Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Rita Kittower had no choice but to put her husband of nearly 50 years into an assisted living facility after he suffered a major stroke that diminished his memory and left him unable to care for himself. Mrs. Kittower paid $75,000 a year to the upscale Silverado Senior Living facility in Calabasas, Calif., to provide her husband Elmore with the best possible care, according to the Los Angeles Times.

When he died, staff told her Mr. Kittower died peacefully in his sleep.

But when Mrs. Kittower received a call the day after burying her husband from an employee at Silverado, she was devastated. The caller said that shortly before Kittower died she saw a fellow employee punch Kittower’s husband’s face and wrap a towel around his head as if to suffocate him.

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When neglect or abuse is suspected against an Oklahoma nursing home resident, state statutes say the incident should be reported to the Department of Human Services or the Sheriff’s department.

Jack Crow believes the first call should be to the police.

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John may have been 92 years old and living in a nursing home, but he was no fool. When doctors discovered gangrene on the toes of his left foot, they ordered the toes be removed to save his life. Despite John’s protests, the person assigned to be his power of attorney scheduled the surgery anyway.

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The records kept by LPNs Rima Chaudhry and Toni Miller and CNAs Betty Cheslak and Jacqueline Francis at Medford Multicare Center for Living in Suffolk, NY, showed they did their jobs. They bathed, changed and rotated their patients, followed doctors’ orders for their care. They even took precautions when moving patients to ensure no one was injured in the process.

But hidden surveillance cameras set up over a six-week period in some patient’s rooms by the Attorney General’s office told a different story, according to the North County Gazette.

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Every now and again the news reports a story of abuse so cruel and inhumane, there is no way to describe it but “evil.”

This weekend, Timothy Patrick White of Philadelphia was charged with a most evil act – raping a dying 70-year-old nursing home resident.

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Nurse Haydee Parungano was an independent contractor who traveled Southern California to provide nursing services to Medicare patients. Her records show she worked every day between April 1, 2002, and August 31, 2003, including all weekends and holidays, averaging 20 visits per day.

During this time span, there were 60 days that Parungano claimed to have seen more than 32 patients – a feat that, at 45 minutes per patient, would take more than 24 hours to accomplish.

Last year, Parungano was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for her role in a health care fraud scheme that ultimately cost Medicare more than $3 million.

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Nearly 8,500 Florida Medicaid recipients have filed a federal lawsuit seeking class action status for forcing them to live in nursing homes instead of where they choose, according to the Associated Press/Miami Herald. The lawsuit names the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s office.

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Most people identify the elderly as being the victims of abuse and neglect in a skilled nursing environment. But when it is reported that a nursing home is under investigation for burning a physically and mentally impaired foster child, it is a travesty.

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The Westside Health Care Center nursing home and its adjacent Terrace at Westside residential-care facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, had become known as the home of last resort for the poor and mentally ill. Many of the residents had been kicked out of other nursing facilities and halfway houses. Many had drug addictions or mental illnesses.

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More than 90 percent of nursing homes were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards last year, according to the New York Times . Seventeen percent of nursing facilities had serious deficiencies such as bedsores, medication mix-ups, poor nutrition, and abuse and neglect.

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