Nurse fired for reporting Abuse

Nurse Annie O'Malley says she was fired from the MetroHealth Prentiss Center nursing home for reporting what she believed to be abuse inside the facility.
"I don't think Tina or the Prentiss Center wants to have any more bad publicity," OMalley said.
Tina Szatala is the nursing home's chief administrator. O'Malley was referring to her and the series of reports that Investigator Tom Meyer aired in June 2011 regarding the abuse of Esther Piskor, 78, a resident suffering from Alzheimers.
O'Malley says she contacted the state about an incident in September of last year regarding a 90-year-old resident who was alone in her room, screaming and crying for help. The resident needed assistance to go to the bathroom.
O'Malley says when nurses' aides didn't respond, the resident decided to climb out of bed and into a wheelchair.
"The bed was in the high position. 4 rails up. This woman crawled out of bed, which she could have killed herself, getting out of bed," said O'Malley
http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/287284/45/Investigator-Nurse-says-she-was-fired-for-reporting-alleged-abuse


by Bernard Hamill
Nursing Home Abuse

Need for Nursing Home reform

On the lawn of the state Health Department, flanked by the daughters of a 96-year-old woman who was physically abused by two Oklahoma City nursing home aides last year, Wes Bledsoe said the department should amp up its inspections and investigations process immediately.

Eryetha Mayberry sat in a wheelchair and suffered from dementia when two nurses aides at Quail Creek Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center were arrested on abuse complaints last April.
Mayberry's daughters set up a hidden video camera after they noticed some of their mom's personal items missing. But instead of catching a thief, the tape revealed two women pushing the women's mother and gagging her with gloved hands.
One of the women, Lucy Gakunga, 24, is now serving a prison sentence at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud. Her co-defendant, Caroline Kaseke, 29, has not been convicted and remains at large.
Bledsoe said it is unconscionable that the state Health Department is not investigating the nursing home and said it reflects the department's attitude about this type of abuse.
He said the department cited only six of the state's 300-plus nursing homes for failing to protect residents from abuse in the past 31/2 years, despite 57 such citations in the 31/2 years before that.
“That, to me, is scandalous,” Bledsoe said.

The state investigated more than 1,240 complaints at nursing homes last year alone, and cited 1,000 of them for deficiencies, Huser said.
Twenty citations have been issued against nursing homes since May 2009 for failure to protect residents from abuse.
http://newsok.com/daughters-of-abused-nursing-home-patient-call-for-reform-in-oklahoma/article/3763498

by Bernard Hamill
Nursing Home Abuse

Negligent Nursing Homes Grab 5 Billion Tax Dollars in One Year

 If members of both polital parties bothered to read a report released last week by the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, they might find some common ground in saving American taxpayers money on Medicare.

The Inspector General report reveals that in 2009 nursing home conglomerates bilked U.S. taxpayers to the tune of more than $5 billion for care that by all legal definitions was substandard at best, negligent at worst. A full 37 percent of nursing homes across America receiving Medicade reimbursements did not meet plan-of-care standards for residents

Negligent Nursing Homes Grab 5 Billion Tax Dollars in One Year:

by Bernard Hamill
Nursing Home Abuse

MRSA rampant in Southern California nursing homes, caused by understaffing

A new study shows a super bug is rampant in nursing homes.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a staph infection that is resistant to several common antibiotics.

The germ was found in 20 of the 22 Southern California nursing homes examined in the study.

The nursing homes agreed to be in the study only if their names weren't released.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, swabbed the noses of nursing home residents between October 2008 and May 2011.

The study's lead researcher said these facilities need more nursing home infection control interventions.

Marian Hollingsworth told Team 10 she saw how quickly a loved one can contract MRSA.

Her father contracted MRSA after just a day inside a San Diego nursing home. A nurse called and told her about the infection.

"I found out later that by law, a doctor was supposed to call and inform us of the infection and we were supposed to get information on how to limit the spread and we never did," Hollingsworth said.

