Florida Nursing Home Under Investigation for Possible Neglect

According to a story from Florida's wftv.com, The Gables at Lake Mary is under investigation and facing possible charges of neglect arising from the death of an 89 year old woman. According to the report, the case is so disturbing, workers could even be charged with manslaughter in the future. Find the story here.

Michigan Attorney General Charges Certified Nurse's Aide With Physical Abuse of Nursing Home Resident

Below is a press release from the Michigan Attorney General.

LANSING, Mich., June 21 -- Attorney General Mike Cox announced today the
arrest of a Certified Nurse's Aide, or CNA, for physical abuse against an
85-year-old wheelchair-bound Muskegon nursing home resident. "Michigan's most vulnerable citizens deserve the highest standard of care and anyone who violates that standard will be prosecuted," said Cox. "This case highlights the need for
the Legislature to pass the criminal background check bills being introduced
today to prevent this kind of risk to nursing home residents in the future."
Laticia Schevette Brown, 30, of Muskegon, was arrested by Attorney General
investigators on Tuesday. She was arraigned before Judge Wierengo in Muskegon's
60 Judicial District Court on one count of Patient Abuse, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and $10,000 in fines. Brown, who was
released on a $1,000 personal bond, will be back in court July 26 at 8:30 a.m.
for a preliminary examination.

The charges arise from Brown repeatedly striking an elderly patient in
the head between June and September 2004 while employed as a CNA at Roosevelt
Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Community in Muskegon. Witnesses reported the
incidents to the facility administration, which contacted Cox's Health Care
Fraud Division, and terminated Brown's employment. The Health Care Fraud
Division, which conducted the investigation into Brown, recently unveiled two
studies showing that approximately 10% of employees working in Michigan's
nursing homes and residential care facilities have criminal histories.

As a result of the studies, Sen. Patricia Birkholz (R - Saugatuck Twp.), Sen. Tony Stamas (R - Midland), and Sen. Jud Gilbert (R - Algonac) introduced legislation that expands the scope of the Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act and the Public Health Code by requiring Michigan's almost 5,000 residential care facilities to conduct criminal background checks of all employees and to conduct the checks annually. The legislation also enhances the criminal sanctions for failing to comply with the requirements of the criminal background check statutes.

The Attorney General's Health Care Fraud Division is one of 49 federally certified
Medicaid Fraud Control Units. Medicaid fraud investigations and prosecutions
include false billings, unlawful delivery of controlled substances, practicing medicine
without a license, kickbacks, and bribery schemes. Abuse and neglect investigations and prosecutions include physical assault, criminal sexual conduct, identity theft, theft of residents' property and funds, and harmful neglect in Michigan residential care facilities. The division also initiates civil actions, including asset forfeiture and claims for Medicaid overpayments.

In conducting its activities, the division works closely with other agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, Michigan State Police, state regulatory agencies, local law enforcement
agencies, and private health insurance companies.

To report Medicaid provider fraud or identity theft/patient abuse in a resident care facility, call the Attorney General's 24-hour Hotline at 800 24-ABUSE (800-242-2873); e-mail hcf@michigan.gov ; or visit the Attorney General's Web site at http://www.michigan.gov/ag .

Source: Michigan Attorney General

Nursing Home Abuse Complaint by Family Results in Felony Charges Against Administrator

According to a report by NBC 10 News, a former administrator of Hillside Health Center in Providence, Rhode Island was charged with 11 counts of felony patient neglect in connection with problems at the now-closed nursing home. According to the report, the administrator was charged with intentionally failing to provide appropriate care and services to 11 patients. The state alleges that the 11 victims' health and safety suffered because of a lack of basic humane care and treatment at the facility while the administrator was in charge. According to the report, the state's Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Unit started investigating Hillside in September 2003 following a complaint from the spouse of one of the patients named in Thursday's charges. The report can be found at : http://www.turnto10.com/news/4618572/detail.html

While in this case the family complaint resulted in an investigation and ultimately charges being filed, I am confident this is the exception rather than the rule. Unfortunately, too often families are unfamiliar with the complaint reporting systems available in each state. For each complaint that is reported each year, it is anyone's guess as to how many other incidents of neglect or abuse go unreported each year. In my own practice representing families of neglected or abused nursing home patients, I find that very few of them are aware of the complaint system in place. Unfortunately, the nursing homes benefit from this gross under-reporting and the resulting under-investigation of nursing home abuse and neglect.

If you have questions about how to make a complaint, you can call the facility's ombudsman for more information. You can also call the attorney general's office or the department of health in your state (it may go by different names) and request the long-term care complaint hotline telephone number. Typically, you can make your complaint by telephone or in writing.

If you have more questions about this process, you can call my office at 888.922.2889.

Recognizing and Reporting Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Nursing home abuse and/or neglect can involve not only the physical well-being of the resident, but also the mental, and/or psychological well-being of the resident as well. Nursing home abuse and/or neglect can take many forms, all of which are too numerous to list. The following, however, represent common examples of nursing home abuse and/or neglect:

• failure to provide proper nutrition and hydration
• failure to assist in personal hygiene when needed
• over-medication or under-medication
• failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent falls
• failure to answer call lights in a timely fashion
• failure to turn residents in their beds (leading
  to pressure sores)
• failure to take residents to the toilet (leaving them in
  soiled garments or beds)
• slapping or other physical abuse of the resident
• use of unwarranted chemical or physical restraints
• emotional or verbal abuse of the resident
• retaliation for making a complaint or filing a grievance
• failure to take adequate precautions to prevent injury to the resident
• failure to provide for appropriate medical care
• sexual assault or rape of the resident
• theft of the resident's money or other personal
  property
  

If you have any suspicion that a loved one may have been the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, and the loved one is still a patient at the facility, you should report the matter to the patient's physician, the director of nursing and the facility administrator. To document your complaint, you can fax it to your physician and the facility. (remember to keep a copy of the complaint and the fax confirmation page.) In addition, you may report the matter to the facility ombudsman, and call the state complaint hotlines which are administrated by the regulatory agency which oversees each state's nursing homes. For more information, or to find out contact information for ombudsmen and state officials in all 50 states, check out the "State Resources" section at www.nursinghomepatientrights.com.

Up and Running

Welcome! This is the first of many posts to a blog devoted soley to the issues involved in protecting some of society's most vulnerable citizens -- nursing home patients. For various reasons, nursing home patients must place their well-being in the hands of professional caregivers who charge for their services. All too often, the nursing home corporations that have promised to provide proper care choose instead to value profits over patients. This blog will explore the various facets of nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect. We look forward to exposing the truth about what happens in these facilities and shedding light upon ways in which the neglectful nursing home companies can be held accountable.