing at nursing homes is a real problem, depriving staff members of the time they need to provide the best care. As Philadelphia nursing home neglect attorneys, we hope that nursing homes will live up to their obligation to provide appropriate staffing levels.

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The Wall Street Journal reported recently on a development in nursing home care that could be good for nursing home patients if it's used well: a socially interactive robotic baby seal. A robotic stuffed animal may seem like a strange substitute for real human interaction. But from my perspective as a Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorney, if the baby seal robot is used as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, edifying interaction with staff and visitors, it could be a welcome source of enjoyment for nursing home patients.

The six-pound baby seal robot, called Paro, was invented five years ago by a Japanese robot manufacturer. Its electronic innards allow it to recognize and respond to voices, track people's movements with its head and eyes, bat its eyelashes and repeat behaviors that get a positive response. Danish nursing homes have invested in Paro robots since a 2008 study found that they soothed dementia patients and improved their communication. Here in Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh nursing home has found that some of its residents interact with the robot as if it's a pet, and some staff find that the robot facilitates social interaction among residents. Marleen Dean, activities manager at Vincentian Home in Pittsburgh, said that Paro comforts dementia patients. "Some of our residents need more than we as human beings can provide... We've tried soft teddy bears that talk and move. But they don't have the same effect."

This robot sounds like a good alternative for centers that want the positive interactions of a pet but have practical concerns holding them back. But as a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyer, I hope they it does not take the place of social interaction that's led and supervised by human staff members. Paro can be used as a substitute for pet therapy, but it seems cruel to deprive nursing home patients of interactions with real, live beings in favor of a more convenient robot. I would especially discourage nursing homes from relying on robots or pet therapy in place of adequate staffing with well-trained, qualified human beings to meet patients' needs. Everyone needs meaningful social interaction to stay mentally healthy. A robotic baby seal gives patients something to love, which is valuable, but it can't provide mentally stimulating conversation or a real relationship. Nor can it turn the eagle eye on patients' conditions that a human family member or friend might. And it is certainly no substitute for adequate care from a professional staff.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Nursing Home Uses Baby Seal Robot to Comfort Dementia Patients" »

McKnight's Long-Term Care News ran a feature article recently on a topic of great importance to Philadelphia nursing home negligence lawyers like us: increased scrutiny on whether proper hygiene practices are used in nursing homes. Infections from drug-resistant bacteria have received increasing media attention in recent years, yet less than 50 percent of healthcare workers wash their hands as they should. This potentially deadly lapse in hygiene is also a serious violation of nursing home patients' trust in the people and institutions that are supposed to be caring for them.

A 2007 study published in Clinics in Geriatric Medicine showed that 1.5 to 2 million healthcare-associated infections occur in long-term care residents annually. That works out to one infection per resident per year, and studies show that 80% of infections are a result of bacteria transmitted by touching. Nursing homes need to make certain that all their employees take the time to wash up properly, but employees are often rushed in their interactions with patients because the institutions try to save money by understaffing. As Pennsylvania nursing home abuse attorneys, we know that that can lead to skin problems, infectious pneumonia, worsening of bedsores, and the continual passing of infectious diseases from one patient to another, or between patients and staff members. Given nursing home patients' dependence on the staff to care for them, it is only right that patients should be afforded the dignity that comes with proper hygiene.

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The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent warning letters to 120 western Pennsylvania nursing homes and assisted living facilities about worker injuries in the past year. Nursing homes received a greater number of warnings than any other industry in the area, even mills and foundries, representing out of every five companies that received such letters. As Pennsylvania nursing home negligence attorneys, we are concerned about the high level of worker injuries in nursing homes, because what's bad for workers is generally bad for patients.

