Orlando Personal Injury Lawyer - Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

Officials Find "Total Collapse" of Care at Local Assisted Living Facility

Sandy Grinnell — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:21:15 GMT

According to the Orlando Sentinel, after seven complaints, officials from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration inspected an Emeritus Properties' assisted living facility called Emeritius at Crossing Pointe. As a result of the inspection, they placed an immediate stop to any and all new admissions at this facility.

Inspectors found dozens of violations over a two week period and reported conditions such as:

A patient who died of heart failure after staff members failed for four days to give her the heart medicine she had been prescribed.

Another patient who was given a blood thinner — a medicine she had not been prescribed — that made her so sick, she went to the hospital for an emergency blood transfusion.

An employee who had falsified medication and nurse's orders.

Three Alzheimer's patients with toenails so long they curled around their toes.

Managers who, over several days, could not give an accurate resident count. One day, they were off by more than 30 people.

Emeritus owns four other facilities in Orange County and have fully complied with the Agency's requests, submitting a corrective action plan in writing to address the current problems as well as preventative measures so these conditions will not occur in the future.

It is because of horror stories like these that it is imperative that caregivers fully inspect facilities prior to placing their loved ones in a facility, make unannounced visits, and visit often. Do not let this happen to your loved one!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Sandy Grinnell

Gov. Crist Calls for Investigation into Caregiver Screening

Sandy Grinnell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:49:34 GMT

Kudos to the Sun Sentinel for bringing inadequate employment screening for daycare and senior care workers to light. Their in depth article has apparently caught the attention of Govenor Crist who has called for a statewide investigation.

Crist has asked the eight agencies involved in the screening to come up with recommendations by November 2 so that they can be addressed at the special session in December. The first focus may be electronic fingerprinting which should alleviate the current 8 week turn around.

According to the Governor,

"When it comes to the safety and security of Florida's vulnerable populations, we must make every effort to ensure that their professional caregivers do not have criminal histories," Crist said in a statement.

An earlier blog on this site discussed the problems with the current system in that background checks are only performed in Florida, not nationwide; facilities can allow employees to begin working prior to getting the results of the background check; and there is a lack of state inspection of employee files at most facilities.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Sandy Grinnell

Florida Has Weak Protection Laws for Our Seniors

Sandy Grinnell — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:23:09 GMT

The Orlando Sentinel has an excellent article today on the pitfalls of the state of Florida's control over who is taking care of the elderly in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and adult day care centers. Among the problems reported are:

State law requires that facilities perform criminal background check on employees just in the state of Florida, not nationwide (there are a few exceptions).
In all but nursing homes, employees can begin work before the criminal report is returned from the screening process.
The state has screening inspectors who review employee files for background checks but only get to visit nursing homes about one time per year and assisted living facilities once every two years.
Investigators have found some employees who have been on the job for seven years and still have no background check in their personnel file.

The law covering who is and who is not allowed to care for our senior citizens is finally being expanded this week. While the law has always excluded those charged in a criminal activity, the new statute also covers theft, fraud and forgery.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Sandy Grinnell

Alleged Abuse at Pathways to Care in Casselberry

Mike Damaso — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:19:36 GMT

The Channel 9 Eyewitness News website is reporting allegations that an employee of Pathways to Care in Casselberry has been using illegal drugs and abusing patients. The assisted living facility worker is being accused of smoking crack cocaine on the property, stealing prescription medications, and verbally abusing residents.

Channel 9 attempted to get a statement from the head nurse at the facility but was directed to Catholic Charities. A representative from the Diocese of Orlando was unavailable for comment.

William Teague, Florida Department of Elder Affairs, was quoted,

"They've drug tested this employee in question and they've also put her on administrative leave until the disposition of the drug test comes back,"

... "

When we reviewed her file, there were documentation in there indicating she had been counseled before about the way she talked to residents or treated them."

The article reports that Pathways to Care has been investigated by the state for various complaints 17 times since it opened approximately 4 years ago, usually for releasing a patient with no where else to go - 4 times found to be in violation.

For more information on Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Damaso

Nursing Home Patient Had Maggots In His Eyes

Diego Madrigal — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:19:11 GMT

A nursing home patient who was brought to the hospital with maggots in his eyes and an infected breathing tube died. The Attorney General's office is investigating possible neglect or abuse directed at the man. The man was a resident at University Center West in Deland when he was taken to the hospital with these horrible conditions. He was later moved to a hospital in Jacksonville where he died. It is unfortunate when incidents such as this happen. Families often think they are doing the right thing in getting their loved ones what they think is the best care possible and are heartbroken when the care does not meet a reasonable standard. That is why it is important to investigate any complaints filed against a nursing home before making the costly decision of who can best care for your loved ones. The State of Florida provides a website to help make this decision.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Nursing Home and Elder Abuse.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Diego Madrigal

Shocking Nursing Home Abuse

Ed Normand — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:55:24 GMT

Right here in Central Florida we have another example of inhumane treatment at a nursing home. The list of alleged abuses is sickening:
One resident suffered with an untreated impacted bowel for three weeks until her death.
A resident with Alzheimer's fell out of bed. She called for help for an hour until she crawled to a phone and called 911. Firefighters rescued her and found the 3 nursing home on duty employees asleep.
Another resident tried to summon help herself for 3 hours but was ignored. She had to be hospitalized with a dangerously low insulin level. Investigation revealed the home did not have enough of or the right kinds of food to feed the residents, it was understaffed (even including the sleeping staff) and other residents had bedsores. These are just the tip of the iceberg of abuse and neglect in nursing homes.

