The complaint, filed in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Ark., alleges defendants including Central Arkansas Nursing Centers, Inc., Nursing Consultants, Inc., Park Health Care, LLC, and Michael Morton, misrepresented the skill and number of its nursing staff in order to qualify for government funding. The complaint was filed in conjunction with Little Rock attorney Robert M. Sexton of Rainwater, Holt & Sexton, P.A.

According to the complaint, the Defendants held themselves out to the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and the public at large as being properly staffed, supervised and equipped to meet patient needs with a skilled nursing, rehabilitative and medical support staff, in an effort to have government-funded patients placed at the nursing facility. However, the complaint alleges, the Defendants actually hired and retained unqualified and untrained nursing staff and was understaffed, and was unable to provide even the minimum standard of care to the weak and vulnerable residents.

As a result, Frank Mayweathers suffered emotional and physical trauma as his health deteriorated and he developed severe bedsores from the neglect.

“It is absolutely shameful that a facility with the responsibility to care for the most vulnerable people would put profits first and knowingly place their patients’ health in jeopardy,” Sawyer says. “Not to mention the humiliation Mr. Mayweathers endured as he was neglected and ignored.”

The complaint alleges medical malpractice, negligence, and violations of the Arkansas Long Term Care Residents’ Rights Statute.

Read the complaint.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Beasley Allen files complaint against Arkansas nursing home

Nursing homes

Bedsores, also known as pressure ulcers, are often caused by unrelieved pressure to any part of the body. Though easily prevented by turning a patient every two hours, if left untreated, bedsores can be fatal.

Researchers pulled from two data sources – the national repository of the Minimum Data Set, a federally mandated report of health status, function and demographics on all nursing home residents; and the Oscar database system, which collects information on patients and nursing homes through the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. The research included nursing home residents who were 65 years old and older and living in nursing homes in California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona or Colorado.

The study was led by Michael Gerardo, adjunct assistant professor of community health at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Co-authors included Joan Teno, M.D., professor of community health and medicine and end-of-life care expert, and Vincent Mor, chairman of the Department of Community Health. Mor also served as lead author for a 2007 study that suggested blacks were more likely to live in poor-quality nursing homes than whites.

The researchers concluded that more research was needed to determine the implications of their findings.

Source: Brown University

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Study: Hispanic nursing homes provide lower quality of care

Bedsores are one of the most serious problems facing people with disabilities or the elderly who are bed ridden, use a wheelchair for mobility, or are unable to change positions without help. They can develop quickly, progress rapidly and are often difficult to heal. They are often caused by sustained pressure on the body and usually happen in areas that aren’t well padded with muscle or fat, such as the spine, tailbone, shoulder blades, hips, heels and elbows.

An autopsy listed Gerhardt’s death as caused by complications from a hip fracture and that the manner of death was an accident. Despite the ruling, the attorney general’s office continued to investigate the case.

Last week, the owner of the nursing home was found guilty of felony abuse and neglect in Gerhardt’s death. The nursing home faces a possible $5,000 fine and could be stripped of its ability to receive federal payments for health care. Sentencing is schedule for March 13.

The family of Gerhardt filed a civil suit in 2006 against the nursing home. It was settled out of court.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home found guilty in death of man left on bedpan for 24 hours

Pressure sores, also known as bedsores or pressure ulcers, are areas of damaged skin and tissue that develop when sustained pressure – usually from a bed or wheelchair – cuts off circulation to parts of the body. The sores are most often found on the skin on the buttocks, hips and heels. Lack of adequate blood flow can cause tissue in the area to die. If left untreated, pressure sores can lead to serious or life threatening infections of the skin, muscle or bone.

Bledsoe urged a group of concerned citizens at a town hall meeting last week that vigilance and frequent visits can help prevent neglect.

Bledsoe’s advocacy group has continued to look out for the rights of nursing home residents. The group has lobbied for a stand-alone, long-term care facility in Oklahoma for sex offenders so they would not have to be admitted into other facilities. The group also has fought to have all allegations of abuse be reported to police for investigation, rather than just to state agencies that don’t always follow through with a formal investigation. The group also has helped garner attention for cases of abuse and neglect in nursing homes, most recently the “abuse-for-thrills” case at Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home advocate says to heed warning signs of neglect, abuse

Lloyd was indicted earlier this week on eight charges, seven of which are felonies, by a New Castle County grand jury for financially exploiting and physically neglecting the man, who had suffered from strokes, partial paralysis and seizure disorder. He has since died from unrelated causes.

According to the report, police were asked to go to the home in September of 2007, after someone had reported a man was unattended in Lloyd’s home. The man was found unattended on the second floor of the home. The home had no electricity, was unkempt and was littered with dog feces. Adult Protective Services was called but did not remove the man from Lloyd’s care.

