Malpractice Insurance Suits Rampant But Few Plaintiffs Get Pay Outs

According to this study, only 1.6% of Doctors who had a claim that resulted in an lawsuit payment.This fact and the fact that only 1% of all cases of medical negligence are even filed! makes the Tort Reformers arguments seem completely without merit and designed to alarm rather than truthfully inform, the public.

Malpractice Insurance Suits Rampant But Few Plaintiffs Get Pay Outs

Hospital Errors Affect About 1 In Every 3 Patients In The USA

Hospital Errors Affect About 1 In Every 3 Patients In The USA

Jurors deliberated nursing home case

Jurors heard recent closing arguments in Polk County Georgia for both sides of a wrongful death lawsuit filed against a Rockmart nursing home.

A defense attorney for Rockmart Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and it’s parent company, Subacute Services Inc., told jurors and a nearly full courtroom that those caring for 82-year-old Ruby Mae Tyler were “neighbors, people you know” and that this suit filed by Tyler’s daughter, Elizabeth Costlow, was to “strike back at mortality.”
Tyler died April 2008 after being a resident in the nursing home for around three months.
The defense attorney, peppering his closing argument with Biblical phrases and Southern colloquialisms, said Tyler was sick with many illnesses, so sick that she could have been successfully sustained anywhere.
The fact was she was going to die, the attorney said.
“She was going home. She knew it,” he said.
The plaintiffs attorney said Tyler may have been in the last stages of life, but didn’t want or need any help dying.
His argument were the pressure ulcers, which he claimed were rooted in neglect at the nursing home, directly contributed to Tyler’s death.
“It was too much for this poor lady to happen and she passed,” he said.
The attorney said the argument wasn’t that Tyler would die so much that she wasn’t allowed to “die with dignity.The closing argument for the plaintiff didn’t focus as much on a verdict as it did on how much to award the plaintiff.
Plaintiff’s counsel used the amount the defense paid its expert witness, $750 an hour, as the standard.
Under their formula, plaintiff’s counsel asked for approximately $2.65 million in negligence damages and between $3.24 to $9.7 million in punitive damages.
Read more: The Fish Wrap - Jurors to deliberate nursing home case
Jurors to deliberate nursing home case

Nursing Home Neglect alleged in Investigation - Denver Colorado

Commerce City, Colo. -- Following a series of CALL7 Investigative reports, the state health department has fined a troubled nursing home in Commerce City more than $100,000 and forced sweeping changes to the facility's management.
"We saw a pattern of repeated complaints," said Nancy McDonald, division director for Health Facilities at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "We realized that with the current management they were unable to, or were not adequately prepared to, make the changes necessary to keep everybody safe." In the last year, CALL7 has uncovered repeated complaints of neglect, injuries and death of patients at the Woodridge Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center


Inadequate Food?
For months, a frequent complaint by families and nursing staff was that residents were refused additional food because of budget constraints.
"They were telling me they couldn't have seconds because we don't have enough food or they didn't prepare enough food," said Cook Supervisor at Woodridge Park, William Santoro. "I kept hearing that we don't have enough food or we didn't cook enough food."
Santoro explained that he remembered making one pan of spaghetti for 90 people -- each was given an ounce and a half. Santoro told Ferrugia he complained and nothing was done, so he quit.

Nursing Home Shake-Up Follows CALL7 Investigation - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

Care home's neglect was fatal, lawyers argue

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Workers in an understaffed Charleston nursing home failed to properly care for an 87-year-old woman who had stayed there for about three weeks before dying of dehydration, lawyers for the woman's son said during the first day of a civil trial Tuesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Too few nurses were on staff in Heartland of Charleston to make sure Dorothy Douglas, who suffered from dementia and Alzheimer's, was eating food and drinking water, lawyers for her son Tom told a jury.
In September 2009, Tom Douglas checked his mother into the Heartland home temporarily until a bed opened up at Heritage Center, a Huntington nursing home that is better suited for caring for Alzheimer's patients, Douglas' lawyer told jurors Tuesday afternoon.
Dorothy Douglas died in Cabell Huntington Hospital on Sept. 24, a day after her transfer to the new home.
When she arrived at Heritage Center after three weeks at Heartland, she was covered in bruises, sores and scars in various stages of healing, Quezan said. Crud caked the elderly woman's mouth and she did not respond to her name, sounds or pain.
"You will find that the reason," Quezan said, "is that she was literally dying of thirst."
Care home's neglect was fatal, lawyers argue - News - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports -

Massachusetts Guide to Stopping Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Available

Hamill Law Office of Quincy, MA. announces that they have produced a Free Advocacy Guide for Massachusetts victims of Nursing Home abuse who are still in Nursing Home Care.

