Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Blog

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" »

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.

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

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.

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" »

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 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" »

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" »

Pneumonia is one of the most commonly acquired diseases in nursing homes. This is a serious problem for nursing homes, residents, families and Philadelphia nursing home negligence attorneys, because pneumonia can also be a life-threatening disease in older people and people in poor health. In fact, the health care community has made nursing-home-acquired pneumonia a distinct subcategory of pneumonias, because pneumonia in this group is most likely to come from contact with health care facilities, and because pneumonia can have different symptoms in people with dementia and the very elderly.

That is why we were interested in a study about pneumonia published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Researchers in the Netherlands found that a steroid drug commonly used to fight the disease did not improve the patients' health. In fact, the Dutch researchers found that patients taking prednisolone had a significantly greater chance of their symptoms recurring after three days of treatment. The study looked at the use of prednisolone versus a placebo in 213 hospitalized patients with all levels of pneumonia severity. The researchers concluded that prednisolone should not be used routinely.

Our Pennsylvania nursing home neglect attorneys are already slightly suspicious of homes with a large number of pneumonia cases. The preventive measures tend to be common sense measures like hand-washing -- which calls into question the practices at facilities with severe or chronic problems. This study suggests that nursing homes and hospitals that treat nursing home residents should carefully consider whether prenisolone does more harm than good to patients. If more studies turn up this problem, homes should seriously consider stopping routine use of prenisolone altogether.

Continue reading "Study Finds Pneumonia Drug Used in Pennsylvania Nursing Homes May Harm Patients" »