Seven months later the man was admitted to Christiana Hospital with four bedsores. He was later released back into Lloyd’s care, but at a different address. Six weeks later, a caseworker from Protective Services went to check on the man and found him alone in the dining room. He was lying on a hospital bed with no sheets and surrounded by debris and food on the floor around him. He was admitted back to the hospital and treated for bedsores. This time, Protective Services removed the man from Lloyd’s care.

An investigation also determined that Lloyd was still taking the man’s Social Security checks even after the man was taken from her care.

Police are now looking for Lloyd. Anyone with information of her whereabouts should contact Newark Police Detective Andrew Rubin at Andrew.Rubin@cj.state.de.us or call Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP 3333.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Police look for woman accused of neglect, exploiting elderly man

But the damage had been done. Even after Raybon had been stabilized by a hospital and then admitted to another nursing home, his health spiraled downward. He suffered from more bedsores and infections and died soon after.

Raybon’s daughter, Yolanda Latimore, repeatedly pleaded to management at Tucker Nursing Home to take better care of her father, to no avail. A DeKalb County jury found that Raybon’s months of suffering was unjust. After a four-year lawsuit, the jury awarded Raybon’s daughter $1.25 million. The defendants are expected to appeal the case, according to the story.

Bedsores, also known as pressure sores or decubitus ulcers, are a serious problem with patients who are bedridden. Nursing home patients are among the most susceptible. Bedsores form when skin and tissue break down from constant pressure and bad circulation. They occur most often in the hips, lower back and heels. At first, the skin becomes red and irritated and eventually open sores develop.

If left untreated, the open sores can bore down into the muscle and bone, known as decubitus ulcer formation. Treatment of serious decubitus ulcers may include drying out the wound, excising the dead tissue, and administering systemic antibiotics. To prevent the occurrence of bed sores, bedridden individuals must be moved every two hours to minimize rubbing, pressure and friction.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Patient’s daughter wins lawsuit in death from serious bed sore

However, of the 37,150 complaints inspectors received in 2007 about the condition of nursing homes, only 39 percent were substantiated and about 20 percent of those verified complaints involved patient neglect.

Measuring the quality of a nursing home is not always clear-cut. More that 1.5 million people live in 15,000 nursing homes throughout the country. Each facility is inspected annually and must meet federal standards in order to participate in Medicaid and Medicare. Unfortunately, while the standards are the same from state to state, deficiency rates vary.

“Inspectors are subjective and inconsistent. They interpret federal standards in different ways,” the Times quotes Bruce A. Yarwood, president of trade group American Health Care Association. Thus, some states show much higher percentages of deficient nursing homes than others, in what may not necessarily indicate a vast difference in quality of service.

In December, the Bush administration will institute a five-star system to rate overall quality of care in nursing facilities. The rankings will be published on a federal Web site, according to the New York Times report.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Gauging nursing home care quality can be tricky

Perhaps the most useful tool on the site is the National Watch List, which provides a listing of nursing homes cited for violations or that have received substantiated complaints. This list is broken down state by state and then alphabetically by the facility name, with color-coded warning labels and scope/severity codes.

MemberoftheFamily.net also provides an honor roll of facilities found to be deficiency-free.

The organization was founded in the mid-1990s by Dr. Edward C. “Terry” Watters, a Maryland physician fed up with the low standards and lack of sufficient care some of his patients were receiving in nursing homes. Watters and partner Dennis Steele petitioned for government reports about nursing homes and learned how to translate the federal Online Survey Certification and Reporting (OSCAR).

According to the site, “As they assembled the facts and ran statistical analyses, a bleak picture emerged of understaffing, physical abuse, untreated bedsores, and coldhearted decision-making by home operators and state officials charged with monitoring facilities.”

Since 1999, information on MemberoftheFamily.net has been available to the public at no cost. The organization is affiliated with no other group and all efforts have been self-funded.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › web site gives free nursing home info

Other states on the “worst reporting” list are Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.

Results of the report were published in the New York Times May 15, which says the study “reveals a widespread ‘understatement of deficiencies’ including malnutrition, severe bedsores, overuse of prescription medications, and nursing home resident abuse.”

The study was requested by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis., Chairman, Senate Special Committee on Aging). They have introduced a bill to upgrade nursing home care and increase penalties for federal standards violations.

Beasley Allen hears from people every day who are shocked and grieved to find their loved ones have suffered at the hands of the very people they expect to provide expert care and compassion. Certainly, increasing penalties seems like a step in the right direction.

David P. Sloane, a spokesperson for the AARP, which lobbies for older Americans, praises the effort, quoted by the Times as saying it is “one of the most significant nursing home reform initiatives” in two decades.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Alabama Among Worst