Called The  "CONSUMER GUIDE TO STOPPING NURSING HOME ABUSE and NEGLECT",
this free Guide will show you how to immediately halt elder abuse:

 Learn the best ways to approach the problem of abuse or
neglect that is occurring while your loved one is still in the Nursing Home
 Learn the best “in-house” methods for stopping neglect
 Learn powerful and immediate tools to stop abuse.
 The Five best ways to report neglect.
 The “Magic Number” to call in an emergency
 Nine ways to deal with poor treatment.

Hamill Law Group
Advocates for Elder Nursing Home Victims
36 Miller Stile Rd.
Quincy, MA. 02169
(617) 479-4300
http://www.hamill-law.com/

Care home providers at the centre of abuse scandal close a second property

A second care home owned by the company at the centre of allegations of abuse of vulnerable patients is to close, it was announced on Wednesday.

Castlebeck, which owned the Winterbourne View care home in Bristol where abuse was filmed by an undercover BBC journalist for Panorama, has said it will close Rose Villa, also in Bristol.
Four members of Rose Villa's staff were suspended last month following an inspection by regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) while allegations of misconduct were investigated. But Castlebeck today said it was closing the rehabilitation centre for adults with learning disabilities, which has five patients and 30 staff, for "operational reasons".
Winterbourne View, which saw 13 staff members suspended over allegations of abuse, closed in June.
Castlebeck's chief executive, Lee Reed, the company was closing the site "with regret".
"The service is being closed purely for operational reasons," he said. "Whilst we recognise the concerns raised in the recent CQC inspection report, our decision has resulted from the fact that in reviewing operational practicalities, Rose Villa would be left on its own in the South West - some distance from the support that could be provided by our services in the West Midlands.
"The decision is purely voluntary and not at the instigation of CQC.

Care home providers at the centre of abuse scandal close a second property Society guardian.co.uk

Carlyle Nursing Unit to Appeal $91.5 Million Medical Negligence Verdict

"The Carlyle Group nursing home subsidiary, HCR ManorCare Inc., will appeal a $91.5 million verdict awarded to a man whose mother spent 20 days in a nursing home before dying in a hospital.

Dorothy Douglas of Barboursville, West Virginia, suffered dehydration and renal failure before dying, her son Tom Douglas claimed in his 2009 lawsuit filed in state court in Charleston, West Virginia. Dorothy Douglas, 87, suffered from dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
The jury on Aug. 5 found that Manor Care Inc., the unit owned by HCR ManorCare, was medically negligent in its care, according to the jury verdict form.
Douglas’s lawyers said the Charleston nursing home was understaffed and the home’s administrators knew it.
“Although the incident in question occurred two years ago, we feel that the center and staff acted appropriately in providing the proper care for this resident,” HCR ManorCare said in an e-mailed statement. “In addition we believe this center was staffed above the state requirements at the time in question.”
Carlyle Nursing Unit to Appeal $91.5 Million Medical Negligence Verdict - Bloomberg

Heartland must pay $91.5M in fatal neglect case - West Virginia

"A Kanawha County jury on Friday awarded an elderly woman's family $91.5 million in damages from a Charleston nursing home, after finding that nursing home workers indirectly caused the woman's death.

After a trial that lasted nearly two weeks in front of Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib Jr., jurors found that workers at Heartland of Charleston, located at 3819 Chesterfield Ave., failed to feed and care for Dorothy Douglas, who stayed at the home for about three weeks in 2009 before dying at age 87. Lawyers for Douglas' son say she died from dehydration complications.

