Linda Darlene Carter was living at Hillcrest North nursing home where she was receiving care following an automobile accident during which she received multiple blunt force injuries. She was the passenger in a vehicle that collided with another automobile at an intersection, according to reports. She died at the nursing home on March 27, 2008. The medical examiner who reviewed the case said that Carter died of “dehydration due to inadequate care” following the accident and listed her death as a homicide.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the “suspicious” death of Carter and may turn the case over to the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office. The Attorney General’s office would then decide whether to present the case to a grand jury for any criminal charges.

The lawsuit, alleging nursing home abuse and/or neglect, was filed by Cater’s son and daughter, Andrea Lawson and Anthony Cohoon, against Hillcrest Healthcare North and Hillcrest Healthcare LLC. Since the lawsuit was filed, the nursing home forged a partnership with Grace Health Care. Grace is not named in the lawsuit.

Hillcrest Healthcare President and CEO Carolyn Pointer referred comments to Grace Health Care, which declined commented based on lack of knowledge.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Family of neglected woman sues nursing home for $35 million

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Apparently an Arbor nursing home employee was so engrossed in the television program she was watching that she simply ignored the sound of the security alarm, according to MSNBC. When employees did finally see her body lying out in the bitter cold, they tried to cover up the fact that she had wandered away on their watch and froze to death. They brought her inside, covered her up, and told police she had died in her sleep.

But police were suspicious when they found the woman, still cold to the touch, in a hospital gown and lying on a gurney hooked up to an oxygen machine. Authorities quickly surmised that the staff never made the 3 a.m. bed check and ignored the door alarm. The woman’s daughters contend that gross neglect lead to their mother’s wrongful death. They filed suit against the nursing home just one week after their mother died.

Up to four female nursing home employees are expected to face criminal charges in the case.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Police: nursing home staff tried to cover up patient’s cause of death

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Which makes Wentworth’s death even more mind-boggling. She was found dead Feb. 5 outside in the nursing home’s courtyard wearing nothing but a hospital gown, according to the Chicago Tribune. Investigators say she must have been outside about 90 minutes before she was found. But that was plenty of time for the elderly woman to freeze to death.

Wentworth’s family is understandably distraught as they deal with the unfathomable way the elderly woman died. In an effort to find answers and justice, the family has filed a lawsuit alleging neglect and abuse on the part of The Arbor of Itasca nursing home.

Unfortunately, these sad cases of nursing home residents wandering outdoors and perishing in the cold, winter temperatures is not uncommon. In December we told you the story of a 95-year-old Missouri woman, Fannie Mae Rooks, who wandered outdoors in the early morning of Christmas eve. It was between 36 and 40 degrees outside and a light rain was falling. By the time she was found, it was too late. Investigators in that case believe the weather contributed to her death.

In both cases, no criminal charges have yet been filed, but Wentworth’s family members hope justice is served and their mother’s death vindicated.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Illinois woman freezes to death outside nursing home

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After discovering numerous bruises all over her body, the family of resident Armeda Thomas hid a video camera in her Madison Manor room. For three weeks they recorded nursing assistants physically abusing and taunting Thomas and failing to feed and clean her, according to state records. In one instance, a nursing aide was seen dancing in front of Thomas while another staff member held the resident’s arms.

The video tape showed several nursing assistants partaking in the physical abuse of Thomas. Extendicare, the Wisconsin company that owns Madison Manor, fired nine nursing assistants, made staff changes, and set up a retraining program for staff as a result of the videotape. “We do not condone this kind of behavior,” said a spokesperson for Extendicare in the report.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office says the investigation is ongoing and additional charges could result. The home also was cited by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, threatening its Medicaid certification. The state later issued a statement saying that the nursing home’s management had taken steps to correct the problems.

Thomas’ family members moved Thomas home after seeing the tapes. She died last month after complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home aide shocked by wanton neglect charge

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I-1029 requires all new caregivers beginning in 2010 to be certified by the state, undergo an FBI background check and get at least 75 hours of training. The initiative is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

PAS-Port for Change, an eight-member statewide steering committee, argues that the initiative fails to address the core issues of abuse and neglect against the elderly and disabled. While it supports the training of caregivers, the organization believes the type of training and the method of delivering that training should be in the hands of the clients.

Debb Snyder, a member of the PAS-Port for Change steering committee who also is disabled, has tried but failed to get SEIU to circulate a questionnaire to those who use caregivers on the quality of care they receive. The questionnaire asks whether the recipient has been verbally or physically abused by a caregiver, whether a caregiver has failed to show up for work or arrived under the influence of drugs or alcohol, whether a caregiver has asked them for food or money or threatened them with abandonment, according to the story.

Snyder says she would like to use those questionnaires during interviews with the accused caregivers as a means of training.

The Washington Attorney General’s office forwards complaints of abuse and neglect to Adult Protective Services, which in turn investigates each case to determine if criminal charges are warranted. The state receives about 13,000 complaints of abuse and neglect each year from adults living in their own homes.

“We’re not against the workers,” Snyder says, “but they need to be trained by us.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Advocacy group wants more control over caregiver training

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Disability Rights Washington (DRW), a nonprofit organization that protects the rights of people with disabilities, reported numerous examples where the three state agencies charged with investigating reports of abuse and neglect failed to protect frail adults. For example, clearing a nursing home of abuse allegations against a 93-year-old resident with suspicious injuries without reviewing photographs or talking to witnesses.

The three agencies cited in the report include Adult Protective Services, Residential Care Services and Health Professions Quality Assurance. The Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) oversees both Adult Protective Services and Residential Care Services. The state Health Department oversees Health Professions Quality Assurance.

The Seattle P-I report cites 2006 data that claims only 10 percent of the more than 13,000 complaints made to Adult Protective Services were substantiated; less than 6 percent of the nearly 23,000 complaints made to Residential Care Services were substantiated; and Health Professions Quality Assurance took disciplinary action in less than 10 percent of the more than 6,500 complaints it received and pursued no criminal charges against a single facility.

All three agencies claim they have insufficient staff with inadequate training to meet the demands of their offices. A spokesperson with Residential Care Services, which investigates allegations against nursing homes and other residential services, says it has begun investigating specific reports of abuse in all facilities. And while the agency recently hired seven additional staff members, they are still too understaffed to oversee the state’s 3,000-plus licensed facilities.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Washington agencies accused of not investigating abuse claims

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The four aides from Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minn., were fired after a coworker revealed that she was aware of the four women abusing residents, the Star Tribune reported. The aides allegedly held residents down whey they resisted, put their fingers in residents’ mouths and noses to quiet their cries and screams, hit and rubbed their breasts and genitals, and sexually “humped” some residents, according to the Star Tribune. Three additional aides who knew about the abuse but did not tell authorities also were fired.

The story quoted one aide as telling investigators that the four women did the reprehensible acts to make “work fun or to get a good laugh.” Another aide was quoted in the story as saying the women accused were confident that the residents wouldn’t complain because they “don’t have their minds.”

The abuse apparently began early this year and lasted for several months. Family members were told in May that something had occurred but did not get details until this week. The story reported that three of the 15 residents have died and the others cannot be interviewed by investigators because they suffer from diseases that affect memory and cognition.

Good Samaritan Society is based in Sioux Falls, S.D., which operates 40 nursing homes in Minnesota. The Freeborn County Attorney is considering criminal charges.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Minnesota nursing home aides abuse patients for thrills

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