Saturday, December 22, 2012

Nursing home resident accused of beating roommate

Chester Rusek believed his roommate in a Town of Tonawanda nursing home was stealing from him.
So on a recent Monday morning, Rusek retaliated and repeatedly beat the 86-year-old roommate, Salvatore Trusello, with a 2½-pound magnet as Trusello lay in his bed in Kenwell-DePaul Senior Living Community on Delaware Avenue, police said.
Then, Rusek, 87, who gets around with the use of a walker, shuffled down the hallway and told the attendant to get help.
“He’s going to need medical attention,” Rusek told the attendant, according to police reports. “I just beat his [expletive].”
“I didn’t want to kill him,” Rusek later told police. “I just wanted to get even.”
Rusek was arrested for the Nov. 26 attack and charged with assault on the nursing home resident and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, said Town of Tonawanda Detective Lt. Joseph Carosi.Nursing home resident accused of beating roommate - City & Region - The Buffalo News:


Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Hearing set for woman accused of abusing nursing home patient

 A Wonewoc woman charged in June with abuse of a patient at a New Lisbon nursing home demanded a preliminary hearing in Juneau County Circuit Court on Thursday.
Judge John Roemer scheduled the hearing Jan. 22 for 50-year-old Ginger S. Newlun.
At a preliminary hearing, a judge determines whether a nursing home crime was committed and whether evidence exists to show the accused may have committed the crime.
District Attorney Scott Southworth said he planned to call a single witness in the case.
Newlun faces felony counts of abuse of a nursing home patient and aggravated battery for alleged incidents at Crest View Nursing Home in New Lisbon.Hearing set for woman accused of abusing nursing home patient:

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Bronx Nursing Home Worker Accused of Sex Abuse

A Bronx nursing home worker has been indicted after the worker was allegedly caught sexually assaulting an elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease, authorities said.
A non-clinical staff member at Hudson Pointe at Riverdale was naked in a laundry closet with the woman, who is in her 80s, when a co-worker opened the closet, nursing home officials said.
The co-worker reported it to authorities. The worker accused of sexual abuse, who had been working at Hudson Pointe for 12 years, has been indicted and is due back in court Jan. 18. It's not clear if there are other victims.Bronx Nursing Home Worker Accused of Sex Abuse | NBC New York:

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Woman Found Guilty In Nursing Home Assault

A Baltimore woman has been found guilty of abusing an elderly resident of a nursing home, according to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutors say 39-year-old Tarslia Jackson was found guiltyof one count of assault in the second degree for abusing an elderly woman at a Northwest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Pall Mall Road.
Investigators say that in August of 2012, while Jackson was working at the nursing home, she pushed and slapped the 71-year-old woman after the two had a verbal disagreement. Another employee also witnessed the incident.Woman Found Guilty In Nursing Home Assault | Baltimore News | WBAL Radio 1090 AM:

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Maryland nursing home accused of neglect

A Maryland nursing home is accused of deadly neglect. St. Thomas More in Hyattsville has an extensive history of health and safety violations. Tonight state health officials are blaming poor medical care for a patient's death. One state health official told Fox5 patients at St. Thomas More are at higher risk than at other nursing homes because of the ongoing deficiencies.

A former patient at St. Thomas More claims he almost died. James Franklin remains weak and bed ridden, six months after his stay at the 230-bed facility for what should have been the road to recovery. "I mean I didn't have no idea that I would still be here in the hospital. And for me to be in the hospital has been a tragic chance for me," Franklin told FOX5 from his hospital bed.FOX 5 Investigates: Maryland nursing home accused of neglect - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG:

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

State Supreme Court Allows Patients To Sue Nursing Home Owner

The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a group of nursing home patients can sue Covenant Care for allegedly violating California nurse-staffing standards, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Covenant Care owns 16 nursing homes in Alameda County.
State standards require long-term skilled-nursing facilities to provide each patient with 3.2 hours of nursing care per day.
The nursing home patients filed a lawsuit against Covenant alleging that it violated state standards at least 35% of the time over a four-year period, beginning in December 2006.State Supreme Court Allows Patients To Sue Nursing Home Owner - California Healthline:

Sunday, December 02, 2012

Nursing home resident allegedly raped by caregiver

A carer has been charged with sexually assaulting a disabled resident at a nursing home near Wollongong.
Police say the man abused the 82-year-old woman while working in the high care ward at Unanderra last month.
The alleged victim is disabled and suffers from a number of medical conditions.
The 41-year-old turned himself in to police yesterday and was refused bail.
He is due to face court today on two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of aggravated indecent assault.Nursing home resident allegedly raped by carer - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

Thursday, November 29, 2012

California attorney general's office to ramp up elder-abuse investigations

Until he died last month at age 82, Don Esco of Cameron Park had his own way of measuring the passage of time: by the years, months and days since the nursing home death of his wife, Johnnie, after a short stay at a Placerville nursing home.
It was never enough, he always said, to settle a civil lawsuit with the El Dorado Care Center in Placerville, which he blamed for his 77-year-old wife's death in March 2008. No, he said, it was never about the money.
Johnnie's death, he maintained, was a nursing home criminal matter – and the state of California agreed. 
On Thursday – four years, seven months and 24 days after Johnnie Esco died – one of two nurses charged with criminal elder abuse in connection with her death pleaded no contest to the charge.California attorney general's office to ramp up elder-abuse investigations - Capitol and California - The Sacramento Bee:

Monday, November 26, 2012

Falsified patient records are untold story of California nursing home care

A supervisor at a Carmichael nursing home admitted under oath that she was ordered to alter the medical records of a 92-year-old patient, who died after developing massive, rotting bedsores at the facility.

