Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

The state of California is suing to revoke the license of Paragon Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care, part of a chain of 210 homes operated by Sunwest Management Inc. The violations stem from allegations of six injured clients and one death at the home due to insufficient care. Another man has been missing from the home since June and police say he may be dead. These allegations of abuse and neglect have led the state to take action against the home.

The state is seeking to revoke the license of the home and bar seven of the home’s management team including its president, from ever working in the residential care facility industry in California.

Other allegations include the home admitting patients that are too sick for the home to care for. For example, the home is a residential care home that does not provide full-time nursing care and is not licensed to accept patients with open wounds, severe disabilities or those who are terminally ill, unless a special waiver is obtained. However, the state alleges the home has admitted patients with these severe injuries while employing a staff that gave lackluster care and was prone to literally “sleeping on the job.”

For the full article.

A former Pennsylvania nursing home administrator was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. Her nursing home neglected residents while she ran up $88,000 in charges on nursing home credit cards. From 1998 to 2003, the administrator and nursing home defrauded Medicare and Medicaid out of $8 billion.

For the full article.

The office of Cook County Record of Deeds Eugene Moore has issued alerts to attorneys who represent elderly clients to be on the lookout for two scams.

The first scam is a “Have You Seen Your Deed?” letter being circulated to arouse fear in senior citizens. The letter requests $150 to receive a certified copy of a deed. In reality, an electronic copy of your client’s deed may be obtained from the Recorder of Deeds office for 50 cents.

The second scan involves filing quitclaim deeds to convey title to residences usually in situations where relatives or caretakers are financially abusing the elderly. One way the Recorder of Deeds office is combating this scam is to notify a grantor when a quitclaim deed is filed to ensure the owner of the deed was not defrauded.

The Recorder of Deeds office requests that attorneys or clients report suspicious behavior by calling their office at (312) 603-5050. The Recorder’s website is also a resource whereby homeowners can search for recordings against title to properties: www.ccrd.info.

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia recently found that preventable errors were the most common cause of death in nursing homes. An assistant professor of nursing at the college believes that the solution to nursing home abuse and neglect is to create a culture of safety and address the current problems in a visible fashion.

For the full article.

A Vermont nursing home was fined almost $9,000 and faces Medicare and Medicaid contract termination following an incident regarding an intoxicated on-duty charge nurse. In August of this year, a night charge nurse arrived at work an hour late reeking of alcohol. The nurse manager was informed and spoke to the aides and the nurse from the other unit, but never went to evaluate the intoxicated nurse. After speaking with those on duty, she turned off her phone. The evening continued and the intoxicated nurse failed to administer pain medications to a resident, despite two requests and a request from an aide on duty. The intoxicated nurse was responsible for a unit of 40 residents. The nursing home is in the process of correcting other problems uncovered during the investigation into this nursing home neglect.

For the full article.

Public Citizen, a national patient advocacy group, recently ranked New Jersey’s online state directory of physicians’ malpractice and disciplinary histories top in the nation. NJ’s website provides profiles of NJ’s nearly 30,000 licensed physicians and contains detailed information on medical malpractice lawsuits and payments, hospital disciplinary actions, and conviction information. Hopefully more states will be soon to follow the creation of adequately thorough physician directories.

For the full article.

1. Fire Suppression System Pumps: ITT Water Technology has voluntarily recalled about 3,000 Goulds Pumps, Bell & Gossett and Red Jacket Water Products Brand Pumps for Fire Suppression Systems. A mechanical part on these pumps was not fully secured, which can lead to the pump failing during use and an increased risk of fire damage. For more information.
2. Notebook Computer Batteries: Sony Energy Devices Corp has voluntarily recalled about 340,000 batteries. These lithium ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard. For more information.
3. Mattress Covers: Dux Interiors, Inc. has voluntarily recalled about 37,000 Protective Mattress Covers. The terry cloth covers, which were made to fit over the Dux top pads, do not meet federal standards for flammability under the Flammable Fabrics Act. For more information.

Two Massachusetts brothers and former owners of 5 nursing homes were recently indicted for nursing home neglect, Medicaid fraud, theft of nursing home patients’ personal funds, conspiracy to steal those funds, embezzlement of employee wage deductions intended for funding 401(k) retirement contributions, and embezzlement of life and disability insurance premiums. The facilities owned by the two brothers experienced frequent shortages of food, medicine, linens, and personal hygiene items, interruption of pest control services, and accumulation of medical waste due to nonpayment of vendors. At the same time, the brothers used nursing home assets to fund personal expenditures such as horse racing activities and luxury boat payments. The complaint alleges that the former owners owe more than $200,000 for back premiums and from $6 million to $12.5 million in federal taxes.

For the full article.

A retired NYPD detective died after months of persistent bed sores and infections. The 87 year-old died at a medical center after a series of hospitalizations for large ulcers that covered his body. After suffering a stroke in the mid-1990’s, the 87 year-old began living in a nursing home. Beginning in March 2003, the nursing home persistently neglected him, failing to prevent massive bedsores from developing. At one point, the nursing home even put a shoe on the man to hide a foot ulcer! During a stay at a hospital, the 87 year-old also was a victim of medical malpractice when a doctor gave him an overdose of a blood thinner, which required a blood transfusion. The victim’s daughter is suing the nursing home for its nursing home abuse and neglect and has also filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital .

For the full article.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has placed certain medical abbreviations on the “do-not-use” list because of their probability of misinterpretation, leading to dosing errors and serious medical malpractice. For exam, “IU” is often used by physicians or others in the medical field to mean “international unit.” However, it is often mistaken for “IV” (intravenous) or the number 10, which could lead to serious mistakes in administering medicine. The Official “Do Not Use” list applies, at a minimum, to all orders and all medication-related documentation that is handwritten or on pre-printed forms. Unfortunately, the medical field is not sufficiently complying: failure to substantially eliminate the use of such abbreviations is one of the most frequent non-compliance findings during Joint Commission reviews.

For the Official “Do Not Use” List.

A jury recently decided that the two Brooklyn doctors that performed surgery on the Staten Island man to correct his ailment only made it worse and awarded the Staten Island man $3.9 million. The victim suffered from arcuate ligament syndrome and underwent surgery in 2002 to alleviate his discomfort. The surgery made his pains worse. Later surgeons were unable to get to his artery and fix his pain because the scar tissue from the botched surgery was so dense. The victim had to undergo 4 more surgeries after the medical malpractice and is currently unable to work because of his ailments.

For the full article.

A registered nurse from Vermont faces a series of criminal charges stemming from theft of narcotics from nursing home patients. If convicted of all charges, she faces potential penalties totaling five years imprisonment and $11,000 in fines. Unfortunately, severe staffing shortages nationwide have affected the quality of employees which nursing homes are able to hire.

For the full article.

The state of Texas has recently commenced a lawsuit against a nursing home for failing to properly treat a patient who died as the result of an untreated urinary tract infection in 2004. The lawsuit seeks damages of $1,000 to $20,000 for each violation that threatened a patient’s safety and health. Inspections dating back to December 2003 found incidents of nursing home abuse and neglect that caused residents harm or immediate jeopardy.

For the full article.

The victim is almost two years old and each passing week continues to be another milestone in his life. The victim’s mother said that the doctors initially said he would live two days, then two weeks, then two months. When the child was born, his doctor committed medical malpractice by giving him carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. This malpractice permanently damaged the child’s brain. He cannot speak, move, eat, or even breathe on his own due to the birth injury. Taking care of him costs $450,000 a year. For those costs, a federal judge awarded the child’s family $16.5 million – the largest damage verdict ever ruled in Hawaii for a single person.

The Medical Center has a long history of medical malpractice. Between January 1995 and July 2005, there were 331 malpractice claims against the Center. Although the Medical Center has accepted responsibility, no disciplinary action has been taken against the Center.

For the full article.

The Michigan Department of Community Health recently released more than 80 pages outlining the Kalamazoo nursing home’s violations. The October inspection found that residents of one unit were continuously exposed to a urine odor. Inspectors also found that the nursing home showed a pattern of failing to implement safety measures to protect residents, resulting in at least one resident becoming wedged between the rails in his bed . Additionally, the facility failed to check criminal histories on at least two employees. The eighty pages of incidents of nursing home abuse and neglect led to the Michigan Department of Community Health’s closing of the nursing home.

For the full article.

A medical malpractice lawsuit was recently filed against a cancer doctor who told a 65 year-old woman that her breast cancer had returned and prescribed chemotherapy for treatment. A second opinion told the 65 year-old that she had no evidence of recurrent breast cancer. Alabama regulators have found 19 other patients allegedly mistreated or misdiagnosed by the cancer specialist. The state claims that the patients were needlessly or excessively exposed to toxic cancer-fighting agents that endangered their health. For now, the doctor is still practicing! A January hearing before the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission will issue the final authority over the validity of the doctor’s license.

For the full article.

A New York nursing home was recently fined more than $108,000 for nursing home neglect. Health Department records showed that no qualified staff members were on duty to perform basic life support in the event of cardiac arrest on at least two occasions. Staffing issues are a recurring problem in the nursing home industry and contribute to the recurrence of nursing home abuse incidents.

For the full article.

A Minnesota article recently reported that the Bush administration plans to cut Medicaid funding for nursing home care by $1.5 billion per year. Unless the U.S. Congress takes blocking action, the administration intends to issue regulations that would cut in half an established Medicaid funding mechanism, from 6% to 3%. Since the government does not currently provide enough funding to employ optimal staffing levels, this funding cut could be detrimental. Staffing shortages contribute to a great number of nursing home abuse and neglect incidents.

For the full article.

A program at Dartmouth Medical School recently analyzed Medicare data on patients with chronic illnesses. The statistics developed showed that it was much more expensive to die in some parts of the countries than in others. The question that remains is: did the additional hospitalizations, tests, and doctor visits result in better care or better quality of life? The most expensive city is Manhattan, at a cost of $35,838 for the last six months of care; the least expensive is Wichita Falls, Texas at $10,913 for the last six months of care. In Illinois, the average cost for the last six months of care is $17,799.93, which varies throughout the state. About 27% of Medicare’s annual $327 billion budget goes to care for patients in their final year of life.

For the full article.