In recent years tort reformers gutted what had previously been a strong nursing home resident bill of rights in Florida. The old law had teeth. It allowed for punitive damages, made nursing homes pay for attorney's fees of residents that had to sue to enforce their rights and allowed meaningful private enforcement of violations. The new law severely limits the rights of nursing home residents subject to abuse. Punitive damages are almost impossible to get, nursing homes can operate without sufficient liability insurance and, believe it or not, the elder abuse laws were amended to exclude nursing homes. Sadly, our most vulnerable are now paying the price for the meanspirited legislative revocation of rights of nursing home residents.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

Nursing Homes May Be Reimbursed for Employee Screening

Sandy Grinnell — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:51:22 GMT

A bill submitted by U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) will allow Medicare and Medicaid to pay long term care facilities for the background check of applicants for hire. It also provides for a centralized database from all states from which the background checks can be made.

The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007, which is supported by the American Health Care Association, would allow nursing homes to screen out applicants with a history of abuse or criminal actiivites from other states using a centralized database. Currently there is no overlap of the systems which can allow these types of individuals to work and possibly prey on one of our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly residents of nursing homes.

"AHCA's entire mission and focus is to ensure America's long term care facilities provide quality, compassionate care in a safe and secure environment for seniors and persons with disabilities - and we appreciate and support the approach put forward by Senator Kohl's legislation," stated Yarwood. "Ensuring that the most capable, honest employees are the ones caring for America's seniors is the most fundamental criterion for the provision of quality care."

The bill also will allow Medicare and Medicaid to pay for these screenings which can run anywhere from $23 to $47 per submission. With elimination of cost to the nursing homes, there is no reason for them to not run the background checks to ensure the quality of their staff.

Senator Kohl's bill would make permanent the features of a pilot program which has been running in 7 states since 2004 and prevented in 5,000 potential employees from being hired due to their criminal backgrounds.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Sandy Grinnell

Avoid Muscle Weakness Ailment That Often Leads to Nursing Home Care

Patricia Doherty — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:57:16 GMT

The most common reasons senior citizens require nursing home care are muscle weakness, known as sarcopenia, osteoporosis and dementia, like Alzheimer's disease. While there has been publicity on osteoporosis and dementia, Americans know very little about Sarcopenia - age related loss of muscle mass. To minimize muscle loss as you age participate in strength training, eat a healthy diet, low in fat and high in protein, keep your weight in a good range and walk 30 minutes 3 times a week.

Information shows the muscle ailment begins around 40 years old affecting 40% of people over 80 and 60% of all nursing home residents. Sarcopenia also may contribute to other health problems such as arthritis, pulmonary disease and heart failure.. The University of Florida (UF)received a grant to establish a Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. The Center's projects will include research on sarcopenia.

As more research is done, more awareness gained and more action is taken to prevent this muscle weakness there is the hope of less need for nursing home care with resulting less expense and less potential for nursing home neglect and nursing home abuse.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Patricia Doherty

Nursing Home Faces Manslaughter Charges

Chrissie Cole — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:11:23 GMT

If Julia McCauley,74, had been wearing the monitoring bracelet prescribed by her doctor, authorities believe the elderly resident of Life Care Center would not have plummeted to her death down a stairwell on April 17, 2004.

Life Care Centers of America was indited with criminal manslaughter charges due to the workers at the Acton Life Care Center acting recklessly by not making sure the woman was properly monitored. convicted the corporation can face up to $16,000 in fines and could also lose its license and Medicaid funding. The accident is described as "wanton and wreckless" behavior by the staff that failed to ensure she was safe and wearing the medical device that could have saved her life.

In 1999, she was found unattended in her wheelchair in the foyer of the facility, according to state officials. At the time, personnel were so concerned about her safety, and the possibility that she could be an elopement risk, a doctor ordered McCauley to wear a WanderGaurd bracelet that would set off an alarm and lock doors of the facility if she approached them.

The doctor's order required that the nursing staff check McCauley's bracelet once a day to ensure it was being used and that it was functioning.

If you are a loved one has suffered from nursing home abuse or neglect, you can use the form on the right to contact one of our lawyers for a free consultation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole