Of all the responsibilities we entrust to nursing home staff, medication errors should worry us the least. After all, compared with the daunting logistics of physical care taking, can it really be that difficult to administer a set number of pills at a predetermined time?Apparently – yes. Quite difficult. Study after study – including a recent… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: nursing home lawyer
Failing To Report Nursing Home Violence Results In Sanctions Against Facility
Posted in Sexual Abuse & AssaultViolence in a nursing home setting can take place at any time– at any facility. While there certainly are procedures that facilities can put into place to reduce the number of these incidents, each episode needs to be closely examined to determine the specifics behind the incident and to prevent the eruption of similar problems… Continue Reading
Nursing Home Fined For Poor Care Of Patients’ With Feeding Tubes
Posted in Feeding Tube ComplicationsSome of the most vulnerable patients in the nursing home community remain physically disabled patients with feeding tubes. Reliant on staff for their nutritional needs, specific protocols must be followed: before, during and after feedings in order to achieve their highest level of functioning. I was reminded about the heightened vulnerability of feeding tube patients… Continue Reading
Illinois To Receive Big Bucks To Improve Nursing Home Safety. Will It Help?
Posted in Illinois Nursing HomesMany Illinois Nursing Homes may soon be stepping upon some new wealth under a recently devised tax-plan that that is intended to provide for an increase in the number of state nursing home surveyors and increased staff at troubled facilities. By taking advantage of a Federal Government matching-fund program, the program is expected to provide… Continue Reading
Financially Troubled Nursing Home Charged Cited For Discontinuing Dietary Supplement In Patients With Severe Weight Loss
Posted in Dehydration, MalnutritionA Connecticut nursing home has been cited by the Department of Health for discontinuing a dietary supplement without first consulting any doctors, dieticians or nurses. The abrupt discontinuation is believed to be responsible for a sizable– 11% weight loss in a patient at South Windsor Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. When at the facility, state inspectors… Continue Reading
As Budgets Get Slashed, Regulation Of Long Term Care Facilites Takes Back Seat
Posted in Economics, National Nursing Home IssuesA disturbing example of the the fall-out from state budget cuts, will be the escalation of unregulated skilled nursing and assisted living facilities caring for seniors and the disabled. Delayed inspections— or inspections of facilities that simply never occur— will become the new ‘norm’ in many states that simply do not have sufficient manpower to… Continue Reading
Sexual Abuse Of Patient In Chicagoland Nursing Home
Posted in Sexual Abuse & AssaultEven with strict federal and state laws protecting nursing home patients, somehow people completely unfit for the job manage to find their way into positions where they are caring for an incredibly vulnerable group of people. Recently, the Chicago Tribune reported on a horribly shameful incident involving the sexual assault of a nursing home… Continue Reading
Jury Finds Nursing Home Responsible For Alzheimer’s Patients Injuries
Posted in Dementia / Alzheimer's PatientsAfter two hours of deliberations a Kentucky jury has awarded a former nursing home patient more than $1 million in damages for injuries she sustained while a patient at the facility. The nursing home negligence lawsuit alleged that Cambridge Place Nursing Home in Lexington, KY was negligent in looking after an Alzheimer’s patient who managed… Continue Reading
What Can Nursing Homes Do To Protect Patients From Violence Within Facilities
Posted in Nursing Home InjuryNursing homes are supposed to be quaint places for the elderly to relax and recreate with each other. Right? Sure, I guess it depends upon the circumstances, but most people would be shocked to learn that episodes of violence do occur on a regular basis. Just recently, and 89-year-old man at a Tennessee nursing home… Continue Reading
State Surveyors Discover Medications Continually Withheld At Conn. Nursing Home
Posted in Medication ErrorsWhile it is the responsibility of a doctor to prescribe medications for nursing home patients, the daily task of administering the medication falls squarely on the shoulders of the nursing home staff. Nursing home staff have a duty to both administer the proper medication– at the interval prescribed— to each patient. Not surprisingly when patients… Continue Reading
Never Discount The Real Impact Of Sexual Abuse On The Disabled
Posted in Sexual Abuse & AssaultConcerned about their daughter’s health, the family of Violet Townsend immediately sought medical care for the 29-year-old woman when they noticed blood on the seat of her wheelchair while visiting her at Grande Oaks Nursing Home (Ohio). After receiving care at a nearby hospital, it was determined that Ms. Townsend’s injury was consistent with a… Continue Reading
Elder Abuse Lawsuit: Woman Accuses Nursing Home Of Unnecessary Drugging In Order To Take Over Social Security Payments
Posted in Medication ErrorsVery disturbing allegations have surfaced in a nursing home negligence lawsuit filed against a California nursing home by a former patient at the facility. Marsha Davis has filed a lawsuit against Country Villa of Seal Beach alleging that the facility improperly gave her psychotropic medications (Ativan) without a prescription in order to take over her… Continue Reading
Nursing Homes Must Protect Patients From Violence Perpetrated By Other Patients
Posted in Broken Bones, Nursing Home Injury, Unexplained BruisingYet another episode of nursing home violence was reported at a facility in Southwest Florida when a resident attacked his roommate over a disagreement as to the positioning of the window curtains. Even though there was a nurse nearby, the victim of the abuse suffered severe facial bruising and fractures that required medical attention at… Continue Reading
7 Steps To Reduce The Stress Associated With Moving To A Nursing Home
Posted in National Nursing Home IssuesA move into a nursing home is perhaps one of life’s most stressful events. After all, a transition into a nursing home not only accompanies major changes in every feasible aspect of the person’s life: environment, schedule, people— and yes, the realization that things will never go back to the way things were. If the… Continue Reading
Medication Errors To Blame For Death Of Nursing Home Patient
Posted in Medication ErrorsSome of the most tragic cases of nursing home negligence involve medication errors. Not just because the error results in a severe injury or death of a patient, but because the errors were indeed so needless. Somewhere along the line from the time the doctors order was written to the time the medication was dispensed—… Continue Reading
Did Nursing Home Patient Commit Suicide With Supplies Left In His Room?