After closing arguments Friday morning, jurors deliberated for about two hours before returning their verdict and awarding $80 million in punitive damages and $11.5 million in compensatory damages.
In September 2009, Tom Douglas took his mother to Heartland of Charleston while waiting for space to open in another nursing home. Dorothy Douglas suffered from Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's disease and several other conditions, Douglas' lawyers, Lance Reins and Amy Quezan, told the jury during the trial.

They said that while living with her son, Dorothy Douglas' health had improved to the point where she could walk, speak and recognize family members.  After checking his mother into Heartland, Tom Douglas said, he discovered that the staffers had labeled her a fall risk and confined her to a wheelchair.

By the time she was transferred to the Heritage Center nursing home in Huntington three weeks later, she was unresponsive, she had lost 15 pounds and severe dehydration had driven her to the brink of death, Douglas' lawyers said.

She died at Cabell Huntington Hospital on Sept. 24, a day after her transfer.
Reins told jurors during closing arguments Friday that Heartland did not have enough nurses on staff to care for the woman. Several former Heartland workers testified during the trial that properly caring for all of the residents was impossible.

In 2009, the nursing home reported an employee turnover rate of 112 percent, according to Reins.
"They were losing more people because they weren't even staying through orientation when they saw the conditions," he told the jury."

Heartland must pay $91.5M in fatal neglect case - News - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports -

Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements - Use a Power of Attorney to defeat?

Nursing Homes are routinely denying wrongfully injured consumers access to the Courts by inserting mandatory arbitration agreements into their lengthy admission packets. Usually, consumers or their representatives are unaware that they have signed a document that forfeits or severly limits important civil rights.

In my website I have addressed a possible solution to defeat this practice by Nursing Homes  by using a properly worded Power of Attorney document as part of their estate plan prior to going into a long term care facility.

The Nursing Home Power of Attorney would include a clause prohibiting your health care agent from unwittingly signing away your right to suit for injuries before you've even gone into the nursing facility. It would preserve your right to a jury trial of your peers rather than having to use an arbitrator who is dependant on large nursing Home chains for a continued stream of lucrative nursing home business.

Massachusetts Nursing home residents risk losing bed with Medicaid cut

Massachusetts nursing home residents who are briefly hospitalized or leave to visit their family risk losing their bed under a state funding cut finalized yesterday that illustrates the tough choices confronting state government in an era of tight budgets.


“I certainly appreciate the concerns raised by residents, advocates, caregivers, and members of the Legislature, but given our budget constraints, we had to move forward with this decision,’’ Dr. Julian Harris said in an interview.
The new rule goes into effect Nov. 1, Harris said
Federal law requires nursing homes to readmit a resident after a temporary leave to the first available bed in a shared room, but it does not guarantee the same room or bed as before.
Because so many nursing home residents have dementia, the prospect of facing a new bed and room each time they return can be especially confusing, advocates said.

“Imagine the stress this will put on families, heading into the winter holiday season, and they’re thinking, ‘I will have to tell my loved one that I won’t be able to bring them home for Thanksgiving because they’ll risk losing their bed,’ ’’ said Debbie Banda, director of the Massachusetts office of AARP, a major interest group representing older Americans.

Massachusetts Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, a statewide consumer group, collected petitions bearing nearly 1,600 signatures in hopes of persuading lawmakers and the Patrick administration to save the program and seek cuts elsewhere in the state’s $10.3 billion Medicaid budget.

“There will be devastating consequences to residents if they lose their beds in the place they call home,’’ said Arlene Germain, the group’s president.


Nursing home residents risk losing bed with state Medicaid cut - The Boston Globe

ManorCare's neglect was fatal, West Va.lawyer argues in Court

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Workers in an understaffed nursing home failed to properly care for an 87-year-old woman who had stayed there for about three weeks before dying of dehydration, lawyers for the woman's son said during the first day of a civil trial Tuesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Too few nurses were on staff in Heartland of Charleston to make sure Dorothy Douglas, who suffered from dementia and Alzheimer's, was eating food and drinking water, lawyers for her son Tom told a jury. ..... after three weeks at Heartland, she was covered in bruises, sores and scars in various stages of healing, Quezan said. "You will find that the reason," Quezan said, "is that she was literally dying of thirst."
Before she was admitted to Heartland, the elderly woman could walk, talk and recognize family members, Quezan said.  Quezan claimed that Heartland intentionally keeps the home understaffed to increase the revenue generated by its residents. Heartland is owned by ManorCare Inc.,"
see full article:

Care home's neglect was fatal, lawyers argue - News - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports -

Why are Hospital Errors so Rampant in the U.S.?