Some nursing homes are notorious for low staffing levels, which is bad for patients because it means the staff can be slow to respond to their needs because they are stretched so thin. When employees are overburdened, they can get hurt, like Ruth Heastings, a nurse's aide at Consulate Healthcare of Cheswick. When lifting a patient, she hurt her shoulder and suffered pain so long-lasting that she had to have her whole shoulder surgically reconstructed. She missed five weeks of work and is still on light duty. Heastings said that her colleagues at Consulate and in other nursing homes have been hurt with back injuries, and that understaffing has something to do with it. When nursing home staffers have to miss work because of injuries, that means that their colleagues have to pick up the slack, or that substitutes have to be called in. Both choices raise the chance that patients will be neglected or abused by staff members who are too busy to thoroughly read the patients' care plans, follow procedures carefully, or respond to calls promptly, all of which can result in serious injury to patients. Staff members could also take out the frustration of their too-busy work situation on patients by treating them abusively. Consulate's injury rate was more than four times the national average, but two others--Arden Courts of Jefferson Hills and Latrobe Regional Health and Rehabilitation Center--had injury rates more than ten times the national average. As a Philadelphia injury lawyer i have discovered that under staffing i critical issue within the nursing home industry.

We have written about situations like this from our perspective as Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyers many times over the past few months. Studies show that understaffing at nursing homes is a real problem, depriving staff members of the time they need to provide the best care. It can also shorten tempers and increase turnover, both of which can lead to neglect and abuse. As Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyers, we hope that nursing homes that received warning letters will live up to their obligation to provide safe conditions for patients and workers alike.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Nursing Homes Rated Dangerous Places to Work" »

McKnight's Long Term Care News recently reported that Australian nursing homes have begun using a new tool that promises to significantly reduce staff time devoted to managing patient incontinence: electronic underpants. This technology, called the Smart Incontinence Management System, or SIMsystem, uses an electronic moisture sensor that detects when a patient has had an accident. Then, SIMsystem sends a text message or page to staff to let them know that the patient needs their assistance. SIMsystem can be used with disposable diapers, and the article suggests that it can cut staff time spent on incontinence significantly.

As a Philadelphia nursing home neglect lawyer, I was interested in this news because more attentive care for incontinent patients could also help prevent bedsores, a common problem for nursing home patients. Bedsores form when patients are left in the same position for too long, but excess moisture from incontinence is one typical way they are aggravated. However, an electronic system can't prevent bed sores all by itself, obviously. Nursing home staff members still need to tend to patients regularly and appropriately. And even with the aid of innovative technology in patient care, adequate staffing is necessary to make sure that patients' treatment plans are followed and that there are enough staff members to go around. As a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse attorney, I hope that nursing homes that outfit incontinent patients with the SIMsystem will not assume that this new technology means that they can get away with fewer staff members. Understaffing in nursing homes can lead to serious failures in patient care, including but certainly not limited to pressure sores. As a Philadelphia injury lawyer i believe that adequate staffing must be a top priority to make sure all the residents needs are met.

Patients in nursing homes have the right to expect that they will be well cared for, regardless of what kind of technology the nursing home employs. Paralyzed or otherwise immobile patients develop bedsores because they are unable to shift positions on their own. The Mayo Clinic's Web site points out that elderly patients have thinner skin than young people do, so they are more susceptible to bedsores. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's data show that 1 in 10 nursing home patients suffered from bedsores in 2004, showing just how common this injury is in nursing homes. The presence of severe bedsores can be evidence of nursing home negligence.

Continue reading "Technology for Incontinence Management Could Help Pennsylvania Nursing Home Patients" »

According to a recent Washington Post article, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investigating rampant fraud and abuse in Medicare billing for "high-end services" at nursing homes. The Justice Department said nursing homes have been categorizing patients inappropriately in billing forms in order to receive higher payments from Medicare for "services not rendered, and ... worthless services." This article caught my eye because it's yet another example of the wrongdoing that nursing homes and their staffs can get up to right in front of patients who are unable to clearly object or tell an outsider. As a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse attorney, I wonder whether nursing homes that try to make higher profits by overbilling Medicare are also more likely to try to generate profits by overmedicating or financially abusing patients.

The article alleges that nursing homes have been categorizing many more of their patients in "ultra-high" Medicare billing categories than can be justified by those patients' medical records. Medicare has annually paid out up to $542 million more than it should have for services for these patients. The recently enacted health care reform legislation changed the rules to combat this problem, which is considered part of the "waste, fraud and abuse" that both parties oppose. Certain nursing home chains have been singled out as especially egregious offenders, including HCR ManorCare, which operates in cities throughout Pennsylvania.

