100-Year-Old Woman Allegedly Killed in Massachusetts Nursing Home

100-Year-Old Woman Allegedly Killed at Massachusetts Brandon Woods Nursing Home: "Nursing homes often come under great scrutiny for alleged abuse of elderly or infirm inhabitants, but the death of a 100-year-old woman in Dartmouth, Massachusetts was shocking.

CNN.com reports that Laura Lundquist, 98, has been indicted in the murder of Elizabeth Barrow, her roommate at Brandon Woods Nursing Home. It's reported that the 100-year-old Barrow was found with a plastic bag tied over her head on September 24, while an autopsy ruled that strangulation was the cause of death. This is not the first Massachusetts Nursing Home Assault Indictment. Three years ago a nurse was charged with assaulting 4 residents in a Kindred Facility.

Although the roommates were often seen taking walks and ate lunch together daily, there are reports of heated arguments between the two in recent weeks, the latest being about the arrangement of their room. Barrow was displeased that Laura Lundquist had placed a table that seemed to obstruct the elder woman's path to the bathroom. Lundquist assaulted an employee at the home after the aide moved the table, while complaining that the elder roommate 'might as well have the whole room', according to prosecutors in Bristol County. Oddly, the two were still overhead at night saying 'Good night, I love you'."

Nursing home heads rarely disciplined

Illinois nursing home administrators are rarely disciplined when things go wrong -- including violent assaults on elderly patients -- even though the state Health Department, which investigates nursing home assaults and care, refers dozens of cases a year to the agency in charge of meting out punishment.

From 2005 through 2009, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation received 407 complaints from the state's health department. Only three resulted in discipline for nursing home administrators.

Advocates for nursing home residents say that's a sign of a broken system.

"Less than 1 percent is ridiculous," said Toby Edelman, an attorney with the nonprofit Center for Medicare Advocacy. "There should be more accountability on the part of the administrators."

The numbers were put together by a task force Gov. Pat Quinn formed after a series of assaults, rapes and murders in Illinois nursing homes. The task force is looking into why so few cases result discipline, said Michael Gelder, Quinn's senior health adviser. "We're absolutely very concerned about that," he said.

Advocates for nursing home residents are now watching to see whether Jamie L. Lloyd, administrator of Maplewood Care in Elgin, will be disciplined after a 21-year-old mentally ill resident sexually assaulted a 69-year-old woman at the home. The state's complaint alleges Lloyd didn't do enough digging into the young man's past before readmitting him to the Elgin facility. Had Lloyd checked, he would have discovered the former resident had an outstanding arrest warrant on felony battery charges.

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/1935863,CST-NWS-nhome13.article

GAO 2009 Nursing Home Report - Chains Offer Worst Care

GAO 2009 Nursing Home Report - Chains Offer Worst Care

nursing home abuse - elder care neglect |LawyersandSettlements.com

nursing home abuse - elder care neglect |LawyersandSettlements.com

A surveillance camera captured images of nursing home abuse in what has been deemed the second-worst elder care facility in the nation, according to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Richmond Health and Rehabilitation Complex in Madison, also known as Madison Manor, was also ranked the worst facility in the state of Kentucky.

A total of ten Kentucky nursing homes made the national list of poor performers, with nine scoring below the national median. Madison Manor is owned by Extendicare, a for-profit chain that operates 21 facilities in the state. The Lexington Herald Leader reported Wednesday that three Extendicare facilities are on the GAO national list of worst performers.

Last year a hidden camera at the Richmond facility caught images of abuse inflicted on an 84-year-old resident by nursing aides. The resident, Armeda Thomas, has since died. However, in September of last year, Thomas' family hid a video camera in her room at Madison Manor in an effort to explain bruising on the resident's body.

Nursing assistants were seen physically abusing and taunting the Alzheimer's patient. The nursing assistants were also allegedly shown refusing to feed or bathe the resident. Nursing Home abuse is a form of medical malpractice.

Thomas died two months later. Her family proceeded to sue the nursing home, and three nurses' aides were indicted and charged with abuse, according to the Herald Leader. Jaclyn Dawn VanWinkle pleaded guilty earlier this year. Amanda G. Sallee stands trial in March and Valerie Lamb is set to enter a plea early in the new year.

Defendant faces trial in rape of 94-year-old Palo Alto woman - San Jose Mercury News

Defendant faces trial in rape of 94-year-old Palo Alto woman - San Jose Mercury News: "The man charged with raping a 94-year-old woman at her Palo Alto nursing home in 2002 appears headed for a jury trial.
In a five-hour preliminary hearing Friday, expert witnesses testified that compelling DNA evidence linked 42-year-old Roberto Recendes to the crime, and his former girlfriend identified a necklace found at the scene as belonging to him.
It was enough to convince Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett that there is probable cause to hold Recendes on charges that could send him to prison for life if he's convicted. But defense attorney Carl Beatty said he believes Friday's testimony also exposed some holes in the prosecution's story.
The case gained national notoriety after Palo Alto police arrested and extracted a confession from a suspect in 2002, only to see him exonerated by DNA evidence. Jorge Hernandez, a Gunn High School graduate who was 18 at the time, was released after three months in jail.
The case appeared as though it might go unsolved; the victim said she never knew her attacker's identity. But in 2004, Recendes was convicted on domestic violence charges in Sunnyvale, and a DNA sample was taken before he was deported to Mexico. Authorities discovered the match two years later and eventually tracked him down, and he was extradited to the United States in 2008.
Meanwhile, the victim died in 2006, according to staff at the Palo Alto Commons nursing home."

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis | Madison/St. Clair Record

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis Madison/St. Clair Record

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis
A woman died after employees at an Illinois nursing home allowed her pressure sores to deteriorate, causing sepsis to flow throughout her blood, a man claims in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Steven Steiner filed a lawsuit Nov. 30 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Caseyville Property.

Steven Steiner claims Anderson Hospital admitted Theresa Mary Steiner on Dec. 6, 2008, after she began experiencing abdominal bleeding.

On Dec. 12, 2008, Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center admitted Theresa Steiner as its patient, according to the complaint. At the time of her admission, Theresa Steiner had three stage II pressure sores on her buttocks and one pressure sore on each of her heels, the suit states.

However, by the time of her discharge on Dec. 19, 2008, Theresa Steiner had three stage IV pressure sores on her buttocks and multiple pressure sores on her heels, the complaint says.

"Steiner sustained personal injuries, including, but not limited to, development and deterioration of her pressure sores on her buttocks and bilateral heels which, in turn, led to Steiner developing sepsis throughout her bloodstream," the suit states. "On December 19, 2008, Theresa Steiner was hospitalized at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Illinois, where she subsequently died on January 7, 2009, due to sepsis and acute respiratory failure."

Before her death, Theresa Steiner experienced severe pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress and loss of dignity, Steven Steiner claims.

Steven Steiner blames the defendants for a number of negligent acts, including their failure to properly screen Theresa Steiner before admitting her, their failure to have an adequate wound care nurse on staff, their failure to develop an appropriate plan to treat Theresa Steiner's pressure sores, their failure to advise Theresa Steiner's physician of the deterioration of her pressure sores and their failure to adopt appropriate policies to treat pressure sores.