Excellent ARticle in the Washuington Monthly about the cause of so many medical errors in the U.S. The Article ponders this issue:

"Last year there wasn’t a single fatal airline accident in the developed world.

So why is the U.S. health care system still accidently killing hundreds of thousands?"

Their answer is a lack of transparency.



First Do No Harm - Marshall Allen

Winnipeg nursing home resident dies from neglect

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's Health Department says that negligent nursing home staff so thoroughly failed to treat an elderly woman who later died in hospital that their actions amounted to "physical abuse by neglect."

Officials are reviewing care at the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre, where Lillian Peck, 93, suffered as her skin became infected by her own feces and later ruptured.
"Documentation on basic nursing care, assessment and treatment, and examination of the wound itself was absent," Bernadette Preun, assistant deputy minister of health, wrote in a letter dated July 20 that was made public Monday. "The evidence further showed staff were uncertain and lacked confidence in their knowledge of the wound and how to treat it." Negligent wound care may have caused the nursing home  wrongful death.

Peck was at the home last October and was generally alert and in good spirits, according to her daughter Marsha Palansky. Palansky said she visited frequently and ensured her mother had a companion that would walk her around several hours each week.

Neither realized Peck was suffering an infection in her pelvic area until her health deteriorated and she was transferred to a hospital. That's when Palansky was shown how the infection had affected her mother.

"The skin was black. At one point, one of the doctors thought she might have flesh-eating disease, that's how dark it was," Marsha Palansky said Monday. "I literally broke down. I could not believe anybody could be in that condition.
Peck had not been washed after bowel movements, Palansky said. She died from heart and renal failure two days after being moved to the hospital. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has apologized to Peck's family and said it is reviewing standards at all nursing homes in its jurisdiction.
Seven nurses have been disciplined, including one who no longer works at the home, and the facility has implemented an improvement plan. "It should not have happened," said Real Cloutier, the authority's chief operating officer. "A big part of this was ... just not following the protocols in place."
Manitoba Health is also conducting a thorough review of the 200-bed nursing home, which bills itself on its website as "one of the most respected personal care homes in Winnipeg."
Palansky said she hopes no one else will go through what she has. "I'm hoping that this home becomes a quality long-term care home," she said. "But I don't think a lot of education (of staff) has happened."

Winnipeg nursing home resident dies after being neglected: government review - Winnipeg Free Press

Black Nursing Home Residents have more Pressure Sores - JAMA

Nursing Home Neglect:
In a study published this month in the prestigeous Journal of American Medicine:
"... Nursing Home pressure ulcer rates in 2.1 million white and 346 808 black residents of 12 473 certified nursing homes in the United States that used the nursing home resident assessment; Nursing homes were categorized according to their proportions of black residents.

The study essentially measured the odds of pressure ulcers in stages 2 through 4 for black and white residents receiving care in different nursing home facilities.

Results ....... black residents of nursing homes showed persistently higher pressure ulcer rates than white residents.

In 2003, the pressure ulcer rate was 16.8% for black nursing home residents compared with 11.4% for white residents; in 2008, the rate was 14.6% compared with 9.6% , respectively. In nursing homes with the highest percentages of black residents (≥35%), both black residents unadjusted rate of 15.5%  in 2008; and white residents unadjusted rate of 12.1% had higher rates of pressure ulcers than nursing homes serving primarily white residents, in which white residents had an unadjusted rate of 8.8%.

Conclusions From 2003 through 2008, the prevalence of pressure ulcers among high-risk nursing home residents was higher among black residents than among white residents. This disparity was in part related to the site of nursing home care."

Association of Race and Sites of Care With Pressure Ulcers in High-Risk Nursing Home Residents, July 13, 2011, Li et al. 306 (2): 179 — JAMA