The article does not specify the kinds of unperformed services for which nursing homes charged Medicare. But with the recent settlements for pharmaceutical company kickbacks to nursing homes for overmedicating patients for profit, as a Philadelphia nursing home negligence lawyer, it seems fair to wonder whether a nursing home that cheats in one way isn't dishonest in other ways too. I am glad that the Department of Health and Human Services is thoroughly investigating these patterns of fraud and putting nursing homes on notice that increasing profits through fraudulent claims is unacceptable. Hopefully, the increased scrutiny will encourage nursing homes to be more conscientious in all aspects of their work. It is important as As a Philadelphia injury lawyer to stay vigilant with regard to these nursing home practices.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Families Should Beware of 'Worthless Services' in Nursing Homes" »

Pennsylvania nursing home workers who are part of the Service Employees International Union have threatened to strike if their demands for pay raises and affordable health care benefits are not met. The union members who might strike include licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, dietary workers, housekeepers, and maintenance workers -- all vitally important to proper nursing home patient care. This is a labor issue, but as a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyer, I know staffing levels and conditions are a very important part of safety for nursing home patients. For the sake of patients as well as the others involved, I hope that a strike is averted.

The nursing home staff members are all employees of homes owned by Extendicare, including Spruce Manor Nursing and Rehab Center in West Reading, PA; Slate Belt Nursing and Rehab Center in Bangor, PA; Broad Mountain Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Frackville, PA; and Beaver Valley Nursing and Rehab in Beaver Falls, PA. They complain that pay raises in their current contract don't keep up with the cost of living. This issue directly affects nursing home patients' lives, because underpaid and overworked nursing home staff members make serious mistakes in patient care. Studies consistently show that undertrained staff members are more likely to make mistakes or actively abandon good practices. Many of the abuses that nursing home patients experience can be traced to low staffing levels or insufficient attention to the quality of the staff, both of which can be caused by a nursing home company's desire to ramp up profits by cutting labor costs. For example, failure to read and follow a patient's treatment plan, or failure to respond to emergencies in time to help patients, can result from a small staff being stretched too thin. As I discussed recently, this can have tragic results.

Extendicare made over $17 million in profits last year in Pennsylvania, a profit that SEIU said rose by over 50% from the 2008 number. Christine Peters, part of the SEIU bargaining committee and a certified nursing assistant, said, "We want to make sure that some of these profits (go to) improving staffing for our residents and good job standards for caregivers." As a Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorney, I applaud this sentiment. Nursing home companies that privilege profits over patient care inevitably put patients' lives and well being in danger. The threat of a strike may ultimately help patients as well as the staff members live better lives.

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The Troy (New York) Record recently reported on the sentencing of a former nursing home aide for sexually abusing a nursing home patient. As a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyer, I was glad to see the court make clear that abuse of helpless nursing home patients will not be tolerated. Robert Gunderson, 52, of Schoharie County, NY, pled guilty to attempted first-degree sexual abuse. Gunderson admitted to touching the breast of a 78-year-old woman who was a patient at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center and Extended Care Facility in Schaghticoke, NY, where he worked as a nurse's aide. The patient was "physically helpless," according to the Record, and the abuse occurred in late 2007 and early 2008. Gunderson was sentenced to ten years' probation, although he could have faced up to seven years of jail time on the charges that were brought against him.

Surprisingly, these are not the first allegations of sexual abuse concerning Gunderson. He is also facing a charge of third-degree sexual abuse for an alleged incident that took place during his employment at the Eddy Ford Nursing Home in Cohoes, NY. In August and September of 2008, Gunderson is alleged to have French kissed a patient with multiple sclerosis who was confined to a wheelchair. It is disturbing that Gunderson was able to behave this way toward patients in two different nursing homes over the course of a year. Nursing homes have a legal responsibility to ensure that they hire qualified staff with no history of abuse or other dangerous criminal violations. Nevertheless, some homes may cut corners to save money. For example, they may not conduct sufficient background checks. Or they may be so understaffed that personnel do not see patients frequently enough to notice signs of abuse from another staff member.

Nursing home patients' family members should be alert to signs of abuse when they visit. According to an article in Nursing Homes, signs that a patient may have been sexually abused include: "difficulty in walking or sitting, pain or itching in genital areas, the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases, unexplained bruising, welts, lacerations, fractures, or other injuries, decreased socialization, self-injurious behavior and/or attempts to hurt others, fear of specific people or places, [and] habit disorders such as pulling hair or ears."

