Drug Problems In Nursing Homes

It's one of the worst fears we have for our parents or for ourselves: that we, or they, will end up in a nursing home, drugged into a stupor. And that fear is not entirely unreasonable. Almost 300,000 nursing home residents are currently receiving antipsychotic drugs, usually to suppress the anxiety or aggression that can go with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia.Old And Overmedicated: The Real Drug Problem In Nursing Homes : Shots - Health News : NPR:

Former judge pleads guilty, admits taking bribe to cut jury verdict from $5.2M to $1M

A former Arkansas judge waived indictment and pleaded guilty Friday to a federal criminal information charging him with accepting a bribe for reducing a nursing home negligence verdict from $5.2 million to $1 million.

Michael A. Maggio, 53, admitted being “improperly influenced” in the nursing home case by campaign contributions in 2013 for his planned run for an appellate court seat, according to Arkansas Business, the Log Cabin Democrat and the Times Record   Former judge pleads guilty, admits taking bribe to cut jury verdict from $5.2M to $1M:

Nurses Steal Nursing Home patients' Medicines

Nurse "Z" spent years stealing drugs from patients in Va. as a nursing home director at more than one facility, and sick people went without narcotics.

Later she had another job and was stealing fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine. By late 2003, with state monitoring starting to make it more difficult for her to take nursing home patients' drugs at will, she hatched a new plan.

Z went back "to visit" people at a Nursing Home in Richmond, where she once worked and had been fired. But she really was going back for drugs, according to later board findings. The registered nurse was peeling pain medicine patches off of residents' chests, scraping the narcotic off, ingesting it and sticking the useless bandages back on.

At the time, the Board of Nursing knew she was addicted — they had for years — and had allowed her to stay licensed. At the bottom, deeply in the grip of drugs and close to a suicide attempt, she still could have, during a window of several months before the state took action, applied for another nursing job in Virginia with her valid license and treated patients.

A statewide investigation by The News Leader discovered Zientek among 900 nurses publicly disciplined by the licensing board from 2007 to mid-2013 for drug theft and use at work.

Investigation: Addicted nurses steal patients' drugs

Some Nursing Home Staff Stealing Drugs

According to The Newsleader:
"Bonnie Zientek spent years stealing drugs from nursing patients in Richmond, as a nursing director at more than one facility, and sick people went without medicine.
She had another job and was stealing fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine. She also went back to visit people at a Nursing Home in Richmond, where she once worked and had been fired. But she really was going back for drugs, according to later board findings."
 Investigation: Addicted nurses steal patients' drugs:

New York investigating nursing home attack

The NY attorney general is investigating how a elderly man suffered  injuries in a nursing home in Queens. The residents jagged arm slashes, which appeared to be defensive wounds, required 23 stitches. The nursing home could not explain what happened to him, who suffers from dementia, in either incident. Attorney general investigating nursing home attack | New York Post:

Nursing Homes Cheated Medicaid Through Neglect, N.M. Says - Law360

New Mexico’s attorney general on Thursday sued nursing home chain Preferred Care Partners Management Group LP for allegedly defrauding Medicaid by maintaining low staffing levels that resulted in nursing home residents wallowing in filth.
The lawsuit in state court alleges violations of the New Mexico Fraud Against Taxpayers Act and the New Mexico Medicaid Fraud Act, which include potential per-violation penalties of $10,000 that are similar to penalties found in the federal False Claims Act.
The allegations span 2007 to present, partly covering time before Preferred Care acquired the  nursing home.
Nursing Homes Cheated Medicaid Through Neglect, N.M. Says - Law360

New Mexico sues nursing home chain over care and staff

New Mexico's Attorney General Gary King sued one of the nation's largest nursing home chains over inadequate resident care and poor staffing practices.
The purpose of this action is to send a message to nursing homes that failure to provide the care that patients need and that nursing homes are paid for will have legal consequences.
The attorney general is alleging that the present company, was profiting by skimping on staff "at the expense of the physical well-being of vulnerable nursing home residents."
New Mexico sues nursing home chain over care and staff

Kentucky nursing home owner wants to limit elder-abuse lawsuits

On separate occasions in 2009, two male residents allegedly sexually abused  91-year-old Mae Campbell once within sight of a nursing supervisor. The state said the nursing home “failed to protect” its residents from roving sexual predators in their midst. The home and its administrator were spared a criminal trial by paying a $20,000 fine.
Hazard Health Rehab also was home for Glenda Lykins, a dementia patient who tended to wander and fell 11 times, finally breaking a hip in 2011 before she was moved out. Home it was, too, for Anna Ambrose, who died there in 2006 with a gaping pressure ulcer and bedsores. Eastern Kentucky nursing home owner pushes for roadblocks to elder-abuse lawsuits | Local News | Kentucky.com:

Safety studied at nursing home after resident dies from window fall

According to  the Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services of the Department of Health and Human Services  an investigation of St. Joseph Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Frenchville on Nov. 19 and 20 found deficiencies in care that resulted in DHHS issuing a finding that conditions at the facility placed patients in “immediate jeopardy.”

