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Thursday, October 06, 2011
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Nursing Home Staffer Formally Charged with Crimes Against Resident
Nursing Home Staffer Charged with Criminal Abuse Against Nursing Home Resident
Former Stella Maris employee facing possible jail time if convicted for abuse, neglect and assault against an 82-year-old man. The Baltimore City woman was been indicted on charges of abuse, neglect and assault on an elderly resident at a Timonium care facility. Shirleen Diane Sheppard, 57, of the 900 block of Argonne Drive, is charged with second-degree criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of second-degree neglect, and one count of second-degree assault, online court documents show.
The charges stem from an incident that took place on Oct. 17, 2010 at Stella Maris, Inc. Sheppard was an employee at the time of her arrest.
“Abuse and neglect of a vulnerable adult are misdemeanors punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000.00 fine for each offense,” neglect and assault on an elderly resident at a Timonium care facility, according to a release from the Office of the Attorney General. “The second-degree assault charge, also a misdemeanor, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $2,500.00 fine.”
A similar incident took place at another Lutherville senior care facility in early August.
A caregiver at College Manor reportedly robbed and assaulted a blind resident.
Jazmine Lanae Graham, of the 3806 Bayville Road is currently awaiting indictment in the Circuit Court of Baltimore County.
Nursing Home Staffer Formally Charged with Crimes Against Resident - Lutherville-Timonium, MD Patch
Former Stella Maris employee facing possible jail time if convicted for abuse, neglect and assault against an 82-year-old man. The Baltimore City woman was been indicted on charges of abuse, neglect and assault on an elderly resident at a Timonium care facility. Shirleen Diane Sheppard, 57, of the 900 block of Argonne Drive, is charged with second-degree criminal abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of second-degree neglect, and one count of second-degree assault, online court documents show.
The charges stem from an incident that took place on Oct. 17, 2010 at Stella Maris, Inc. Sheppard was an employee at the time of her arrest.
“Abuse and neglect of a vulnerable adult are misdemeanors punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000.00 fine for each offense,” neglect and assault on an elderly resident at a Timonium care facility, according to a release from the Office of the Attorney General. “The second-degree assault charge, also a misdemeanor, carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $2,500.00 fine.”
A similar incident took place at another Lutherville senior care facility in early August.
A caregiver at College Manor reportedly robbed and assaulted a blind resident.
Jazmine Lanae Graham, of the 3806 Bayville Road is currently awaiting indictment in the Circuit Court of Baltimore County.
Nursing Home Staffer Formally Charged with Crimes Against Resident - Lutherville-Timonium, MD Patch
Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Jefferson County nursing home
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Jefferson County and its former nursing home claiming staff failed to provide the treatment and care that could have prevented a patient's death in 2009.
The suit, filed Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court, seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages stemming from the Oct. 4, 2009, death of Mary Elizabeth Yancey, 78, who had been at the center since 2005.
It names as defendants the Jefferson County Commission, dba Jefferson Rehabilitation and Health Center; Continuity Health Care Inc., the Montgomery contractor providing health care at the home; and several medical employees.
Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Jefferson County nursing home al.com
The suit, filed Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court, seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages stemming from the Oct. 4, 2009, death of Mary Elizabeth Yancey, 78, who had been at the center since 2005.
It names as defendants the Jefferson County Commission, dba Jefferson Rehabilitation and Health Center; Continuity Health Care Inc., the Montgomery contractor providing health care at the home; and several medical employees.
Wrongful death lawsuit filed against Jefferson County nursing home al.com
Study questions hospitalization of failing nursing home residents
The study of Medicare was conducted to determine how pervasive burdensome healthcare transitions are, given that patients and their families are “especially vulnerable to the adverse consequences resulting from transitions,” the authors wrote.
The study found that among 474,829 nursing home decedents, 19% underwent a burdensome transition, with some rates much higher for individual states, such as 37.5% in Louisiana.