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Philadelphia's local ABC affiliate, WPVI, reported recently that a West Philadelphia nursing home has been shut down for serious code violations. According to neighbors, elderly patients of the nursing home were often left on the street to fend for themselves. There have also been allegations that patients were physically abused. The State Department of Public Health removed residents and medical equipment from the nursing home after determining that the home's condition was "an immediate and serious danger to the lives and health" of its residents. As a Philadelphia nursing home negligence lawyer, I am saddened to hear that patients were made to live in such deplorable conditions at a time when they should have been receiving care and compassion from the staff to whom their care was entrusted.

The owner of the Adelphia Personal Care Home, Anand Mittal, and his wife were charged by the Attorney General with criminal offenses such as reckless endangerment, insurance fraud, criminal conspiracy, and allowing an unlicensed person to operate the facility's pharmacy. Anand Mittal has already pleaded guilty to felony charges including making fraudulent claims. According to The Intelligencer News, Mittal and his wife, Kumkum Mittal, have faced such charges before in connection with the Willow Crest Manor assisted living facility they owned. A November 2009 report in The Intelligencer of Doylestown, Penn. details charges against Anand Mittal including Medicaid fraud, insurance fraud, theft by deception, recklessly endangering others, conspiracy and violations of the state's Pharmacy Act. Kumkum Mittal was charged with tampering with public records, theft by deception, recklessly endangering others and conspiracy. The facility's former nursing director, Cynthia L. Dreifert, pled guilty to tampering with placement records there and received a sentence of one year's probation.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mittal's history of problems does not end there. According to The Intelligencer, in October 2008, Mr. Mittal was charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct for allegedly yelling at a Willow Crest Manor patient, grabbing him around the neck, and shaking him. An employee who saw it happen was so upset that she quit immediately.

While I am glad that patients who were subjected to such treatment have finally been moved to safer environments, as a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse attorney I wonder how these patients are being provided for. They were unlikely to be in good health to begin with, and the abuse and neglect they experienced while in the Mittals' institutions may have worsened their health considerably. In addition, terrible experiences like being left helpless on the street to fend for themselves must have taken a serious emotional toll on these patients. While those responsible for abuse may be held criminally accountable by the state, an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer can help victims hold their abusers accountable in civil court as well. Abusers owe a debt to those whom they have harmed as well as to society as a whole.

Continue reading "Philadelphia Nursing Home Run by Repeat Offender Shut Down for Safety Reasons" »

A former nursing home business office manager in California has been charged with kidnapping an 85-year-old Alzheimer's disease patient from her Berkeley nursing home. According to the San Francisco Gate, Concepcion "Connie" Pinco Giron, 51, stole more than $50,000 from six elderly patients of the Elmwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, including the one she kidnapped. California state Attorney General Jerry Brown said, "This is a shocking case of nursing-home abuse and a gross violation of trust." As a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyer, I urge nursing home patients and their families to watch their finances as carefully as they can.

Giron's schemes involved opening bank accounts at Citibank in the patients' names, according to the Department of Justice. Then she transferred their money into her own account, wrote herself checks from their accounts, and used their ATM cards. She also allegedly stole money from their trust accounts at the nursing home. Giron also told one patient's son that he had to pay an extra $600 per month for his mother's care, and then kept the money for herself, over the course of 18 months. And in August 2008, Giron claimed that one of the patients would be transferring to another facility, but in fact kidnapped the patient and moved her into Giron's own home. Then Giron cashed the patient's pension and Social Security checks.

In August 2009, the state attorney general's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse began investigating Giron in response to a complaint about her. That month, investigators found the kidnapping victim, 85-year-old Carnell Williams, in Giron's home, physically unharmed. Giron has been charged in Alameda County with kidnapping to commit another crime, false imprisonment, elder abuse and six counts of theft from elder or dependent adults by a caretaker. She is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $365,000 bail.

A dependent, elderly nursing home resident should not have to fear that his or her lifetime's worth of savings will be stolen by his or her caretakers, and thankfully many nursing home employees are honest. Nevertheless, financial exploitation of the elderly is all too common. Patients and their families should track their bank accounts and be alert to any unusual activity.