In Santa Monica, a nursing home was fined $2,500 by the state for falsifying a resident's medical chart, which claimed that the patient was given physical therapy five days a week. The catch? At least 28 of those sessions were documented by nurse assistants who were not at work on those days.

In Los Angeles, lawyers for a woman severely re-injured at a nursing home discovered a string of false entries – several written by nonexistent nurses.

Phantom nurses. Suspicious entries in medical charts. Phony paperwork, hurriedly produced after an injury or death.

It is the untold story of nursing home care: falsification of patient records.

While regulators have dogged facilities for years over fraudulent Medicare documentation, the issue of bogus records is more than a money matter. In California and elsewhere, nursing homes have been caught altering entries and outright lying on residents' medical charts – sometimes with disastrous human consequences, according to a Bee investigation.

Medications and treatments are documented as being given when they are not. Inaccurate entries have masked serious conditions in some patients, who ultimately died after not receiving proper care, the Bee found.
Falsified patient records are untold story of California nursing home care - Investigations - The Sacramento Bee:

Friday, November 23, 2012

Nursing home neglect: Jury awards $1.8 million in death of retired wrestler

Jurors ordered Lake Worth Manor to pay nearly $1.8 million in damages to Mr. Dahmer's estate. The nursing home at 1201 12th Ave. South is now called Oasis Health and Rehabilitation Center. Dahmer allegedly suffered from advanced bed sores that resulted in sepsis or septic shock which led to his death. He was a former pro wrestler.Nursing home neglect: Jury awards $1.8 million in death of retired wrestler - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com:

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Woman Dies Falling Out Of Nursing Home Window

Authorities say an 88-year-old nursing home resident who had been in a Gastonia nursing home for a few days and wanted to get out has died after falling from a second-story window.
Police said employees at Morningside of Gastonia were looking for Nellie Holland around 10:15 p.m. Sunday night when they found her outside the building. Paramedics say she died at the scene.
Investigators say Holland had been at the home for only a few days and told people she wanted to get out.
A spokesman for Morningside says the facility is cooperating with the investigation and providing support to the family. He says medical privacy laws prevent him from talking about Holland. Woman Dies; Falls Out Of Nursing Home Window | digtriad.com:

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

family reacts after seeing abuse, neglect at South Bend nursing homes

"He's got a lot of problems, and you send these people to be cared for in a nursing home that says they're going to care for your family member, and they're going to watch out for them, and make sure they have their medicine... and now it's like you can't trust anybody."
Kristina Beaver is emotional after seeing our report on the violations at Michiana nursing homes, she and her husband are looking for a place for her 69-year-old father-in-law.
"I'm scared," Beaver said.
Scared of the abuse and neglect that was discovered by the Indiana Department of Health and Human Services.
Until Thursday, the family was considering the Milton Home.
It was cited for sexual abuse and witholding medicine from a woman for 11 days in June.
Granger family reacts after seeing abuse, neglect at South Bend nursing homes | ABC57 | South Bend IN News, Weather and Sports | St. Joseph, IN

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Nursing Home Sued Over Tube Infection

A Santa Fe nursing home is being sued over an incident in which a resident there suffered an infection after a feeding tube allegedly was improperly placed, filling her abdominal cavity with the liquid formula....
ABQJournal Online » Nursing Home Sued Over Tube Infection

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Jacksonville nursing home on federal watch list

Summer Brook Health Care center is a 120 bed facility, privately owned and is now on Medicare's Watch List.
Brian Lee is with Families for Better Care, an advocate for the nursing home industry.
"This is only one of three nursing homes in the state of florida,682 nursing homes, that is on this federal watch list," said Lee.
Lee said his agency's role is to push for improvements in the nursing homes industry.
"Families should be vigilant in their advocacy on behalf of their loved ones," said Lee," to ensure that they're getting safe and appropriate care."
In its August update, Florida's Agency for Health Care Adminstration using a five star rating system, gave the facility the following marks:
-Overall inspection one star
-Quality of care one star
Jacksonville nursing home on federal watch list | firstcoastnews.com

Monday, October 22, 2012

Second Envoy administrator charged

Police in Staunton said Monday that a nursing home administrator at Envoy has been charged in connection with the nursing home’s failure to divulge a sex abuse allegation at its Houston Street facility.
Robert T. Lawrence, 47, of Gloucester County, is charged with failure to report a civil charge.
Last week, police charged Diane R. Kline, 41, an Envoy nursing administrator, with an identical charge.
A phone call placed Monday to Envoy to determine the pair’s employment status was not returned.
In early August, a Staunton police investigation initially centered around a suspended employee at the nursing home who was accused of molesting incapacitated residents.
Following the arrest of Anthony M. Johnson, 47, a nurse’s aide, investigators quickly turned their focus on Envoy’s administration after it was accused of trying to coverup one of the molestation allegations, according to court records.
Police said that although Envoy reported two allegations against Johnson, one of them unfounded, a third allegation concerning a female resident was not passed along to authorities.
The woman, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in the 1990s and is also paralyzed on her left side, said Johnson tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
Second Envoy administrator charged | The News Leader | newsleader.com