Posted in Wrongful DeathAn apparent nursing home suicide is under investigation at Heartland Nursing Home (a ManorCare facility) in Galesburg, IL. Using an oxygen tube and an electrical cord, the patient apparently fashioned a noose and hung himself from a bar on the ceiling which had been installed to help the man reposition himself— or did he? While… Continue Reading
Nursing Home Worker Gets Seven Years In Prison For Sexually Abusing Disabled Patient
Posted in Nursing Home AbuseTestifying through an interpreter and via spelling out words, a disabled nursing home patient convinced a New York City jury that her allegations of sexual abuse during her admission to a New York nursing home were indeed true. Consequently, her former CNA Jose Ramos will face seven years in prison for his crimes. The district… Continue Reading
Family Blames Nursing Home For Mother’s Infected Pressure Ulcers & Death
Posted in Bed Sore Lawsuit, Bed Sores, Pressure Sores, Decubitus Ulcers & Pressure UlcersA pending wrongful death lawsuit in Georgia, claims that a nursing homes poor care resulted in the development of pressure ulcers. It is alleged that the pressure sores eventually became so infected that they necessitated the amputation of the woman’s leg and eventually caused her death. Like many families, the deceased woman’s daughter brought her mother… Continue Reading
Lawsuit Alleges That Even After Death, Chicago Nursing Home Fails To Respect Families Wishes
Posted in Illinois Nursing HomesA somewhat unusual lawsuit has been filed by the family of a deceased nursing home patient against a Chicago nursing home. Unlike most nursing home lawsuits seeking damages for injuries or death to an individual, a lawsuit filed by the family of a deceased patient at Ridgeview Nursing Home seeks damages for emotional distress after… Continue Reading
More Improvements At Medicare’s ‘Nursing Home Compare’ Website
Posted in MedicareWe spend a lot of time talking about the problems with modern-day nursing homes, but I find the most important improvement in U.S. nursing homes is the development of Medicare’s nursing home compare website. The site provides a one-stop-shop for families seeking information on a particular facility or when researching facilities within a particular area…. Continue Reading
Nursing Home Injury Laws: Illinois
Posted in Nursing Home Injury, Wrongful DeathHard to believe, but since we initiated Nursing Home Injury Laws last year, we have helped many families get the resources they need following an injury or death of a loved one in a nursing home or medical facility. Nursing Home Injury Laws, has links and resources related to some of the most commonly… Continue Reading
When Safety Is An Afterthought, Smoking Is One Of The Most Dangerous Nursing Home Activities
Posted in Smoking & Fires In Nursing HomesSmoking remains one of the most ordinary— yet perhaps the most dangerous activities that takes place in nursing homes everyday. Maybe its due to the fact that smoking is such a commonplace activity in nursing homes, many staff simply fail to understand its potentially dangerous impact on both the individual smoker— as well as the… Continue Reading
Nursing Home Cover-Up: NY Aides Lied About Doing Their Jobs
Posted in Elopement & WanderingAs a nursing home lawyer, I spend a lot of time reviewing patient charts. Particularly when it comes to evaluating cases, a thorough review of medical records is crucial for determining the important questions: Who? What? Why? When? Occasionally, my chart reviews reveal more than I expect when: medication charts reveal that medication was administered… Continue Reading
Unattended Nursing Home Patient Falls Down Stairway In Wheelchair
Posted in Broken Bones, Nursing Home Falls, Nursing Home InjuryParticularly when it comes to physically disabled patients, nursing homes must take steps to protect them from harm due to potentially dangerous conditions at the facility. When facilities fail to take basic steps to safeguard patients from these environmental hazards, we frequently see patients getting severely injured or killed. A recent example of nursing homes… Continue Reading