Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Nursing Home Staffer Raped Patient according to NY Police

A Bronx nursing home nurse was arrested Tuesday, accused of raping a 64-year-old patient who cannot communicate, police and relatives say. 
Police said the 42-year-old supervising nurse at Manhattanville Health Care Center in the Bronx has been charged with nursing home rape. The alleged attack took place overnight into Tuesday as the woman was sleeping. 
Bronx Nursing Home Staffer Raped Patient: Police | NBC New York

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Elder advocate criticizes new Florida nursing home bill

A Senate committee Tuesday gave swift approval to a bill that is being panned by some elder advocates as a bill designed to help nursing homes and trial lawyers make money but do little to help residents.

The bill would shield some nursing home investors from lawsuits. The bill also would give families easier access to documents.

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/02/elder-advocates-blast-and-lawyers-and-nursing-homes-for-self-serving-accord.html#storylink=cpy
Elder advocate blasts lawyers and nursing homes for self-serving accord | Naked Politics


Thursday, February 13, 2014

Dementia care rules finalized for Massachusetts nursing homes

Workers in nursing home dementia care units will have to receive eight hours of initial training and four additional hours annually, under final rules state regulators adopted Wednesday.

The regulations, approved nearly two years after Massachusetts lawmakers passed legislation mandating minimum standards for these specialized units, also require that the facilities have at least one “therapeutic activities director” dedicated to the dementia unit to ensure meaningful and appropriate activities for residents.

The rules close a loophole that had allowed nursing homes to advertise dementia units without any specific training for their workers, specialized activities for residents, or safety measures in place, such as high fences, to prevent residents from wandering.

“These regulations have really been a labor of love for thousands of people affected by this difficult disease,” James Wessler, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, said in a statement.

Few changes were made in the dementia care standards since they were unveiled last August by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. They were finalized Wednesday by the Public Health Council, an appointed body of academics and health advocates that sets public policy

Dementia care rules finalized for Massachusetts nursing homes - Health & wellness - The Boston Globe



by Bernard Hamill



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Nursing Home Abuse



Rape in Nursing
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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Nursing Home Abuse Verdict against Kindred - Final Jury Verdict Massachusetts

Nursing Home Abuse Verdict against Kindred - Final Jury Verdict Massachusetts

Med tech admits killing nursing home resident

David Satterfield, 34, recently confessed to police that in 2007, he killed Marcelline Katherine Sommer Vale, an 86-year-old widow, Louisville police said in a press conference Tuesday.
Vale had been helpless, lying in a nursing home bed in a fog of Alzheimer’s, and Satterfield had been hired as a medical technician to care for her."
The nursing home was short-staffed for the July 4 holiday, and Satterfield was called in for the overnight shift. He worked from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. July 5. The morning shift found the three women around 6:30 a.m. with critically low blood sugar readings, according to the investigation
Parkway Medical Center declined to comment.

Louisville police: Med tech admits killing elderly woman with insulin injection in 2007 | The Courier-Journal | courier-journal.com

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Elderly patients with dementia were abused for 'sport'

"WEAK" and "inadequate" management led to the "gratuitous sport" of mistreatment of elderly dementia sufferers at a nursing home, a judge has said.
Residents at Hillcroft nursing home in Slyne-with-Hest, Lancaster, England, were mocked, bullied and tormented because they would have no memory of the abuse.

One man had his foot stamped on and another was nearly tipped out of his wheelchair. The vulnerable victims were also pelted with bean bags and balls were thrown at their heads "for entertainment".
Elderly patients with dementia were abused for 'sport' -- judge - Independent.ie

Friday, December 27, 2013

Kindred - Final Jury Verdict Massachusetts

Middlesex Superior Court, MA. Jury Verdict Dec 17th, 2013:

It is ORDERED and ADJUDGED: That The plaintiff(s), Jeanne Stanford POA recover of he defendant(s), Kindred Healthcare, Inc., d/b/a Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation-Marlborough,Kindred Nursing Centers East, L.L.C., Kindred Healthcare Operating, Inc. the sum of $2,014,000.00 with interest thereon from 01/23/2012 to 12/18/2013 in the sum of $460,189.23 as provided by law, and its costs of action.
Paul D. Wilson, Justice). Copies mailed 12/18/2013

Plaintiffs Attorney: Bernard J. Hamill


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Nursing-home violence a growing concern

 "Nursing homes are ill-equipped to care for the large number of aggressive residents they house and to keep other occupants safe, industry experts and political critics charge.
New research by the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors (OANHSS) shows that 11 per cent of the 78,000 residents of Ontario long-term-care homes are aggressive.
That number is expected to grow as homes continue to take on more and more complex residents, said OANHSS chief executive officer Donna Rubin."
Nursing-home violence a growing concern, with 11% of residents classed as ‘aggressive’ | Toronto Star:

Friday, November 15, 2013

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:

Monday, November 11, 2013

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


Saturday, November 02, 2013

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

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

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

Friday, October 25, 2013

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

Saturday, October 19, 2013

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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Nursing Home Abuse
Rape in Nursing Homes

Sunday, October 13, 2013

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