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Spurred by reports of negligence in patient care, McKnight's Long Term Care News reports that the Senate Finance Committee has demanded that Select Medical Corporation answer questions about its staffing levels and quality that were raised in a recent New York Times article. Select, a Pennsylvania-based corporation, runs 89 long-term care hospitals and is one of the largest such companies in the United States. Among the troubling cases that concern the Senate Finance Committee are a patient's heart attack and death after a nurse turned off his heart monitor because she was tired of hearing its beep.

Long-term care hospitals treat seriously ill patients who are too sick for nursing homes and who are not improving quickly at regular hospitals. The New York Times reports allegations that Select structures its patients' stays so that it can maximize payments from Medicare, regardless of the patients' medical needs, and it inadequately staffs its hospitals for financial reasons. Patient care is compromised as a result of these profit-driven concerns. Select denies all of these allegations. Nevertheless, Select's hospitals received four times the number of citations for serious violations of Medicare rules that regular hospitals received in 2007 and 2008. As a Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyer I have realized that certain facilities routinely provide substandard care.

The only penalty that Medicare can use to punish hospitals for such violations is to bar them from Medicare entirely. That penalty is rarely used, and in one case when it was applied, the hospital successfully sued to bar Medicare from imposing it. However, the families of some victims of long-term care hospital negligence have filed lawsuits against the companies. Even if Medicare does not stop abusive long-term care hospitals from continuing to harm patients, negligent institutions and the companies that run them can still be held accountable through lawsuits.

Continue reading "Dangerous Negligence Attributed to Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Hospital Company" »

The family of 54-year-old Rodney L. Volkening of South Elgin, Illinois, has filed a lawsuit against Tower Hill Healthcare Center, a South Elgin nursing home, for negligence in Volkening's care, reports the Elgin, Illinois Courier-News. Volkening had spina bifida, a permanently disabling birth defect that, combined with his other medical conditions, left him in need of constant medical care.

Yet when Volkening was admitted to a hospital after his time at Tower Hill, hospital staff observed that he had not been receiving proper medical care at all. His colostomy bag had exploded and there was "a large amount of stool around" him, according to Volkening's family's attorney, Craig Brown. According to the lawsuit, Volkening had severe bedsores "that were covered by an old dressing covered by stool. He had a fever of 107 degrees with apparently no anti-fever medication being given to him at the nursing home prior to his arrival." "Because he presented to the emergency room with poor oral hygiene and poor skin care," Brown said, hospital staff suspected abuse and negligence at the nursing home and filed a report with the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Volkening's death certificate lists a staph infection and pneumonia as the causes of his death. While the family's lawsuit does not allege that the neglect caused Volkening's death, Brown said that they are investigating whether the nursing home's poor hygiene led to the infection that caused his death. Regardless of the outcome of that investigation, Brown and Volkening's family still intend to hold the nursing home responsible for failing to live up to its "statutory obligation not to violate the rights of any resident, including the obligation not to abuse or neglect any resident," as laid out in the state Nursing Home Care Act. As a Philadelphia injury lawyer it is important to make sure a nursing home is living up to its obligations under both state and federal regulations.

It is sad that nursing home patients and their families are unable to depend on the professional integrity of nursing home staff to ensure patients' health and safety. As a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyer, I have seen many cases involving neglect that led to serious illness or wrongful death.

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The Gary, Indiana Post-Tribune ran several articles recently about the demise of Northlake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home that was so consistently negligent in its patient care that the Indiana State Department of Health first suspended its license and ultimately issued an emergency closure order. As a Pennsylvania nursing home negligence lawyer, I was glad to read that authorities took action to save patients from being abused further, and I hope that the patients who were harmed are able to recover.

The Post-Tribune recounts a number of horrible instances of abuse at the nursing home. Mary Ann Jackson, 51, was at Northlake because she had suffered a stroke. She came to the nursing home with one bedsore, but during her stay, it spread to become a massive sore across her legs and buttocks. Jackson's sister said that when family came to visit her, staff members would bandage Jackson's sores to make it appear as if she was recovering, when in fact she was getting worse. "Nearly her whole behind was gone," said Shelli Jackson, Mary Ann's sister. "You could see the muscles and ligaments down to the bone. Her bedsores were so bad she was stuck in a fetal position with her legs glued together." A state inspection of Northlake found that the nursing home had failed to alert Jackson's doctor to problems such as her high blood pressure, heart failure, vomiting and significant weight loss.