According to tyhe new study in the New England Journal of Medicine: The authors conclude that too many residents may be going into hospitals. “For persons with advanced cognitive impairment, nursing homes are the predominant locus of care,” the authors wrote. “Despite evidence that many infections can be treated in nursing homes without a significant effect on patient outcomes, the current financial incentives are aligned toward hospitalization. Evidence from demonstration programs suggests that rates of hospitalization can be reduced with improved survival and no diminution in the quality of care.”
Study questions hospitalization of failing nursing home residents - Healthcare business news and research Modern Healthcare
One-fifth of Medicare nursing home patients with advanced Alzheimer's or other dementias were sent to hospitals or other nursing homes for questionable reasons in their final months, the new study found.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/28/MNFM1LAQGA.DTL#ixzz1ZdFYLt14
The study found that among 474,829 nursing home decedents, 19% underwent a burdensome transition, with some rates much higher for individual states, such as 37.5% in Louisiana.
According to tyhe new study in the New England Journal of Medicine: The authors conclude that too many residents may be going into hospitals. “For persons with advanced cognitive impairment, nursing homes are the predominant locus of care,” the authors wrote. “Despite evidence that many infections can be treated in nursing homes without a significant effect on patient outcomes, the current financial incentives are aligned toward hospitalization. Evidence from demonstration programs suggests that rates of hospitalization can be reduced with improved survival and no diminution in the quality of care.”
Study questions hospitalization of failing nursing home residents - Healthcare business news and research Modern Healthcare
One-fifth of Medicare nursing home patients with advanced Alzheimer's or other dementias were sent to hospitals or other nursing homes for questionable reasons in their final months, the new study found.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/28/MNFM1LAQGA.DTL#ixzz1ZdFYLt14
Obama Looking at Nursing Home Quality
"An estimated 40 percent of nursing facility residents are admitted to the hospital in a typical year, and one-quarter of these may be preventable, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A congressional review panel estimates that about 14 percent of patients discharged directly from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities are sent back to the hospital for conditions that could have been avoided.
Many hospital emergency rooms are filled with frail seniors on Friday afternoons. Why? Because nursing homes know they won’t have enough weekend staff to care for their sickest residents, so they simply send them back to the hospital. The new rules could stop those practices."
Obama Cracks Down on Nursing Home Quality - Forbes
Many hospital emergency rooms are filled with frail seniors on Friday afternoons. Why? Because nursing homes know they won’t have enough weekend staff to care for their sickest residents, so they simply send them back to the hospital. The new rules could stop those practices."
Obama Cracks Down on Nursing Home Quality - Forbes
Pensioner at nursing home died after suffering a fall
A resident died following a nursing home fall, an inquest heard.
Dorothy Stephens died at the Mill View Nursing Home in Bridgeman Street, Great Lever, in May this year. A Bolton inquest into 78-year-old Miss Stephens’ death heard she had been treated at the Royal Bolton Hospital for fractures to her pelvis following the fall at the home.
She returned to the home for nursing care but died a month later.
Pensioner at nursing home died after suffering a fall (From The Bolton News)
Dorothy Stephens died at the Mill View Nursing Home in Bridgeman Street, Great Lever, in May this year. A Bolton inquest into 78-year-old Miss Stephens’ death heard she had been treated at the Royal Bolton Hospital for fractures to her pelvis following the fall at the home.
She returned to the home for nursing care but died a month later.
Pensioner at nursing home died after suffering a fall (From The Bolton News)
Saturday, October 01, 2011
False Records in Nursing Homes
False Charts - Fraudulent Nursing Home Records - The practice of nursing homes altering patients' medical records masks serious conditions and covers up care not given. A Bee review of nearly 150 cases of alleged chart falsification in California reveals how the practice puts patients at risk and sometimes leads to death.
Don Esco sought skilled nursing care at a Placerville facility for Johnnie, his wife of nearly 61 years, when she was recuperating from a bout with pneumonia. She died 13 days later. Esco sued, alleging that the medical charts lied about Johnnie's treatment.