The death of an elderly female nursing home resident of the 42-patient facility, which resulted from an nursing home accident at the residential care center on Nov. 14, prompted the investigation. The resident died at Northern Maine Medical Center on Nov. 15 because of injuries suffered after falling from a second-story window in the St. Joseph nursing office. Safety studied at Frenchville nursing home after resident dies after fall from window — Health — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine:

Video Proposed to Safeguard Nursing Home Residents

One of New Jersey's legislators want to protect nursing home patients by giving them the right to install videos in their rooms to help prevent elder abuse.
Not surprisingly, it has drawn strong opposition from nursing homes, who see it as a violation of residents privacy although that argument seems specious when the request is made by the resident!  The NJ bill is A-3883.

Legislation Would Let Families Record Activities in Nursing-Home Rooms - NJ Spotlight:

Summerton woman charged in alleged nursing home abuse - Post and Courier

A 24-year-old Summerton woman is charged with abuse and neglect of two vulnerable elder adults at a Sumter nursing home.
The Sumter Item reported Thursday that Andria Martrice Lawson was arrested Monday and charged with one count of abuse of a vulnerable adult and one count of neglect of a vulnerable adult.
Deputies say they were called to the Sumter Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center on July 25.
A 70-year-old woman told deputies Lawson allegedly struck her in the chest when she asked Lawson to change her clothes. A 71-year-old man told deputies Lawson allegedly abandoned him nude from the waist down in a wheelchair." Summerton woman charged in alleged nursing home abuse - Post and Courier:

Man says late mother was neglected in West Virginia nursing home

Clarence Logan, personal representative of the estate of Brenda Belcher, filed a lawsuit Sept. 16 in Kanawha Circuit Court against 1000 Lincoln Drive Operations, doing business as Valley Center, and Genesis Healthcare, citing nursing home negligence.
According to the complaint, Belcher was a resident of the Valley Center, a nursing facility on Lincoln Drive in South Charleston operated by Genesis Healthcare, from Jan. 22, 2013, until March 18, 2013, during which time she experienced neglect, falls and skin breakdown, which resulted in serious injuries and, ultimately, her death.
The defendants are accused of statutory violations, negligence, and ordinary negligence and reckless misconduct in failing to sufficiently staff and supply the facility. The defendants are also sued under a wrongful death claim.
Logan seeks damages and attorney fees. Man says late mother was neglected in nursing home | West Virginia Record:

Lawsuit says Iowa nursing home mistreated woman

"The family of an elderly Iowa woman who died this week has sued the nursing home where she was receiving care, accusing the facility of leaving the woman naked and soiled on the floor of an unfurnished room.
Kris Gerhard, the daughter of 74-year-old Rochelle Gerhard, filed the lawsuit Friday against Madrid Home for the Aging, The Des Moines Register reported (http://dmreg.co/1uatPvo ). Kris Gerhard is a judicial mental health advocate for five Iowa counties.
The lawsuit says that when she went to visit her mother Aug. 2, she found the woman on her hands and knees in a room with no furniture, screaming, "I am not a dog!" The floor of the room was covered in two-inch mats, Gerhard said, and the woman had excrement on her. She believes her mother may have been kept in the room for up to three days."
Lawsuit says Iowa nursing home mistreated woman - SFGate:

Most nursing home residents chronically constipated

"Chronic constipation is highly prevalent in nursing homes and not well controlled, leading to a high likelihood that residents develop fecal impaction, according to findings from a first-of-its kind study.
Nearly 71% of the participants from 34 Spanish nursing homes had chronic constipation, the investigators determined. Fecal impaction was “prevalent” in nearly half of these residents, suggesting that while chronic constipation is almost always correctly diagnosed, it is not well controlled."
Vast majority of nursing home residents chronically constipated, and it's not well controlled, researchers say - McKnight's Long Term Care News:

Princeton nursing home blamed for woman’s death

Linda French, as personal representative of the estate of Phyllis Simpkins, filed a Nursing Home Negligence lawsuit Aug. 4 in Mercer Circuit Court against The Havens at Princeton LLC, doing business as The Havens at Princeton, Ridge Care Inc. and Tonya Gerber, administrator, citing wrongful death.

According to the complaint, on Aug. 2, 2012, Simpkins was admitted to the defendants’ assisted living facility in Princeton, where she suffered multiple falls resulting in subdural hematoma, which contributed to her death March 2, 2013. The defendants are accused of negligent training and hiring, negligence and wrongful death.Princeton nursing home blamed for woman’s injuries, death | West Virginia Record: