Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Blog

Several months ago, I wrote about the sad case of John J. Donahue, a nursing home resident who died in 2005 after his eye was gouged by a metal hook in an accident caused by negligent nursing home staff. A jury in Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton, Mass., has found in favor of Donahue's family and ordered the Embassy House nursing home, where Donahue was hurt, to pay $400,000 plus interest for pain, suffering and disfigurement. As a Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorney, I am pleased to see patients and their families successfully hold negligent nursing home caregivers accountable when they hurt the people they're supposed to protect.

Marlene Owens, 76, of Easton, Mass., has been fighting for years to force Kindred Healthcare to own up to its culpability for harming Donahue, her stepfather. Kindred owned Embassy House at the time of the injury and operates nursing homes all over the United States, with several facilities in Pennsylvania. Donahue was 93 when nursing home staff failed to use a Hoyer lift properly when trying to move him, and his left eye was gouged by a metal hook. His eye had to be removed, and Donahue died of sepsis soon after. Donahue had signed an arbitration agreement that would have prevented him or his estate from suing the nursing home if he were killed or injured there, but at the time he signed it, he was 91 and suffering from delusions. A judge invalidated that agreement in 2009, allowing the lawsuit to go forward. The jury in Plymouth Superior Court agreed with Owens that negligence was a substantial contributing factor to Donahue's injury, although they did not find Kindred Healthcare responsible for his death.

Kindred Healthcare's lawyer said that the chain does still ask patients to sign arbitration agreements like the one Donahue signed, but noted that it is voluntary. Still, in my view as a Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyer, families should avoid signing these agreements whenever possible. They do not protect the patient's or family's interests; they protect the nursing home from being held responsible for its actions in an open court. Under an arbitration agreement, if a patient is injured or killed because of negligence or abuse by nursing home staff, families cannot turn to the legal system -- they have to go to an arbitrator, a private legal expert whom the company pays to settle the dispute. This is done outside the public eye and generally by someone who is being paid by the nursing home company, casting his or her neutrality into question. Because the court system is much less expensive, I do not believe nursing home companies would steer families into arbitration if they did not believe they would benefit. When a family member's life, health, and dignity are at stake, you should not limit your options by signing an arbitration agreement.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $400,000 to Victim of Negligence by Nursing Home Company Operating in Pennsylvania" »

A recent article about a Pennsylvania family's lawsuit against the Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania in Scranton got our attention as Pennsylvania nursing home negligence lawyers. The family of Elizabeth LaCoste, a now-deceased Jewish Home patient, argues that Jewish Home workers' negligence caused her serious injuries before her death in October of 2009. In our view as Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorneys, it's shameful that this accident occurred at all, but it's good that LaCoste's family is holding the Jewish Home accountable for its failure to prevent it.

The accident occurred when Jewish Home patients were in center-city Scranton to watch a musical performance on the afternoon of August 1, 2008. Instead of watching over LaCoste, Jewish Home workers left her alone in a wheelchair on a sloping sidewalk. In the unattended wheelchair, LaCoste careened down a hill, went over the curb, and then flew out of the wheelchair into the street. She suffered a broken collarbone, a head injury, bruises and abrasions. The article did not say whether those injuries contributed to her death 14 months later, or how they may have affected her health afterward.

As I have discussed before, it's unfortunately all too common for accidents like this to occur because of understaffing in nursing homes. In this case, we don't know for sure that understaffing was to blame, but the description of the incident certainly suggests some negligence. Based on my knowledge of other cases we've encountered as Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyers, understaffing often can result in careless, negligent behavior by workers. Even well-meaning nursing home staff can make serious mistakes when they are spread too thin or are inexperienced in their jobs. Yet nursing home companies essentially ensure that staff members are inexperienced and spread too thin by paying them so little that they have every incentive to constantly look for better-paying jobs. This is bad for patients as well as for staff members.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Family Fights Back Against Scranton Nursing Home's Alleged Negligence" »

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.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Families Should Look Carefully at Nursing Home Staffing Levels" »

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.

Continue reading "Article Highlights Dangers of Poor Hygiene to Pennsylvania Nursing Home Residents" »

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.

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.

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.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Nursing Home Employees Threaten Strike Over Pay" »

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" »

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.

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.

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.

Continue reading "Pennsylvania Families Should Monitor Nursing Home Patients' Care" »

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 " »

Recently, we wrote about the dangers of agreeing to binding arbitration in nursing home contracts. As Pennsylvania nursing home negligence attorneys, we strongly advise nursing home patients and their families to avoid binding arbitration agreements, and a March 8 story in the Boston Herald starkly illustrates the reasons why. The family of John J. Donahue is suing a Brockton, Mass., nursing home over his death from serious injuries sustained because of a staff member's negligence. Donahue, 93, was paralyzed and needed staff members' help moving. Because a staff member tried to move Donahue alone, using a lift that was supposed to be operated by two people, Donahue's left eye was gouged by a metal safety hook on the machine. For reasons not made clear in the article, the home waited 15 hours before taking him to the hospital. Donahue's eye had to be removed, but he still developed an infection that caused sepsis, a dangerous immune system overreaction. This led to his death six weeks later.

Donahue's stepdaughter and the executor of his affairs, Marlene Owens, tried to sue Embassy House Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. However Donahue had signed an arbitration agreement when he entered the home at the age of 91, barring him from requesting a jury trial if he was killed or injured by Embassy House's negligence. At that time, Embassy House's own records showed that he was suffering from confusion, delusions and depression. Owens and her nursing home abuse attorney fought this agreement in court, winning a declaration last year that the agreement was invalid because Donahue was "unable to act in a reasonable manner." Further, the judge said, Embassy House should have known that Donahue was not competent to sign away his right to a trial. This decision opened the way for Owens to sue Embassy House and Kindred Healthcare, Embassy House's parent company at the time. Kindred Healthcare operates in Pennsylvania as well. Owens alleges that both companies' negligence led to her stepfather's terrible accident, deformity and death.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Company Operating in Pennsylvania Allowed Delusional Patient to Sign Binding Arbitration Agreement" »

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" »