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 convalescent 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.
Fear of costly lawsuits has driven some nursing home administrators to re-create medical records to hide neglectful care.
"The idea that they chart things before they happen or make things up way after the fact if something hits the fan – those are things that we're familiar with," said Mark Zahner, chief of prosecutions for the attorney general's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.
"And we see (this) with regularity."
The most common patterns include:
• Covering up bad outcomes. A patient dies or is injured, and the nursing home staff or administrators rewrite the records to minimize blame or liability.
• Fill-in-the-blank charting. Overworked or lazy staff members take massive shortcuts, filling out charts en masse, not knowing whether treatments took place or if the information is accurate.
• Missing medicines. Medications are checked off as being given, but investigators later find unopened boxes or discrepancies with pharmacy records.
Less common, but appearing in civil suits, are accusations that staff falsify consent forms to sedate patients, or backdate forged documents agreeing to settle disputes through arbitration.
Representatives of the nursing home industry dispute the contention that falsification of medical records is widespread, or even a matter of concern.
In long-term care facilities, a chart can become voluminous as staff members are required to chronicle everything from breakfast consumption to bowel movements to bumps and bruises and falls.
"The reality is, mistakes are going to happen when you have that much documentation you have to do," said a Sacramento attorney who has represented a nursing home chain in numerous lawsuits.
"The bottom line is – and should be – was appropriate care given?" said he, who believes that records falsification is an "exaggerated issue" cooked up by lawyers who sue nursing homes.
Elder abuse attorneys contend that accuracy of the medical record strikes at the heart of patient care. For some of California's most vulnerable populations, they say, falsifying medical records has proved deadly.
"Instead of providing the care, they're creating records – creating an illusion that care was there," said Michael Connors, a long-term care advocate for San Francisco-based CANHR.
Connors and other elder abuse experts agree that fraudulent charting often can be traced to understaffing. Public documents reveal tales of chaotic shifts on which certified nurse assistants are scrambling to provide care.
The resulting medical records sometimes border on the absurd.
The Bee found several falsification cases in which nursing staff continued filling in the "activities of daily living" on charts of patients who were already dead.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/18/3918688/falsified-patient-records-are.html
http://phoenix.injuryboard.com/nursing-home-and-elder-abuse/nursing-homes-may-be-falsifying-patient-records.aspx?googleid=294506
Don Esco sought skilled nursing care at a Placerville facility for Johnnie, his wife of nearly 61 years, when she was recuperating from a bout with pneumonia. She died 13 days later. Esco sued, alleging that the medical charts lied about Johnnie's treatment.
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 convalescent 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.
Fear of costly lawsuits has driven some nursing home administrators to re-create medical records to hide neglectful care.
"The idea that they chart things before they happen or make things up way after the fact if something hits the fan – those are things that we're familiar with," said Mark Zahner, chief of prosecutions for the attorney general's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.
"And we see (this) with regularity."
The most common patterns include:
• Covering up bad outcomes. A patient dies or is injured, and the nursing home staff or administrators rewrite the records to minimize blame or liability.
• Fill-in-the-blank charting. Overworked or lazy staff members take massive shortcuts, filling out charts en masse, not knowing whether treatments took place or if the information is accurate.
• Missing medicines. Medications are checked off as being given, but investigators later find unopened boxes or discrepancies with pharmacy records.
Less common, but appearing in civil suits, are accusations that staff falsify consent forms to sedate patients, or backdate forged documents agreeing to settle disputes through arbitration.
Representatives of the nursing home industry dispute the contention that falsification of medical records is widespread, or even a matter of concern.
In long-term care facilities, a chart can become voluminous as staff members are required to chronicle everything from breakfast consumption to bowel movements to bumps and bruises and falls.
"The reality is, mistakes are going to happen when you have that much documentation you have to do," said a Sacramento attorney who has represented a nursing home chain in numerous lawsuits.
"The bottom line is – and should be – was appropriate care given?" said he, who believes that records falsification is an "exaggerated issue" cooked up by lawyers who sue nursing homes.
Elder abuse attorneys contend that accuracy of the medical record strikes at the heart of patient care. For some of California's most vulnerable populations, they say, falsifying medical records has proved deadly.
"Instead of providing the care, they're creating records – creating an illusion that care was there," said Michael Connors, a long-term care advocate for San Francisco-based CANHR.
Connors and other elder abuse experts agree that fraudulent charting often can be traced to understaffing. Public documents reveal tales of chaotic shifts on which certified nurse assistants are scrambling to provide care.
The resulting medical records sometimes border on the absurd.
The Bee found several falsification cases in which nursing staff continued filling in the "activities of daily living" on charts of patients who were already dead.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/18/3918688/falsified-patient-records-are.html
http://phoenix.injuryboard.com/nursing-home-and-elder-abuse/nursing-homes-may-be-falsifying-patient-records.aspx?googleid=294506
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Maggots found on Kan. nursing home resident's feet
WICHITA, Kan. - A Wichita nursing home is under investigation after doctors reported finding open sores and maggots on a resident's feet when he was brought to a hospital for treatment of chest pains.
Police Lt. Doug Nolte told The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/okhTxA) that the 67-year-old man told police he was being mistreated at Deseret HealthCare and Rehabilitation center. Doctors at Via Christi Hospital contacted police after the man was brought to the hospital Tuesday night.
The nursing home's administrator, Melisa Lang, said federal privacy laws prevent the company from discussing specific patients.
Maggots found on Kan. nursing home resident's feet - Houston Chronicle
Police Lt. Doug Nolte told The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/okhTxA) that the 67-year-old man told police he was being mistreated at Deseret HealthCare and Rehabilitation center. Doctors at Via Christi Hospital contacted police after the man was brought to the hospital Tuesday night.
The nursing home's administrator, Melisa Lang, said federal privacy laws prevent the company from discussing specific patients.
Maggots found on Kan. nursing home resident's feet - Houston Chronicle
Massachusetts Woman moves into house after escaping nursing home ‘prison’
Taunton, Massachusetts — Cathy Hutchinson suffered a brainstem stroke, leaving her mute, quadriplegic and in a nursing home. She had no control over any of this.
Now, after she acted as the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the state, Hutchinson has changed the system for herself and others with brain injuries.
Hutchinson, along with 86 others, has been approved to move from a Massachusetts nursing home and into the community as a result of the settlement, which was filed in May 2007 and approved a year later.
On Friday afternoon, Hutchinson, an Attleboro native, left the confines of a nursing home and went into an integrated community setting on South Precinct Street in Taunton.
“Thank you,” Hutchinson said, communicating using her eyes, with an assistant holding up a board featuring the alphabet. “This is wonderful.”
A smiling Hutchinson was swarmed by a cadre of photographers and reporters, who documented her arrival at house. Hutchinson had spent more than a decade in a nursing home, a setting she described as a “prison.”
Hutchinson suffered a stroke while gardening about 15 years ago, and collapsed in her Attleboro home. She was paralyzed from the neck down, and was taken to a nursing home, with Medicaid helping to cover costs.
"I feel isolated from the real world,” Hutchinson has said, about living in a nursing home. “I have little to no privacy. I don't want to live this way, and I can't think of anyone else who would.”
Hutchinson v. Patrick argued that the state was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide adequate community services, in the form of community integrated assisted living. The settlement agreement involves the creation of two Medicaid home and community-based waivers, along with the transition of 300 class members — selected through a lottery — from nursing homes to integrated community living over the next eight years.
While taking strides for those with brain injuries through the lawsuit, Hutchinson, 58, has also been on the cutting edge of technology designed for the disabled.
In November 2008, Hutchinson was featured on news program 60 Minutes, demonstrating the use of a system called BrainGate. Hutchinson was one of the first people to be outfitted with a plug in her head, actually connecting her brain with a computer, allowing her to command a mouse with her mind.
