Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Blog

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."

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Families Should Be Alert to Sexual Abuse of Nursing Home Patients" »

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 neglect lawyers, we took note of a recent study reporting that the rate of dementia is likely to rise significantly as people live longer. McKnight's Long-Term Care News reported Feb. 25 that the University of California study predicted "epidemic" levels of dementia in people over the age of 90. For people over 100 years of age, the likelihood of having dementia is over 40%. Over the next four decades, the number of seniors over age 90 will more than quadruple.

Often, the families of patients with dementia are unable to care for them at home, so it is likely that many of these people will need care in a nursing home setting. This makes it particularly important to be vigilant for signs of abuse -- for example, overmedication of patients to make them easier for the nursing home staff to manage. As we discussed recently, a nursing home company operating in Pennsylvania was accused of participating in a kickbacks scheme with pharmaceutical companies. As part of this scheme, the nursing homes had incentives to overprescribe Risperdal, an anti-psychotic drug that is used to "chemically restrain" patients with dementia. Unfortunately, patients who are unnecessarily prescribed these chemical restraints may die from them.

Continue reading "Dementia Predicted to Rise Among Very Elderly in Pennsylvania Nursing Homes " »

As Pennsylvania nursing home negligence attorneys, we were dismayed to read in McKnight's Long Term Care News that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported that 90% of all nursing homes in the United States were charged with varying degrees of violations in 2007. These violations often involved the nursing homes' failure to follow established federal or state rules and regulations. McKnight's columnists Paola DiNatale and Brad Granger say that nursing homes need to include all these rules and regulations in their facilities' policies as a way of avoiding harm of all kinds.

Of course nursing homes should do this. It benefits patients, staff, and the institutions alike if nursing homes are run well and no one suffers any harm. And of course, most nursing homes do say they plan to follow these rules and policies in the literature they give to patients and families. But if 90% of all nursing homes are failing to meet the standards set out by state and federal rules and regulations, clearly not all nursing homes are following through. In some cases, inattention may cause the lapses; in other cases, it's a dangerously overworked staff or employees who misuse their power to residents' detriment. But no matter what the cause, families that discover the problems too late can end up with a seriously injured or ill loved one and high medical bills that make them seriously consider a lawsuit.

Continue reading "Report Shows 90 Percent of Nursing Homes in Pennsylvania and Elsewhere Had Violations in 2007" »

As Pennsylvania nursing home abuse attorneys, we are keenly aware of the dangers of overmedicating nursing home patients and we are pleased to see pharmaceutical providers and nursing home companies held accountable for it. As we noted just over a month ago, federal regulators have pursued several companies over a kickbacks scandal involving nursing home medications.

McKnight's Long Term Care News reported on March 2 that two large, Atlanta-based nursing home companies, Sava Senior Care, which operates two Pennsylvania nursing homes, and Mariner Health Care Inc., have agreed to pay a $14 million settlement for participating in some of the same pharmacy kickbacks that recently cost Omnicare $98 million in penalties. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Omnicare, the nation's largest specialized provider of pharmaceuticals to nursing home patients, took kickbacks for encouraging doctors to prescribe Risperdal, an anti-psychotic drug, to nursing home patients.

Commenting on the Omnicare settlement announced in November 2009, Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, pointed out that "Illegal conduct like this can... lead to patients being prescribed medications they do not need" and that such kickbacks put profits ahead of good medicine. As Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorneys, we are here to represent the victims of profit-seeking schemes such as this. Over-prescribing medication for nursing home patients costs them and their families money as well as potentially harming them physically, when many of them are already suffering from weakened health. Unnecessary side effects and interactions with other drugs are bad enough, but these patients' dignity as human beings also suffers when they are overmedicated for the sake of nursing homes' profits and convenience.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Chain Operating in Pennsylvania Settles Kickbacks Case" »

A legal case out of Chicago caught the eyes of our Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyers. The Chicago Daily Herald reported Feb. 25 that the former director of a nursing home is being tried for neglect and obstructing justice for her role in a scandal involving a nurse who allegedly euthanized patients. Penny Whitlock, 60, directed the Woodstock Residence Nursing Home during a series of suspicious deaths in 2006. Nurse Marty Himebaugh is accused in the case of "playing Angel of Death" by giving dangerously high doses of drugs to selected patients.

Himebaugh is accused of causing at least four deaths at Woodstock. At first, investigators thought these were "mercy killings," but state investigators later found evidence that she chose patients who she thought were difficult or annoying. Other nurses reported to Whitlock that Himebaugh was acting strange and once said she'd given a patient a cocktail so she wouldn't bother her during her shift. Himebaugh faces felony charges of neglect and possession of a controlled substance. Whitlock herself is accused of failing to follow up on those and other complaints, even allegedly saying Himebaugh could "continue to play Angel of Death." Both women face a maximum of three years in prison, and are also targeted by civil nursing home abuse lawsuits from victims' families.

Our Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorneys wish those families the best of luck pursuing justice from Himebaugh, Whitlock and Woodstock. From an earlier story, we learned that prosecutors have chosen not to charge either woman with murder because they're not sure they can prove that charge beyond a reasonable doubt. In cases like this, families may have no chance to hold wrongdoers responsible in the criminal courts. Instead, they can turn to the civil courts, where the standard of proof is slightly lower -- a preponderance of the evidence. This allows them a day in court as well as a chance to recover damages for the pain, suffering and expense of a severe nursing home abuse case.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Director Charged With Neglect for Ignoring Suspicious Patient Deaths" »

Last year, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case very interesting to us as Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyers. In John J. Kane Regional Centers - Glen Hazel v. Grammer (PDF), the issue was whether patients' families may claim in lawsuits that poor care amounts to a civil rights violation. The Third Circuit decided in July that they could, setting off a controversy in the world of nursing homes and nursing home negligence law. McKnight's Long-Term Care News reported Feb. 24 that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up the case, allowing the Third Circuit's decision to stand.

In the original case, Sarah Grammer sued a Pittsburgh-area nursing home, John J. Kane Regional Centers, over the death in its care of her mother, Melvinteen Daniels. She alleged that Daniels was so badly neglected that she developed severe bedsores and malnutrition, leading to sepsis and death. This would form the basis of any Pennsylvania nursing home negligence claim, but Grammer took a different approach. The Federal Nursing Home Reform Amendments guarantee certain rights for nursing home patients, such as the right to be well cared for and free of abuse. Grammer argued that this allowed her to sue under the section of civil law governing civil rights violations. The home countered that the FNHRA do not create rights, but set forth requirements for receiving Medicare funds. The appeals court sided with Grammer.

This case is important for our work as Pennsylvania nursing home neglect attorneys because it opens another avenue to seek redress when a patient has been abused, neglected or otherwise subjected to mistreatment. Most nursing home negligence claims are state court claims, but under this decision, patients may file lawsuits as well. This gives them yet another layer of protection -- and it gives nursing homes yet another incentive to measure up to the reasonable standards laid out by federal law.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Turns Down Appeal of Pennsylvania Nursing Home Rights Verdict" »