Abuse/neglect is the biggest fear going into a care home

"The fear of being abused is the main reason people do not want to end up in a care home, a damning study reveals today.
Four in 10 said they would refuse to go into care. A third of them said it was mainly because they were concerned about selling their home to cover costs.
But half admitted the biggest reason was they worried about abuse or neglect.
Claudia Wood, of think-tank Demos, which commissioned the research, said: “The results have confirmed our fears that care homes are seen as something to be avoided and a last resort.
"Abuse and poor care are real issues in the care system, but we can’t assume all care homes are like those identified in shocking TV investigations.”"
Abuse or neglect is the biggest reason people fear going into a care home according to a new report by the Demos think-tank - Mirror Online:

Bethel nursing home fined by state

A Bethel nursing home is among four in the state that have been fined in connection with lapses in patient care.
In a citation released this week, the state Department of Public Health announced that on Oct. 9 it fined Bethel Healthcare Center of Bethel $1,500 in connection with a resident who was burned.
DPH records show that on July 2, a heating pad was left behind the knee of a resident for several hours, instead of a half-hour, when one licensed practical nurse did not remove it or tell the next shift it was there   Bethel nursing home fined by state - NewsTimes


by Bernard Hamill

A family demands to know why their father died of malnutrition

A prominent Indigenous family is preparing to sue a Sydney nursing home for gross medical negligence, alleging appalling neglect caused the premature death of their loved one.

The Federal Government's Aged Care Complaints Scheme has already found that the Parramatta Nursing Home failed on two counts to adequately care for 67-year-old Don Williams. But Mr Williams' family is calling for aged care providers to be held accountable.
Lateline - 17/10/2013: A family demands to know why their father died of malnutrition

Nursing home in Marion County loses Medicare and Medicaid funding : News : CarolinaLive.com

 "Marion Nursing Center, Inc. is no longer receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding after it was found not to be in compliance with requirements for the programs, according to the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Now, patients either have to pay out of pocket or move.
The nursing home lost its funding Sunday.
Officials say they will continue making payments for those patients at the nursing center for up to 30 days until they can be placed in other facilities.
Federal healthcare officials say they can't go into specifics right now as to why the funding was pulled, but will say they terminate funding to nursing homes due to patient care issues and if that care isn't provided in a safe environment."
Nursing home in Marion County loses Medicare and Medicaid funding : News : CarolinaLive.com:

by Bernard Hamill
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Nursing Home Abuse

Care home worker: 'I couldn't live with knowledge of abuse'

Speaking outside the inquest, Lisa Martin, who first informed police of the problems at the Nursing home, said she felt she had no choice but to come forward:

I came forward because I had witnessed too much poor management and care to vulnerable adults and I couldn't live with the knowledge any longer and felt I had no choice but to tell the police.
Morally I know I did the right thing but personally I have not worked for two years and the case has had a huge impact on my life.
However, I wouldn't want to dissuade people from doing the right thing if they see vulnerable elderly people being abused and neglected.

Speaking of her former colleagues, she added: "They shouldn't be allowed to work in the industry." Care home worker: 'I couldn't live with knowledge of abuse' - ITV News

Coroner condemns "institutionalised abuse" after five pensioners died

A Nursing Home home where five pensioners died through neglect was plagued by “institutionalised abuse”, an inquest heard yesterday.
Blundering staff at Orchid View gave vulnerable residents wrong drugs doses, left them alone in soiled bedding and clothes, and manhandled them.
One OAP, Jean Halfpenny, died after being given an overdose of the blood-thinning drug warfarin.
But whistleblower Lisa Martin told the hearing she was ordered to shred the 77-year-old’s drugs chart after she had gone to hospital bleeding to death.
She said a colleague declared: “S***, we can’t send her to hospital with those. They will shut us down.”
Coroner Penelope Schofield said those involved in neglect at the £3,000-a-month care home in Copthorne, West Sussex, should be “ashamed”.
She spoke at the Horsham inquest into the deaths of 19 OAPs over two years. The home was shut in 2011.
A five-week inquest heard how some residents were given wrong doses of medication, left soiled and unattended due to staff shortages and there was a lack of management.
Call bells were also often not answered for long periods or could not be reached by elderly people living at the home, which was deemed "an accident waiting to happen".
Ms Schofield said: "There was institutionalized abuse throughout the home and it started, in my view, at a very early stage, and nobody did anything about it.
"It was completely mismanaged and understaffed and failed to provide a safe environment for residents."
Ms Schofield added: “There was ­institutionalized abuse throughout. This, to me, was from the top down.”
Orchid View care home: Coroner condemns "institutionalised abuse" after five pensioners died - Mirror Online

by Bernard Hamill
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Rape in Nursing Homes

Serious violations found at Kindred nursing home

GREENFIELD -- An inspection of Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation Milwaukee found 23 federal violations, according to the Journal Sentinel. The report was filed in early August, and inspectors levied fines of nearly $40,000 to the nursing home.
Violations include numerous examples of giving residents the wrong dosage of medication, and in one case even switching two patients medications. The inspection also found five violations that put the residents in "immediate jeopardy," meaning they could cause harm or even death to the residents.
The Health Department will make an unannounced follow-up inspection in the future to see if Kindred fixed any of the violations, and if they fail they may lose their license.
Serious violations found at Greenfield nursing home - 620 WTMJ - Milwaukee's Source for Local News and Weather

Nursing home worker charged in death of patient

 Following an investigation by the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, two nursing home workers were charged in Beckham County District Court last month.

One of the workers, a Granite woman has been charged in connection with the death of a 76-year-old nursing home patient and has been denied bail. 

According to an affidavit, the Elk City Police Department contacted the state Attorney General's office about possible neglect or abuse by a caretaker at Bell Avenue Nursing Center in Elk City in April of 2012. 

The investigation concluded that a 76-year-old patient was injured during the transfer from a bed to a wheelchair and suffered life threatening injuries, according to the court document. 

The Daily Elk Citian | Western Oklahoma's Online News Authority | Updated Daily - Nursing home worker charged in death of patient:

Number of care concerns found at Broomfield Skilled Nursing - Broomfield Enterprise

"Local, state and federal records show a history of staffing and regulatory problems at the Broomfield nursing facility where an employee is accused of sexually assaulting two patients in the past two months.

Records paint a picture of Broomfield Skilled Nursing having high staff turnover and low quality ratings. The recent arrest of the aide accused of sexual assault and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of well-known Broomfield resident Marlene Politzer are among the more serious concerns.

Antonio Nieto, a certified nursing aide at the facility is accused of sexually assaulting two female patients, ages 59 and 73, in July and August."  Number of care concerns found at Broomfield Skilled Nursing - Broomfield Enterprise:

by Bernard Hamill
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Third victim identified in Ellisville sexual abuse case

Police say a third woman was sexually assaulted by the St. Louis County man accused of fondling two elderly clients while bathing them.

Walter Javier Martinez, 44, has been charged with two counts of deviate sexual assault, one count of forcible rape and another count of forcible sodomy.

He is accused of fondling one elderly client while bathing her at Bethesda Meadow nursing home. The alleged victim was an 80-year-old woman with dementia. Another client at Sunrise Living, a nursing facility in Chesterfield, was also abused between Jan. 1 and 16, according to police.

A third elderly victim told police that Martinez raped her while she tried to fight him off. She was a patient at a nursing home in St. Louis County.

Martinez confessed to abusing two of the women to Odyssey Hospice, his then-employer. Police say he was a licensed social worker when the alleged abuse happened."

Third victim identified in Ellisville sexual abuse case | ksdk.com:

by Bernard Hamill

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Nursing Home Abuse

Rape in Nursing Homes

20% of Elder Abuse occurs in Nursing Homes

Social worker Chris Dubble spoke at a workshop about recognizing elder abuse, hosted by the Perry County Area Agency on Aging (AAA) on June 21.  Dubble addressed the topic of elder abuse, including physical abuse, confinement, intimidation verbal and mental abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. His presentation was peppered with dramatic examples he’d encountered in his social work, such as a woman who left a nursing home for a weekend with her family and was raped by her son.
“This happens out there more than we ever want to admit,” Dubble said. “While we don’t want to think about it, we need to be aware.”
Dubble shared long lists of warning signs to look out for with both the possible victim and the abuser. Some signs and symptoms for a victim were their own testimony, denial of a problem, confusion about medication, refusal to receive care from caregiver, poor hygiene or incontinence.
Signs and symptoms for an abuser included but weren’t limited to being exhausted, overwhelmed or physically incapable of providing care; resisting outside services; threatening or intimidating the older adult; destroying property; and stating that the older adult is incompetent, sick or crazy.
Similar to other abusive situations, Dubble said elder abuse usually involves the abuser isolating and controlling the victim. He noted that it can happen anywhere but keeping people isolated and dependent is very easy. “That’s why you don’t usually see [the victims].”