MRSA is spread through contact -- either by touching someone with the germ or touching an object with it.

"He was kept near the front desk in a wheelchair a lot. So everyone who went in and out of the facility was exposed to him," said Hollingsworth.

10News - MRSA rampant in Southern California nursing homes, says new study - 10News.com - News

by Bernard Hamill
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Nursing home giant guilty in wrongful death suit - Understaffing and cost cutting

A Sacramento Superior Court jury has returned verdicts of wrongful death and elder abuse against the nation's largest assisted living company.
The Sacramento Bee reports ( http://bit.ly/15wNTw4) the trial now enters the punitive-damages phase for Emeritus Corp, a Seattle-based company with annual revenue of $1 billion.
A suit was filed on behalf of Joan Boice, an 82-year-old resident with Alzheimer's disease who died shortly after leaving an Emeritus facility in Auburn five years ago. When she left, the newspaper says, Boice had at least four major bedsores that were listed as significant factors in her cause of death.
Plaintiffs attorneys argued that understaffing and lack of training represented a strategy on Emeritus' part to cut costs.
An Emeritus spokesperson says the company stands behind the quality of care it provides.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/06/5240403/nursing-home-giant by Bernard Hamill
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Nursing home giant guilty in wrongful death suit - AP State News - The Sacramento Bee

by Bernard Hamill

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Need for Full Time Nursing Home Dr's

Jonathan M. Evans is a geriatric physician. A firm believer in onsite physicians at nursing homes, he explained, “The thing that matters most is being there – being there for patients when they're sick; being there for families when they're in need; being there for staff to provide support and ongoing education. You can't be part of a team if you're not present.”

Should the nursing home physician communicate directly with patients and family members rather than through the staff? Evans’ answer is -- “Why the hell not?”

Evans pointed out, "A doctor should always communicate with a patient directly unless a patient is not able to make medical decisions and has a medical proxy to guard confidentiality.” In the absence of a full-time physician, dementia patients are at a disadvantage. The doctor reads charts, talks to staff, talks to patient, but fails to communicate with family.
If a physician talks with family rather than just reading charts, patients can be helped more effectively. In the absence of a full time physician, there is a disconnect.
http://newamericamedia.org/2013/03/full-time-nursing-home-docs-should-be-mandatory.php

by Bernard Hamill 
Nursing Home Abuse

Ct Nursing home residents called 'monkeys,' left hungry

A Litchfield nursing home has been ordered to hire a new manager, improve resident care and pay a $2,000 fine after findings that administrators left residents hungry, denied them information about their personal finances and openly referred to them as "monkeys."
Multiple residents of Fernwood Rest Home Inc., a 68-bed facility, told inspectors from the state Department of Public Health that administrators would tell them they had to "go shopping to feed the monkeys," a state DPH report says.
A staff member of the nursing home confirmed complaints from residents that administrators would put a chain across the dining room door while the staff was making a "gourmet breakfast for themselves," and would instruct staff members to "keep the monkeys out" of the room while they were eating.

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/State-Rest-home-residents-called-monkeys-left-4337142.php#ixzz2NBerE0oz

Lawsuit filed against nursing home for an alleged sexual assault

A lawsuit has been filed against at Watertown CT. nursing home after one of the patients was allegedly sexually assaulted.
The woman died a few weeks after the incident and her family is now hoping to get enough money to cover funeral costs.
While the criminal investigation remains open, a family member of the alleged victim, a woman now deceased, has filed a civil suit.
The complaint claims that around July 17, 2010, an elderly woman who lived at the Apple Rehab Bunker Hill facility in Watertown, was sexually assaulted by an unidentified person.
The attack supposedly happened in her bedroom, but does not specify if the suspect was an employee, guest, or another resident.
The family argues there was "negligence and carelessness" by Apple Health Care.

In this complaint, a family member of the victim claims the nursing home or rehab facility failed to protect the victim from sexual assault, failed to provide adequate security, and failed to report the assault to family members as well as police.
But a spokesperson for Apple Health care says, "Apple Rehab's policy includes a full investigation into the facts and findings and continues to commit full resources to uncover the facts which continue to unfold."
Meanwhile, the family is asking for Apple Health care to pay more than $15,000 to cover the costs of medical and funeral costs. The family claims because of the reported incident here, the woman suffered a fear of sexually transmitted diseases, conscious pain and suffering, severe emotional distress and eventually death.
The criminal investigation to this is ongoing by the Watertown Police Department and the civil litigation will be held at Waterbury Superior Court.
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/crime/lawsuit-filed-against-nursing-home-for-an-alleged-sexual-assault#.URpzZKVEGuI

by Bernard Hamill 

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Judge rejects mistrial claim in Sacramento elder abuse trial

The judge rejected an effort Friday by lawyers for Emeritus Corp. to call off the Sacramento civil trial where the survivors of an Alzheimer's resident are suing the assisted living giant for elder abuse and wrongful death.
Emeritus attorneys wanted a mistrial on grounds that plaintiffs lawyer Lesley Ann Clement improperly contacted several current and former company employees – and "coerced" one of them – to influence their testimony.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher turned back the motion, as well as an Emeritus attempt to disqualify Clement from the case, in a tentative ruling she released Thursday.
Hersher confirmed her ruling Friday, telling the Emeritus lawyers who continued to push for the mistrial and the disqualification, "I frankly have not heard anything today that changes my mind about these circumstances."
Outside court, the attorney who represented Clement called the Emeritus action "frivolous" and "a smear campaign." The attorney, Jim Murphy, said the defense action filed Jan. 25 suggests they believe they are losing the trial.
"Desperate times require desperate measures, and this was a desperate measure by a desperate party – I think they can read the tea leaves," said Murphy, a San Francisco lawyer who specializes in representing embattled attorneys and judges. "The testimony is not going well for them. http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/16/5194796/judge-rejects-mistrial-claim-in.html

by Bernard Hamill 

Massachusetts Nursing Homes Cited for Violations

Over the past three years, Massachusetts nursing home inspectors acting on behalf of the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found 27 elder care deficiencies at a long-term care facility in Tewksbury and penalized the home with $13,000 in fines. Eight miles away, a nursing home in Wilmington was found to have six deficiencies and fined $117,160, the highest civil monetary penalty CMS levied in Massachusetts during that time period. The difference in the strictness of sanctions is the severity of the deficiencies. Woodbriar of Wilmington was penalized when a patient died of drug toxicity after a medication dosage error. At Blaire House of Tewksbury, none of the deficiencies was categorized as serious. CMS classifies deficiencies as serious if they harm a patient or put a patient in immediate jeopardy. Nursing homes with serious deficiencies are fined, but a review of inspection surveys in a database created by investigative journalism group ProPublica shows that less severe citations can pile up without penalties being imposed. In Greater Lowell, CMS has reports for the 27 facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid, putting them under the agency's jurisdiction. Of these 27 nursing homes, four have been found deficiency-free: Life Care Center of Acton, Littleton's Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley, Seven Hills Pediatric Center in Groton, and Lowell's D'Youville Transitional Care, the short-term rehabilitation facility affiliated with D'Youville Senior Care.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_22609556/widely-varying-sanctions-at-area-nursing-homes#ixzz2LBgVs2tc

by Bernard Hamill 
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Union battling nursing homes places Globe ad highlighting HealthBridge’s antipsychotic track record

Union battling nursing homes places Globe ad highlighting HealthBridge’s antipsychotic track record:

In bold, bright red lettering, a full-page advertisement in December 2012 Boston Globe warns readers that elderly nursing homes residents in three HealthBridge Management-owned Massachusetts facilities are given antipsychotic drugs at rates much higher than the national average -- despite federal warnings about lethal side effects from the powerful sedatives.
The ad was paid for by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a union that represents thousands of workers in five states, including Massachusetts, and is affiliated with a labor group battling Healthbridge in six Connecticut nursing homes.
The ads detail the high rates of antipsychotic use at Holyoke Rehabilitation Center; Lowell Health Care Center; and Newton Health Care Center -- measured by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that regulates nursing homes.
The latest CMS data show that roughly 75 percent of residents at Holyoke Rehabilitation Center who do not have a medical condition that would warrant use of antipsychotics are receiving the drugs. At the Lowell facility, the rate is 64 percent, and in Newton it is 38 %
Earlier in 2012, a Globe series found that antipsychotic overuse is prevalent in many of the nation’s 15,600 nursing homes, and that rates are considerably higher in Massachusetts.
http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/12/18/union-battling-nursing-homes-places-globe-highlighting-healthbridge-antipsychotic-track-record/kJPoegAyrCYOoAvJf0JuWN/story.html


by Bernard Hamill

High fines for nursing North Carolina homes

State and federal nursing home regulators have imposed some of North Carolina’s heftier fines on Triad nursing homes during the past several years, including a High Point nursing home hit with a pair of penalties totaling $372,970.

The region is home to 11 skilled-nursing facilities where government inspectors found “serious deficiencies” in patient care or nursing home accommodations, according to information compiled from Medicare files by the ProPublica nonprofit journalism group.

News & Record : High fines for nursing homes

by Bernard Hamill

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Chronic underfunding means short staffing for Maine nursing homes

Staffing Levels can affect the quality of nursing home care. That is why proper funding is crucial to long term care residents in nursing homes. 107 nursing homes in Maine are continuing to deal with chronic underfunding from the state according to a recent article. Over the past five years, the nursing homes have been underfunded by $122 million in state and federal funds, and some places run an average of $340,000 short every year, according to the Maine Health Care Association, a trade group that represents most nursing homes in Maine.
The payments fall short because they are based on a 2005 formula, so even as utility and other costs have gone up, the payments have not. "I've had to cut back on the night shift," one nursing home employee said. "I don't have an afternoon-evening receptionist. We don't do any overtime."

Chronic underfunding means short staffing for Maine nursing homes | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram


by Bernard Hamill

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Administrator fired over nursing home assault - YNN, Your News Now

Following a case of alleged sexual assault at the Loudonville Nursing Home, an administrator with the home has been fired. According to a spokesman for the facility, Melissa Brown was discharged from her position on Saturday.

Police say Richard Ragone, 64, a convicted rapist, worked at the home as a maintenance worker. They say he sexually abused a 91-year-old woman in her room. Ragone faces charges of sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person.  Administrator fired over nursing home assault - YNN, Your News Now


by Bernard Hamill

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Waconia nursing home resident dies as 'tired' staffer fails to give CPR

A Waconia nursing home employee failed to take necessary emergency actions to save the life of a resident who became unresponsive and soon died, then blamed the neglect on being "tired and not thinking clearly," according to a state investigation.
The staff member at the Good Samaritan Society's nursing home should have performed resuscitation efforts and called 911 when the resident fell ill, the state Department of Heath said in a report released Wednesday.
The resident had instructed in an "advance directive" that such immediate actions be taken in critical situations, the report added.
The report concluded that the employee's neglect was responsible for the resident's death. The staff member quickly resigned when being questioned by the facility's administrative nurse, the report added.
As is its practice, the Health Department did not reveal the identities of those involved, nor did it say when the neglect occurred.
However, the resident's family identified her as Luvern Z. Kraft, 85, of Mound. One of her sons, Steve Kraft, said his mother died April 21, 2012. There was no autopsy he said, leaving him to suspect she died "I suppose of heart failure."
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/190247801.html