After just one month in the nursing home, Mary Ann was transferred to a hospital and the family was advised that both of her legs needed to be amputated. The family refused and moved her to another hospital, where staff recommended that Mary Ann go into hospice care. The family chose not to follow this advice either. Miraculously, Mary Ann is recovering. "She's much better now," said Shelli. "Her minor bedsores are healing and she'll need skin grafts. She talks. She doesn't have renal or heart problems, but she's still struggling with the changes and she'll need wound care for the rest of her life. The good news is they said she'd be dead in a month and it's been four months."

Mary Ann finally transferred to Lawrence Manor Healthcare Center in Indianapolis. Rick Lipscomb, director of social services and admissions there, was horrified by Mary Ann's condition and said that he had never seen a case like hers in his 21 years in the field. "She had one foot in the grave," he said. "I don't know how she didn't die. I've seen animal carcasses on the side of the road that looked better than when she arrived here from another nursing home. ... People should go to jail for what happened to her." Sadly, Mary Ann's case was just one of many stories of abuse and neglect in the Post-Tribune's articles about Northlake.

Continue reading "Story Ends With Ray of Hope for Pennsylvania Nursing Home Neglect Victims" »

An investigative report that found 38% of Massachusetts nursing homes had been rated "below average" got the attention of our Pennsylvania nursing home neglect attorneys. The Boston Herald's March 7 report found dozens of problems with neglect, lack of cleanliness, and poor staff training over two years. These lapses led to patients' deaths and nursing home staff members' attempts to cover up their negligence. In a 2008 incident in Danvers, Massachusetts, nurses failed to do CPR on an unresponsive patient, whom a doctor pronounced dead 15 minutes later. A nurse admitted to falsifying the patient's medical records.

In other reports, nursing home staff ignored treatment plans to keep patients from losing too much weight -- a common problem in nursing homes -- neglected to provide appropriate pain medication, and failed to protect patients from themselves and each other. Industry experts pinned part of the blame on low staff-to-patient ratios, leading to staffs that are too overworked to give patients the attention they need. "Most nursing homes are too understaffed to avoid harming residents," said Janet Wells, director of public policy at the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform. Even W. Scott Plumb of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, which represents nursing homes, said that high staff turnover and worker shortages are continuing problems for nursing homes. These problems will only worsen as baby boomers age and nursing homes are flooded with even more patients.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Families Should Take Note of Serious Problems in Nursing Homes" »

As Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyers, we took note of the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader's March 3 report about a mistake by a nursing assistant that cost a nursing home resident his life. Lynwood C. Bauer, 27, was charged with reckless abuse of an adult in connection with his work as a former certified nursing assistant at the Pineville, KY, Britthaven Nursing Home. The nursing home was also cited for actual harm and for failing to report the incident immediately. Bauer was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Bauer failed to read the patient's treatment plan before working with him. Because of this, Bauer was unaware of appropriate and safe procedures for moving the patient from his bed. The patient was paralyzed on his left side from a stroke, so two people and a mechanical lift were required to move him, according to his treatment plan. But Bauer moved the patient alone and left him sitting on the edge of his bed. The patient fell, and Bauer put him back in bed, again without assistance. In another violation of the nursing home's policy, Bauer failed to assess the patient for injuries after the fall. Other staff members later found that the patient was injured and required hospitalization. Bauer was fired, and the patient died at the hospital.

We see cases like this often in our work as Pennsylvania nursing home negligence attorneys. Nursing home patients are often unable to speak up for themselves to remind staff members of their treatment plans. It takes only one negligent staff member to harm a nursing home patient, leaving him or her with further damaged health and quality of life, not to mention the costly medical bills from hospitalization that should never have been needed in the first place. Lynwood Bauer will face up to a year in jail if convicted, but family members of patients who have been injured or killed because of nursing home negligence can sue to recover damages for their pain, suffering and expense.

Continue reading "Treatment Plans are of Vital Importance for Pennsylvania Nursing Home Patients " »