Most elder abuse victims are female, dependent on others for care and live at home, though Dubble pointed out that 20 percent of abuse occurs in nursing homes — a disproportionate amount given that only about 5 percent of older adults live in nursing homes.

Elder abuse is on the rise in Perry County | PennLive.com:

by Bernard Hamill

Nursing Home Abuse

Crestwood Nursing Home Nurse Charged with Abusing a Patient in RI

A Warren resident who was accused of abusing a patient at Crestwood Nursing Home last year recently pleaded nolo to his charges.
According to Warren police, the department received a complaint from Newport Hospital in August of 2010 regarding an elderly male with injuries who claimed to have been assaulted by his nurse at Crestwood.
Crestwood Nursing Home Nurse Charged with Abusing a Patient - Police & Fire - Bristol-Warren, RI Patch:

Sacramento nursing home fined in patient's death

A Sacramento nursing home is responsible for the death of a patient with swallowing difficulties who choked on a piece of meat during a lunchtime outing with staff members, state regulators have concluded.
Mary Yip, 86, who suffered from dementia and disability from stroke, died a day after the choking incident in January 2012. At the time, she was accompanied by staff members and other patients of the Asian Community Center nursing home.
The nonprofit Foundation Aiding the Elderly, or FATE, filed a complaint against the facility at the request of Yip's family. The California Department of Public Health substantiated the agency's complaint and hit the nursing home with its most severe penalty, a Class AA citation, and an $80,000 fine.  
In a report released Wednesday, investigators said staff members served an unnamed patient, whom FATE founder Carole Herman identified as Yip, noodles with chunks of meat during the outing.
They failed to supervise her while she ate, despite a physician's directive that she was unable to chew and should eat only soft foods, regulators said
.Sacramento nursing home fined in patient's death - Health and Medicine - The Sacramento Bee:

nursing home workers charged with taking photos of naked residents

Two former nursing home nurse aides and employees of a Wisconsin nursing home have been charged with using their cellphones to photograph residents while they were naked.
Michelle A. Bulger, 22, of Cecil and Ashley J. Schaumberg, 20, of Pulaski were charged last week in Brown County, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported Wednesday. Both have been fired as certified nursing assistants by Brookview Meadows, an adult-care and assisted living facility in Howard, Wis.
Schaumberg allegedly videotaped Bulger while she was assisting an 84-year-old who had an obstructed bowel and was naked from the waist down, prosecutors said. Bulger was apparently mugging for the camera, gagging and covering her mouth.
In another case, an 81-year-old resident was photographed while bathing.
Both Schaumburg and Bulger are charged with photographing nudity without consent, a crime that carries a potential sentence of more than three years.Ex-nursing home workers charged for taking photos of naked residents - UPI.com

by Bernard Hamill
Nursing Home Abuse

Mt. Vernon Woman Charged In Alleged Neglect Of A Nursing Home Patient | The Mount Vernon Daily Voice

A Mount Vernon woman faces accusations that she allegedly neglected, endangered and falsified records of a patient in her Queens, N.Y. nursing home who was suffering from dementia and went missing, according to State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Juliet Clifford, 43, failed to call authorities two weeks ago when Alan Frazer was found missing from the Bishop Charles Waldo Maclean Episcopal Nursing Home in Far Rockaway, the attorney general’s criminal complaint said.
The following day, Clifford removed medical notes from the 73-year-old patient’s record and instructed a colleague to falsely indicate that Frazer left the facility against the advice of his physicians and counselors, according to the complaint.  Clifford also advised her staff not to call police about the incident, the complaint said. Mt. Vernon Woman Charged In Alleged Neglect Of A Nursing Home Patient | The Mount Vernon Daily Voice