Hutchinson has since stopped experimenting with BrainGate, but continues to communicate nevertheless. Either through an alphabetical pad — training her eyes on a letter, shaking her head in the affirmative when an aid points to the right one — or by using a computer device, Hutchinson spells out everything on her mind.
To get around, Hutchinson uses eye glasses that are rigged electronically to her wheelchair, giving her power to navigate. The glasses also work with her computer, alowing her to direct a mousing with the position of her head.
Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/archive/x742627981/HOME-FREE-Woman-moves-into-Silver-City-house-after-escaping-nursing-home-prison#ixzz1ZH0Oy0YW
Now, after she acted as the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the state, Hutchinson has changed the system for herself and others with brain injuries.
Hutchinson, along with 86 others, has been approved to move from a Massachusetts nursing home and into the community as a result of the settlement, which was filed in May 2007 and approved a year later.
On Friday afternoon, Hutchinson, an Attleboro native, left the confines of a nursing home and went into an integrated community setting on South Precinct Street in Taunton.
“Thank you,” Hutchinson said, communicating using her eyes, with an assistant holding up a board featuring the alphabet. “This is wonderful.”
A smiling Hutchinson was swarmed by a cadre of photographers and reporters, who documented her arrival at house. Hutchinson had spent more than a decade in a nursing home, a setting she described as a “prison.”
Hutchinson suffered a stroke while gardening about 15 years ago, and collapsed in her Attleboro home. She was paralyzed from the neck down, and was taken to a nursing home, with Medicaid helping to cover costs.
"I feel isolated from the real world,” Hutchinson has said, about living in a nursing home. “I have little to no privacy. I don't want to live this way, and I can't think of anyone else who would.”
Hutchinson v. Patrick argued that the state was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide adequate community services, in the form of community integrated assisted living. The settlement agreement involves the creation of two Medicaid home and community-based waivers, along with the transition of 300 class members — selected through a lottery — from nursing homes to integrated community living over the next eight years.
While taking strides for those with brain injuries through the lawsuit, Hutchinson, 58, has also been on the cutting edge of technology designed for the disabled.
In November 2008, Hutchinson was featured on news program 60 Minutes, demonstrating the use of a system called BrainGate. Hutchinson was one of the first people to be outfitted with a plug in her head, actually connecting her brain with a computer, allowing her to command a mouse with her mind.
Hutchinson has since stopped experimenting with BrainGate, but continues to communicate nevertheless. Either through an alphabetical pad — training her eyes on a letter, shaking her head in the affirmative when an aid points to the right one — or by using a computer device, Hutchinson spells out everything on her mind.
To get around, Hutchinson uses eye glasses that are rigged electronically to her wheelchair, giving her power to navigate. The glasses also work with her computer, alowing her to direct a mousing with the position of her head.
Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/archive/x742627981/HOME-FREE-Woman-moves-into-Silver-City-house-after-escaping-nursing-home-prison#ixzz1ZH0Oy0YW
Nursing Home Worker Charged with Crimes Against Elder Resident
A Baltimore City woman has been indicted on charges of abuse, neglect and assault on an elderly resident at a Timonium care facility.
Shirleen Diane Sheppard, 57, of the 900 block of Argonne Drive, is charged with second-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of second-degree neglect, and one count of second-degree assault, online court documents show.
The charges stem from an incident that took place on Oct. 17, 2010 at Stella Maris, Inc. Sheppard was an employee at the time of her arrest.
Sheppard's arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 18 in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
see http://timonium.patch.com/articles/nursing-home-staffer-formally-charged-with-crimes-against-resident
Shirleen Diane Sheppard, 57, of the 900 block of Argonne Drive, is charged with second-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of second-degree neglect, and one count of second-degree assault, online court documents show.
The charges stem from an incident that took place on Oct. 17, 2010 at Stella Maris, Inc. Sheppard was an employee at the time of her arrest.
Sheppard's arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 18 in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
see http://timonium.patch.com/articles/nursing-home-staffer-formally-charged-with-crimes-against-resident
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
UMass hospital has second death involving alarm fatigue
The second patient death in four years involving “alarm fatigue’’ at UMass Memorial Medical Center has pushed the hospital to intensify efforts to prevent nurses from tuning out monitor warning alarms.
Nurses exposed to a cacophony of beeps may no longer hear them or begin to ignore them, and that’s what appears to have happened in the latest case: A 60-year-old man died in an intensive care unit after alarms signaling a fast heart rate and potential breathing problems went unanswered for nearly an hour, according to state investigators who reviewed records at the hospital.
UMass hospital has second death involving alarm fatigue - The Boston Globe
Nurses exposed to a cacophony of beeps may no longer hear them or begin to ignore them, and that’s what appears to have happened in the latest case: A 60-year-old man died in an intensive care unit after alarms signaling a fast heart rate and potential breathing problems went unanswered for nearly an hour, according to state investigators who reviewed records at the hospital.
UMass hospital has second death involving alarm fatigue - The Boston Globe
Mass. ranks in bottom half of country for elder care, report finds
Massachusetts ranks 30th of all states when it comes to overall affordability, quality, and availability of services for residents who need long-term care in a nursing facility or in their own home, according to a new national study.
The analysis ranked Massachusetts as one of the most expensive states in the country for the one in seven seniors who are paying for nursing home care out of their own pockets. Only Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and Alaska were rated more expensive, according to the report from the AARP Public Policy Institute and two other foundations. The study also found that programs and services for families who care for loved ones at home are significantly lacking. The report found that Massachusetts spends about 39 percent of its long-term care money on services that would allow elders and disabled residents to be cared for in their homes, while the highest-ranked states allocate about 60 percent of their funds on home- and community-based care.Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services, said that the network of state and community agencies and organizations designed to help elders avoid nursing homes is fragmented and needs better coordination. He said that nursing home administrators are worried about patients falling and being fined by state monitors for injuries from falls, prompting nursing homes to restrain patients too often.
Mass. ranks in bottom half of country for elder care, report finds - The Boston Globe
The analysis ranked Massachusetts as one of the most expensive states in the country for the one in seven seniors who are paying for nursing home care out of their own pockets. Only Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and Alaska were rated more expensive, according to the report from the AARP Public Policy Institute and two other foundations. The study also found that programs and services for families who care for loved ones at home are significantly lacking. The report found that Massachusetts spends about 39 percent of its long-term care money on services that would allow elders and disabled residents to be cared for in their homes, while the highest-ranked states allocate about 60 percent of their funds on home- and community-based care.Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services, said that the network of state and community agencies and organizations designed to help elders avoid nursing homes is fragmented and needs better coordination. He said that nursing home administrators are worried about patients falling and being fined by state monitors for injuries from falls, prompting nursing homes to restrain patients too often.
Mass. ranks in bottom half of country for elder care, report finds - The Boston Globe
Monday, September 19, 2011
Former nursing home worker pleads no contest in abuse case
A former nursing assistant accused of abusing a 93-year-old woman at a nursing home last year entered into a two-year deferred prosecution agreement Friday in Buffalo County Court.
Shawna Hardesty, 38, of Buffalo City was charged with intentionally abusing an elder patient -causing bodily harm. That was amended Friday to abuse of a vulnerable adult. Hardesty was accused of repeatedly punching the elderly resident of a Fountain City health care center, leaving a baseball-size bruise on her forehead.
The elderly woman who claimed she was abused by Hardesty has died.
Hardesty entered an Alford plea, in which she pleaded no contest to the charge but maintained innocence.
The agreement calls for Hardesty to complete anger management treatment and counseling, perform 40 hours of community service during the first year of the agreement, and not do volunteer or paid work as a caregiver, except for immediate relatives. She is allowed to provide child care services.
Hardesty was also ordered not to have any contact with St. Michael's Lutheran Home.
According to the criminal complaint:
The elderly woman said Hardesty hit her on numerous occasions, including punching her three times in the forehead Aug. 2, 2010, leaving a large bruise and giving her a headache.
"Every time she (Hardesty) comes in this room, I get a biff," the woman said, displaying a closed fist. Hardesty was the only person who attended to the woman that morning.
Hardesty's employment was terminated by the end of that week, according to nursing home officials. She worked at the center about a year.
Former nursing home worker pleads no contest in abuse case - Leader-Telegram: Front Page
Shawna Hardesty, 38, of Buffalo City was charged with intentionally abusing an elder patient -causing bodily harm. That was amended Friday to abuse of a vulnerable adult. Hardesty was accused of repeatedly punching the elderly resident of a Fountain City health care center, leaving a baseball-size bruise on her forehead.
The elderly woman who claimed she was abused by Hardesty has died.
Hardesty entered an Alford plea, in which she pleaded no contest to the charge but maintained innocence.
The agreement calls for Hardesty to complete anger management treatment and counseling, perform 40 hours of community service during the first year of the agreement, and not do volunteer or paid work as a caregiver, except for immediate relatives. She is allowed to provide child care services.
Hardesty was also ordered not to have any contact with St. Michael's Lutheran Home.
According to the criminal complaint:
The elderly woman said Hardesty hit her on numerous occasions, including punching her three times in the forehead Aug. 2, 2010, leaving a large bruise and giving her a headache.
"Every time she (Hardesty) comes in this room, I get a biff," the woman said, displaying a closed fist. Hardesty was the only person who attended to the woman that morning.
Hardesty's employment was terminated by the end of that week, according to nursing home officials. She worked at the center about a year.
Former nursing home worker pleads no contest in abuse case - Leader-Telegram: Front Page
Woman's death raises questions about nursing home medical records
Falsified patient records are untold story of California nursing home care
Don Esco sought skilled nursing care at a Placerville facility for Johnnie, his wife of nearly 61 years, when she was recuperating from a bout with pneumonia. She died 13 days later. Esco sued, alleging that the medical charts lied about Johnnie's treatment.
After nearly 61 years of marriage, she died after a 13-day stay at the El Dorado Care Center in Placerville. Recuperating from a bout with pneumonia, Johnnie Esco, 77, was expected to return home with her husband after some rest and skilled-nursing care.
The nursing home and its former owner, Horizon West Healthcare Inc. would soon be at the center of another legal storm.
Johnnie Esco's death on March 7, 2008, led to a contentious civil lawsuit, investigations by California's Department of Justice and Department of Public Health – and the exhumation of her body from Arlington National Cemetery.
Last week, amid inquiries from The Bee, the state Department of Justice reopened its criminal investigation into Johnnie Esco's treatment at the facility.
The case also raised questions about an aspect of nursing home care that many patients and families take for granted: the integrity of medical records.
"They were just penciling in what they wanted to," said Esco, who obtained his wife's medical records after her death.
He summed up his findings during the lawsuit in one word: "Fabrications."
Esco's suspicions about his wife's care at El Dorado Care Center mushroomed into a broad lawsuit filed in 2009 against the facility and its owner, alleging elder abuse, wrongful death and fraud. An integral aspect of the suit, filed by Esco and his three grown children, accused the facility of falsifying, altering and improperly handling the woman's medical charts as far back as her day of admission.
"It's one of the worst types of elder abuse cases because it's not so obvious on its face," she said. "You really had to dig down."
For Clement, digging down meant digging through records, which she says revealed "a high degree of deception" at the Placerville facility. Clement and other attorneys who sue nursing homes say that falsifying patient records is remarkably common, yet rarely punished by licensing authorities or state and local prosecutors.
Industry representatives say these allegations of fraud are unwarranted and unfair, given the reams of paperwork facilities churn out to meet Medicare and other regulatory demands.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/19/3920577/womans-death-raises-questions.html#ixzz1YQhGjqTK
Woman's death raises questions about nursing home medical records - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee
Don Esco sought skilled nursing care at a Placerville facility for Johnnie, his wife of nearly 61 years, when she was recuperating from a bout with pneumonia. She died 13 days later. Esco sued, alleging that the medical charts lied about Johnnie's treatment.
After nearly 61 years of marriage, she died after a 13-day stay at the El Dorado Care Center in Placerville. Recuperating from a bout with pneumonia, Johnnie Esco, 77, was expected to return home with her husband after some rest and skilled-nursing care.
The nursing home and its former owner, Horizon West Healthcare Inc. would soon be at the center of another legal storm.
Johnnie Esco's death on March 7, 2008, led to a contentious civil lawsuit, investigations by California's Department of Justice and Department of Public Health – and the exhumation of her body from Arlington National Cemetery.
Last week, amid inquiries from The Bee, the state Department of Justice reopened its criminal investigation into Johnnie Esco's treatment at the facility.
The case also raised questions about an aspect of nursing home care that many patients and families take for granted: the integrity of medical records.
"They were just penciling in what they wanted to," said Esco, who obtained his wife's medical records after her death.
He summed up his findings during the lawsuit in one word: "Fabrications."
Esco's suspicions about his wife's care at El Dorado Care Center mushroomed into a broad lawsuit filed in 2009 against the facility and its owner, alleging elder abuse, wrongful death and fraud. An integral aspect of the suit, filed by Esco and his three grown children, accused the facility of falsifying, altering and improperly handling the woman's medical charts as far back as her day of admission.
"It's one of the worst types of elder abuse cases because it's not so obvious on its face," she said. "You really had to dig down."
For Clement, digging down meant digging through records, which she says revealed "a high degree of deception" at the Placerville facility. Clement and other attorneys who sue nursing homes say that falsifying patient records is remarkably common, yet rarely punished by licensing authorities or state and local prosecutors.
Industry representatives say these allegations of fraud are unwarranted and unfair, given the reams of paperwork facilities churn out to meet Medicare and other regulatory demands.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/19/3920577/womans-death-raises-questions.html#ixzz1YQhGjqTK
Woman's death raises questions about nursing home medical records - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee
Friday, September 09, 2011
Nevada closes Las Vegas nursing home after reports of abuse, theft
The state has closed a Las Vegas assisted-living center after charges of elder physical abuse and their money stolen from them.
Residents of the Las Vegas Home Sweet Home, 2615 Lindell Road, were removed and placed in other facilities last week after the state Bureau of Health Care and Compliance suspended the license of the nursing home.
A representative of Las Vegas Home Sweet Home couldn't be reached for comment.
The investigation uncovered cases in which Social Security checks and other funds allegedly were found being deposited into the personal accounts of caregivers. The probe found caregivers took more money than necessary for grocery store purchases and didn't return it to the residents, state officials said.
The state reported there was abuse of an elderly woman who had a shouting match with a manager. Officials said she was dragged down the hallway by her ankles while kicking and screaming.
The woman was removed from the home and Metro Police investigated the alleged physical abuse, the state said.
State closes Las Vegas nursing home after reports of abuse, theft - Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 8:32 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
Residents of the Las Vegas Home Sweet Home, 2615 Lindell Road, were removed and placed in other facilities last week after the state Bureau of Health Care and Compliance suspended the license of the nursing home.
A representative of Las Vegas Home Sweet Home couldn't be reached for comment.
The investigation uncovered cases in which Social Security checks and other funds allegedly were found being deposited into the personal accounts of caregivers. The probe found caregivers took more money than necessary for grocery store purchases and didn't return it to the residents, state officials said.
The state reported there was abuse of an elderly woman who had a shouting match with a manager. Officials said she was dragged down the hallway by her ankles while kicking and screaming.
The woman was removed from the home and Metro Police investigated the alleged physical abuse, the state said.
State closes Las Vegas nursing home after reports of abuse, theft - Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 8:32 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
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