Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

Started by Dr. William Thomas,the Eden Alternative is a promising movement to improve the quality of life for those experiencing aging and disability across America. The Alternative movement is dedicated to helping others create enlivening environments and eliminating the plagues of loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. There are two registered Eden homes in Illinois.

Continue reading "The Eden Alternative: Revolutionizing nursing homes" »

The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc. will be hosting its 2006 Advanced Elder Law Institute entitled “Re-Visioning the Practice.” Sessions cover topics, such as “The Future of Elder Law” and “Substance Abuse, Depression, and Other Mental Illness and the Elderly.”

To register.

Rose Garden Convalescent Center has been fined $16,000 for failure to prevent the physical abuse of a resident. A staff member who witnessed the abuse did not intervene to protect the resident. The facility also failed to follow its abuse prevention policy by allowing the staffer accused of abuse to continue working with residents.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators.

SmartMoney Magazine recently released an eye-opening article entitled “10 Things Your Hospital Won’t Tell You.” Patients and advocates who know the potential for medical malpractice will be able to take preventative measures during hospital stays.

1. “Oops, wrong kidney.” – Errors in treatment have become a serious problem for hospitals.
2. “You may leave sicker than when you came in.” – About 2 million people a year contract hospital-related infections.
3. “Good luck finding the person in charge.” – Getting the attention of the right person can be difficult.
4. “Everything is negotiable, even your hospital bill.” – Hospitals frequently work with patients, offering payment plans or discounts.
5. “Yes, we take your insurance – but we’re not sure about the anesthesiologist.” – Anesthesiologists are often not covered on insurance plans.
6. “Sometimes we bill you twice.” – Ask for an itemized bill to avoid being billed for services never received or items that should not be billed separately.
7. “All hospitals are not created equal.” – Call the hospital’s quality-control or risk-management office to get infection statistics.
8. “Most ERs are in need of some urgent care themselves.” – An ambulance is turned away from an ER once every minute due to overcrowding.
9. “Avoid hospitals in July like the plague.” – In July, turnover occurs in the hospital: a good portion of the staff at any given teaching hospital are new on the job.
10. “Sometimes we don’t keep our mouths zipped.” – Contrary to popular belief, sharing information with a third party is often legal.

For the full article.

Steve Levin of the law firm Levin & Perconti was quoted in Crain’s Business this week for a case he is working on involving a 71-year-old man who developed pressure ulcers, or bed sores, during two extended stays at Advocate Trinity Hospital last fall.

For the full article.

The Louisiana Appeals Court ruled that the $500,000 cap on medical malpractice lawsuit damages was unconstitutional because it does not provide an adequate remedy to patients. The cap was imposed in 1975 and a $500,000 reward at that time would be worth only $160,000 today. Now, the Louisiana Supreme Court is set to hear the medical malpractice lawsuit.
For the full article.

Equip for Equality’s Abuse Investigation Unit has published an informational handbook about reporting and investigating abuse and neglect of adults with disabilities in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. This handbook makes the confusing investigatory system in Illinois more manageable by identifying the providers and their corresponding state investigatory agencies. Equip for Equality is a not-for-profit group designed to advance the human and civil rights of people with disabilities in Illinois.

To access Equip for Equality’s handbook.

To learn more about Equip for Equality.

This month, the National Citizen’s Coalition for Nursing Home Reform will kick off a two year commitment to improving the quality of care in the nation’s nursing homes. In conjunction with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the American Health Care Association, the American Medical Directors Association, and the Commonwealth Fund, one of the foremost goals of the initiative is creating awareness on a national level of the grave conditions in many of our nation’s nursing homes. The initiative has enumerated eight specific goals it hopes to accomplish by the projects end:

1. Reduction in high risk pressure ulcers
2. Reduction in the use of daily physical restraints
3. Improvement in pain management in long stay residents
4. Improvement in pain management in short stay (post acute) residents
5. Setting individualized quality improvement targets
6. Regularly assessing resident and/or family satisfaction and incorporating this information in their quality improvement activities;
7. Reduction Regularly measuring staff turnover and working to reduce turnover rates
8. Adoption of consistent assignment whereby residents are regularly cared for by the same caregiver.

For more information on the campaign and NCCNHR, visit their website.

Nursing home abuse cases often involve conflicting accounts of abuse, with elderly victims being doubted due to memory conditions they may have. New York Times recently reported that an elderly man entered an Orange County emergency room covered with bruises. Although he suffered from dementia, the man insisted that his wife’s home health aide had beaten him. However, the health aide and the wife claimed that the man had fallen. The man’s abuse was confirmed after the Orange County Elder Abuse Forensic Center investigated his injuries.

Orange County California has developed an Elder Abuse Forensic Center to determine the origins of elderly patient’s abuse. In the case of the man who had been beaten by his wife’s home health aide, the forensic team members were able to determine that the bruises were a result of being punched. Upon examination, they found bloody outlines of a shoe on the man’s leg. They also performed cognitive tests on the victim’s account of abuse. With this substantial forensic evidence, the prosecutor was convinced to take the case and charged the aide with a felony.

