nursing home abuse

A lawsuit alleging nursing home abuse at a Seal Beach care facility claims that staff drugged a resident by force in an attempt to take control over her retirement funds. According to a news report in The Orange County Register, 68-year-old Marsha "Aleah" Davis, a retired preschool teacher, is saying that nursing home staff at Country Villa medicated her forcibly with psychotropic drugs in order to chemically restrain her. State investigators who visited Country Villa in February did find that Davis had been improperly medicated. State officials say they will not fine or cite the nursing home because administrators have submitted a corrective plan.

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Inadequate care and nursing home neglect led to the death of an elderly patient at a care facility operated by the Community Hospital of San Bernardino in 2008, state investigators have determined. According to a news report in The San Bernardino County Sun, the nursing home faces an $80,000 fine in connection with the patient's death. California Department of Public Health investigators found that the patient died on February 2, 2008 after the tubes that connected him to a ventilator had been disconnected.

The report states that a ventilator alarm that should have alerted staff about the disconnection was not heard. The report also states that the hospital, after this tragic incident, took corrective steps by training its staff about caring for patients who rely on ventilators. The fine was issued last month and the hospital did not appeal it.

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With more and more seniors going into nursing homes, there is not only an increased demand for nursing homes, but an increased attention on nursing home neglect and abuse issues. There is a bigger spotlight being cast on the way nursing home residents are being cared for and treated in these facilities.

A new study on nursing home care released this week ranks California the lowest of all states. According to data released by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, more than 8 percent of California long-term nursing home residents were physically restrained in 2008. More than 25 percent of short-stay nursing home patients in California had pressure sores. Read the rest »

Martha Young, 62, who family members say was lapsed into a diabetic come due to nursing home neglect, received a $2 million settlement from the Vallejo care facility where she was a resident. According to a news report in the Times-Herald, Young has been in a permanent vegetative state since the fall of 2008 when she suffered a second diabetic coma in less than two months. Both her diabetic comas were suffered when she was in the care of Crestwood Recovery and Rehabilitation Center. The settlement was reached even as a jury pool was being prepared for the trial.

Young's attorneys say she was in "decent shape" when she became a resident at the nursing home. She did have mental health issues and was a diabetic. But within 50 days of getting to Crestwood she was not eating, drinking or taking her medication. Family members said in the lawsuit that the facility had a responsibility to care for Young and make sure she ate, drank and took her medication. Read the rest »

Trying to determine the number of instances of elder abuse amongst nursing homes is like trying to count the number of times Charlie Sheen has disgraced himself in the last week; there are too many instances in public, and too many that are not reported. California in particular has always had a shockingly high amount of disgraceful nursing homes, but with the inclusion of the new star rating system, and the public spotlight illuminating the problem, many felt that we were heading in a new and positive direction. A recent report begs to differ.

Percent of Criminals Employed is Frighteningly High

According to a new government report obtained by CBS News, more than 90 percent of nursing homes hired employees with criminal convictions, leading to theories regarding the increased instances of nursing home abuse. Government investigators ran background checks on all workers who were employed on June 1, 2009 at 260 nursing homes across the country. The results showed 92 percent of the facilities hired at least one employee with a criminal conviction, according to CBS News. Read the rest »

Many recent reports and studies show that nursing home neglect has developed into a serious and widespread issue in the United States. Each month, we hear about nursing homes that failed to take care of residents or those whose employees abused frail, helpless residents. Now, the California Department of Public Health is investigating complaints against the Santa Cruz Skilled Nursing Center, a 162-bed nursing home on Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz. This nursing home was named as one of the 131 worst care facilities in the nation by Medicare officials in 2007.

Residents' Complaints

State officials are examining the facility's records and speaking to employees and residents at the nursing home to determine the facts. Residents complained about various problems including an administrator yelling at a resident, which was caught on camera. Residents also say microwaves and refrigerators have been removed from rooms, weekend maintenance is non-existent and that pain medication has been changed or discontinued without residents' knowledge or agreement. Read the rest »

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating complaints of nursing home abuse and substandard care at certain Northern California facilities. According to a news report in California Watch, federal officials could possibly file civil or criminal charges against nursing homes that have the most serious violations. Investigators are specifically looking into the use of psychiatric medications and substandard care or negligence that resulted in serious injuries or illness to nursing home residents. Officials are also looking at nursing homes that discharge sick patients or deny admission to patients who are returning from a hospital. Read the rest »

The nursing home abuse and negligence attorneys at BISNAR | CHASE have been constantly concerned about the poor oversight of California nursing homes. Earlier this year we noted that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cut funding significantly for nursing home ombudsman programs across California. These programs consist of volunteers who may go into nursing homes and conduct sudden inspections or follow up on complaints from families of nursing home residents relating to abuse, negligence or fraud.
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