Continue reading "Forensic Skills uncover elder abuse" »

Countryside Healthcare Center has been fined $45,000 for failure to administer regularly scheduled insulin and monitor blood glucose levels as ordered by a doctor. As a result, several residents were hospitalized.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators.

As addressed in a previous article, fraud against Medicare and Medicaid is rampant in the nursing home industry. Here is another example of a nursing home embellishing the quality care provided in order to receive federal funds. A San Jose nursing home and its subsidiary have agreed to pay $14.7 million in a settlement regarding allegations of Medicare fraud. Investigators reported that the two companies that own nursing homes throughout California and Utah inflated the number of nursing hours spent on Medicare patients in their reports. In a related criminal case, the nursing home has entered a guilty plea and must pay a $500,000 fine.

For the full article.

The daughters of a 79 year-old victim of nursing home negligence have brought a civil suit against the San Diego nursing home. The victim died in January 2006, only three weeks after she was readmitted to the nursing home. A state investigation conducted early concluded that the nursing home failed to monitor the 79 year-old woman through laboratory tests and the woman died as a result. California issued the nursing home an “AA” citation, which carries a $94,000 fine. The nursing home is appealing this citation.

For the full article.

An Oklahoma nursing home is under investigation this month due to an increase of resident complaints of nursing home abuse. The nursing home has been cited for failing to keep residents’ health and safety a priority. This citation follows the discovery of two residents having serious bedsores and other residents complaining of not receiving their pain medication.

For the full article.

The Elder Justice Act has the strongest protections for long-term care residents of any legislation in years. It passed the Senate Finance Committee unanimously, but it must still be voted on by the entire Senate and the House. It is critical that we get more co-sponsors on the bill and push the Senate leadership to move it to a vote before Congress adjourns September 29!

If you live in one of the following states, please target the following Senate leadership offices by calling and asking that they support bringing the Elder Justice Act to a vote. Call their direct line or use the AARP toll-free line, 1 – 800 – 928-8084.
Bill Frist (R-TN) - 202-224-3135
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) - 202-224-2708
Rick Santorum (R-PA) - 202-224-2764
Harry Reid (D-NV) - 202-224-5556
Richard Durbin (D-IL) - 202-224-2152

For more information on the act.

Congratulations to Elma Holder and Dr. William Thomas who each received honors from the John Heinz Foundation for their outstanding dedication to long-term care advocacy.

Elma Holder is the founder of the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) and received the Chairman’s medal to honor her lifetime achievement. Elma has drawn national attention to nursing home issues and has greatly impacted the lives of residents.

Dr. William Thomas received the Heinz Award in the Human Condition for his innovative work as the founder of the Eden Alternative. The Eden Alternative has championed a movement for systematically overhauling the institutional nature of assisted-living facilities and improving the quality of life for elders. The movement hopes nursing homes will one day be vibrant centers of care and companionship.

For more information on the recipients.

A virulent E.coli strain infected the national spinach supply a month ago with a subsequent death following two weeks later. 50% of those who reported to be sick from this particular bacterial strain were hospitalized, which is twice as many as previous E.coli outbreaks. Three times the average number of consumers in this type of outbreak suffered kidney failure, resulting in a transplant, dialysis, heavy medication, or death.

The FDA’s response to this extreme severity? A voluntary recall of spinach! After one confirmed death and hundreds of illnesses, this voluntary issuance leaves millions of Americans at risk. Unfortunately, it appears as though the FDA cannot accurately assess the risks to public safety.

For more information.

Drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp., the maker of allergy, cold, and cholesterol drugs, pled guilty to conspiracy to end a federal investigation into the marketing of some drugs for unapproved uses and overcharging Medicaid for certain drugs. Under the agreement, the drugmaker will pay $255 million towards civil aspects of its conspiracy. The remaining $180 million is a criminal fine which accompanies its plea of guilty to conspiracy. Investigators found evidence that the drugmaker marketed drugs for uses that were not approved by government regulators.

For the full article.

For almost a year, seniors and their advocates in West Virginia have been uncertain about how they would afford their elder care. In November 2005, the West Virginia governor’s administration began applying a stringent evaluation tool to screen out people from the state’s Aged and Disabled Waiver program. The program pays for professionals to provide in-home care, rather than sending program participants to more expensive nursing homes. After the strict evaluation tool was implemented, at least 647 people were denied.

This settlement is in response to the appeals of those denied. The people who were kicked off the program will immediately be put back on. The West Virginia seniors and their advocates can finally rest easy.

For the full article.

The families that lost six children in a Rogers Park apartment fire earlier this month are seeking justice by suing the building’s owner and management company. Represented by the law firm of Levin & Perconti , the victims contend that the building’s landlord was negligent in failing to keep the building in a reasonably safe condition. Tragically, the fire department did not find smoke detectors in the apartment unit. Also, the families had lost power in their unit even though they were disputing charges on their electric bill at the time. The complaint filed by the law firm of Levin & Perconti alleges a lack of working smoke detectors in addition to other fire h