The elderly nursing home resident lives in an Alzheimer’s unit at Champaign County Nursing Home in Urbana, Illinois. The nurse who is accused of attacking him had worked at the home for just a few weeks before the incident occurred. Two people at the nursing home witnessed the attack and called police. Though the victim didn’t require medical treatment, Hill was arrested and charged with aggravated battery to a senior citizen. It is a Class 3 felony, which carries a sentence of probation to two to five years in prison.

According to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, aggressive behavior is common among people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. According to the Foundation, “Disruptions commonly occur if a person with Alzheimer’s feels their personal space has been invaded, for example, during dressing, bathing, or a doctor’s appointment. It’s important to understand that someone with Alzheimer’s is more likely to misinterpret certain actions and respond aggressively.”

That said, those who care for individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia should be specifically trained on how to minimize aggression in patients and how to handle aggression when it occurs. For more on caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s who has become disruptive, see the alzinfo.org discussion at http://www.alzinfo.org/treatment/communicating/default.aspx#4.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home aides need training to handle dementia patient aggression

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Caregivers of individuals who suffer from dementia and live at home should take precautionary measures to ensure their family member’s safety. This includes installing deadbolt or slide-bolt locks on exterior doors and limited access to potentially dangerous areas of the home. (Never lock a person with dementia in a home without supervision.)

Many nursing homes also take steps to keep patients suffering from cognitive disorders from wandering out of the home, such as keeping units locked and making sure residents prone to wander wear bracelets that trigger an alarm if they wander outside a safe area.

Even with such measures in place, some patients still manage to escape. Earlier this week the Chicago Tribune reported that an 81-year-old Illinois man who suffered from dementia was found dead on the side of a road after wandering out of his nursing home. He had slipped out a window.

And late last month we told you about an Ohio woman with dementia whose body was found 100 feet from the nursing home where she had wandered from earlier that evening.

For information on how to keep your family member safe, visit the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Wandering injuries, deaths a big concern for those with dementia

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According to the investigation, only 20 minutes passed since a nursing home staff member saw the victim and the time of his death. An alarm also sounded when the man passed through a security door.

The resident who died suffered from dementia, a condition that often makes its victims prone to wandering. Many facilities who treat patients with cognitive disorders have security doors and alarms to alert staff when residents wander out of range.

Just last month we told you about a resident of a Massachusetts nursing home who died after the wheelchair she was in rolled down a flight of stairs. The woman had wandered off from the nursing home unnoticed. Family members argued nursing staff should have taken stronger measures to ensure her safety. She was not wearing the doctor-prescribed security bracelet that would sound an alarm if she wandered too close to the facility’s exit. Regardless, family members want to know why no one on staff even noticed her leaving. In that case, the parent company, Life Centers of America, which owns Life Care Center of Acton, was charged with manslaughter neglect of a long-term care facility resident. The company faces up to $6,000 in fines.

Sources:
Brenham Banner-Press

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home resident dies after fall down steps

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Warren’s daughter Linda Meldrum repeatedly warned nursing home staff about her mother’s propensity to wander. She felt her mother was finally safe in a home with a locked unit. But Friday evening something went terribly wrong.

Last Friday, Warren’s body was found on the side of the road just 100 feet west of the nursing home. She was rushed to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she died hours later. Police say Warren disabled the alarm on the door of her room and wandered up the home’s long driveway to Detroit Road, where she was struck by a vehicle that then left the scene.

Warren’s family wants justice and is filing suit against the nursing home for allowing Warren to escape, which resulted in her tragic death, according to The Chronicle-Telegram.

Good Samaritan, which has an 87.7 overall satisfaction by the Ohio Long Term Care Consumer Guide, released a statement stating, “Out of respect for the privacy of the resident and their family, we cannot share any further information, other than to note that all other residents of our health care center are safe.”

Meanwhile, police say they are “basically working with minimal evidence” in the case and hope someone comes forward soon with information about the hit-and-run.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Family sues nursing home over resident’s hit-and-run death

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The victim, 54, was a resident of Raintree Convalescent Hospital. He suffered from dementia and schizophrenia which caused him to have difficulty swallowing his food. When he moved into the home in June 2006, doctors ordered that he follow a soft diet and required supervision while he ate as he “stuffs his mouth with food.”

On Nov. 19, 2008, the man was given a lunch of spaghetti with two whole meatballs, tossed salad, roll, two cookies and milk. A certified nurse’s aide served the man in his room and then left him alone to eat. While the man ate, the meatballs became lodged in his throat. He walked out of his room and up to a nurse in the hallway. He was pale and unable to speak and then collapsed. Nurses performed the Heimlich maneuver but were unable to dislodge the food from the man’s throat. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed but the man died.

The cook and the nurse’s aide were fired for negligence and the nursing home conducted a dietary training for all nursing staff. Though new procedures were put in place, the home received a AA citation from the California Department of Public Health. AA citations are rare and are the most serious penalty a California nursing home can receive, according to the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home receives steepest penalty in resident’s death

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Two daughters of one of the victims, Sharon Deboer and Gwendolyn Ketterer, say they became suspicious when their mother, who suffers from dementia, began acting unusual last year. In January, one of the sisters was contacted by another employee at the home, who told her that a male nursing assistant had been sexually molesting her mother. The sisters say they received no further notification from the nursing home about the incident even though a complaint had been filed with the Department of Health three days earlier. Worst of all, the man suspected of the assault continued to work at the home for weeks after the initial complaint was made. The sisters began to feel the home was trying to cover up the wrong-doing.

“It was just, everything changed. The whole atmosphere of the place changed that’s why we felt that and when my sister went to talk to an authority up there, everything was denied,” Ketterer told the newspaper.

Castle Manor Board President Rich Nelson says he has received other “minor” complaints and is aware of the three victims’ complaints. He says the nursing home took action and fired the nursing assistant following an investigation into the incident.

Castle Manor, which is operated by Fall River Health Services, is the only long-term care facility in Fall River County.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home fires CNA weeks after allegation of sexual assault

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The bipartisan Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2009 “prevents nursing homes from deliberately hiding clauses within the fine print of contracts that force seniors to surrender their right to trial by jury and enter an unfair and one-sided mandatory binding arbitration process,” according to the American Association for Justice.

This is good news for the thousands of nursing home residents and their families, many of whom have already signed these one-sided agreements that leave them defenseless, like the family of Dean Cole.

In January, we told you about Cole, whose family had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home where Cole lived for just 22 days. During his short stay at Golden Living Center Greeley, Cole, who suffered from dementia and required assistance, stopped eating or taking medication and dropped an alarming 20 pounds. Even after his wife questioned nursing home staff about his weight loss, they told her Cole was fine. He was later admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with severe dehydration, renal failure, pneumonia and colitis. He died 10 days later.

Unfortunately, Cole’s family was made to sign a one-sided mandatory binding arbitration clause, which denied them the right to trail by jury. The case is still pending.

“The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act will make sure negligent nursing home corporations can be held accountable by our most vulnerable citizens,” said American Association for Justice President Les Weisbrod. “This bill will prevent nursing home corporations from unfairly preying on seniors and stripping away their legal rights. Arbitration should only be voluntarily, not hidden away in the fine print of contracts during our seniors’ greatest time of need.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Bill protects nursing home residents from signing arbitration clauses

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DuPage County, Illinois

The freezing death of Sarah Wentworth has sent chills through the Itasca, Illinois, community where she lived – and subsequently died – at a nursing home. Wentworth suffered from dementia, which leaves its victims prone to wandering. She wore a band that would signal an alarm on the door if she wandered through it. Unfortunately, the nurses aide on duty the night Wentworth died was too caught up on a television show to pay attention to the alarm. Wentworth was left outdoors for five hours before she was found. By then it was too late and nursing home staff are being blamed for trying to cover up their negligence.

A state attorney wants to ensure more needless deaths like Wentworth’s don’t happen in nursing homes. He is urging the Illinois Department on Aging to establish an Elder Abuse Fatality Review Team to investigate claims of violence against elderly residents age 60 and older, including accessing previously restricted information such as nursing home records. The team would be made up of state attorneys, the sheriff, the county coroner, nursing home associations and senior citizen agencies.

A similar death review team was established last summer to review fatalities among senior citizens in domestic living situations. That team can investigate home care cases and retirement homes, but cannot investigate nursing home claims.

State approval for the Elder Abuse Fatality Review Team should come within the next few months. Team membership would be solicited shortly thereafter.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › State attorney hopes to form nursing home death review team

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The man’s wife had had enough. She sought legal counsel and as a result, Elderberry Square is facing a $1 million lawsuit in the severe neglect and abuse of the man, according to Salem-News.

Falls among seniors pose a major medical problem. While many injuries from falls can be minor, others can result in major cuts and bruises, broken bones and head trauma. Some may lead to hospitalization, disability, the need for continuous skilled nursing care, or even premature death. Falls also can have psychological consequences, such as depression, isolation and a decline in physical function due to lack of activity.

This is not the first lawsuit of this nature that Elderberry Square has faced. Two years ago, a similar lawsuit was filed against the home involving an Alzheimer’s patient who was repeatedly left unattended. That patient fell numerous times over a two-week period and soon died as a result of a fall.

While an investigation into both cases by the Oregon Department of Human Services found the charges of neglect to be substantiated, a second review resulted in a reversal of the investigators’ conclusion. Attorneys plan to challenge the finding through an appeal.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Facility facing lawsuits for leaving patients unattended

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The challenge is that both the 83-year-old assailant, Verne Gagne, and the 97-year-old victim, Helmut Gutmann, suffer from Alzheimer’s-related dementia. Not only can the disease dissolve memory, it also can make its victims agitated, anxious and aggressive.

According to family members, the two men had been in the lobby of Friendship Village nursing home’s memory loss unit near the nurse’s station when Gagne grabbed Gutmann and threw him to the floor. No one was present at the time and no one seems to know what caused the scuffle.

Family members said Gutmann didn’t remember how he hurt his hip, just that it hurt. He had surgery and was recovering until he stopped eating and died just shy of three weeks after the fall. The men had at least one other disagreement in the past, according to family members.

Gutmann’s family says they do not plan to press charges against Gagne but have questions as to the precautions the nursing home has in place to protect residents against such attacks. “It’s hard enough for people and families who are afflicted with Alzheimer’s. They shouldn’t also have to worry about physical vulnerabilities or the risk of harm,” says Gutmann’s daughter, Ruth Henning.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home resident, wrestler not likely to face charges in death case

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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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Authorities began to investigate Kern Valley Healthcare District’s Lake Isabella facility in January 2007 after an ombudsman reported to the California Department of Public Health that a patient had been held down and given an injection by force. An investigation revealed that at least one patient was given injections of mood-altering drugs because she was biting, hitting and kicking others. She never regained consciousness. Another received an injection after arguing with the nursing director and stayed in a zombie-like state for a week.

The California Attorney General’s office says 22 patients were involved. All victims suffered from dementia. Three patients may have died from complications from the drugs and one other may have suffered injuries.

An investigation led to the arrests this week of director of nursing Gwen Hughes and pharmacist Debbi Gayle Hayes. Dr. Hoshang Pormir, a staff physician, is also facing charges for approving the medication requests without first examining the patients. Hughes and Hayes face eight felony charges of causing harm or death to an elder or dependant adult and two felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon through overmedication. Pormir faces eight felony charges of causing harm or death to an elder or dependent adult. If convicted, all three face up to 11 years in prison.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home staff arrested for administering mood-altering drugs

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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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Broitzman and Larson are charged with abusing seven nursing home residents at the Good Samaritan Society. As many as 15 residents were abused and each had a previous diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. A total of six aides were charged in the crime, but only Broitzman and Larson were charged as adults, as the other aides were juveniles when the crimes occurred.

Broitzman is charged with 11 gross misdemeanors and Larson faces 10 for fifth-degree assault, physical and sexual abuse of vulnerable adults, disorderly conduct by a caregiver and failing to report suspected abuse, according to the Star Tribune/Associated Press. The abuse involved aides allegedly holding down residents, putting their fingers in residents’ mouths and noses to quiet their cries and screams, hitting and rubbing their breasts and genitals, and sexually “humping” some residents. A coworker said the aides called the abuse “work fun or to get a good laugh.”

Among the four juveniles charged, one pleaded guilty to failing to report the alleged abuse and three others pleaded not guilty.

Because the crimes Broitzman and Larson are charged with are considered gross misdemeanors, the aides will likely face suspended jail sentences and probation.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Albert Lea abusers meet with judge, enter pleas

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Connie’s grandparents, James and Anne Morgan, had saved nearly $500,000 for their care as they aged. The two moved into a retirement community in 2005 and had turned over power of attorney to their granddaughter. Anne suffered from dementia, and James, who had received a brain injury a few years earlier, was kept heavily medicated by his granddaughter. Connie charged her grandparents $7,000 per month to care for them, though other family members said that care was less than adequate.

During that time Connie had squandered her grandparents’ money away on cars, boats and gambling trips, often lying to her grandparents to get more money. As the funds in their bank accounts began to dwindle, family members began to get suspicious. They moved the Morgans into an assisted living facility, where their social security checks and the state could pay for their care. And they alerted police. When investigators talked with James and Anne, the Morgans defended their granddaughter. But the paper trail was already laid. Connie is now serving time in jail for embezzlement.

The Morgans are just one example of how the elderly are taken advantage of by friends, family and even strangers. Bryan Brock, a deputy district attorney in Clackamas County, says he has seen a dramatic rise in financial abuse among the elderly. Five years ago he used to see only two cases of a year. Now he sees about a dozen per year.

Families of the elderly who suspect financial abuse are advised to contact police with their concerns.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Woman jailed for embezzling from grandparents

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If Winchester Centre loses its contract, the home will stop receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments from the federal government and will no longer be certified to care for patients receiving those services. In that event, patients at the home would then be transferred to certified nursing homes, which may result in the closing of Winchester Centre. Officials say they are unsure what will happen to Winchester Centre and that other options besides closing are available, such as bringing in a new group of professionals to run the nursing home and incurring daily fines until specific citations are resolved.

Currently, 166 patients reside in the 183-bed facility. The home offers skilled nursing and rehabilitative care as well as a special unit for patients with dementia. Central Kentucky already has lost 400 Medicaid beds for nursing home patients, said Gannoe. “It’s a disaster for Central Kentucky,” she says.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Kentucky nursing home facing most serious citation

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Rose of Sharon nursing home pressured Larry to pay his mother’s bill. He promised to sell her house, but instead took out the loan. And still, the bill was left unpaid. The nursing home contacted the county’s adult protection department which found that Larry had been pocketing his mother’s social security and pension checks, totaling $3,000 per month. Reports also show that Larry drained nearly $11,000 from his mother’s checking account, leaving her with a balance of just $86.

Larry told police he was using the money from the sale of his mother’s house to carry out her wishes. He paid utilities and medical bills, paid his son’s mortgage, and gave another $10,000 to $20,000 to his nephew. But none of the money went to pay for his mother’s care.

Larry was accused of intentionally exploiting his mother, though he claimed he was simply just poor at managing money. He was charged in Ramsey County District Court last week with theft by swindle.

The county began paying for Nora’s hospice care last spring, according to reports.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home resident’s son charged with theft by swindle

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Last week, Cole’s family filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against the nursing home seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

Cole’s wife visited her husband daily and, noticing his weight loss, questioned nursing home staff about his eating habits. She was told he was fine, according to the story. However, a State Health Department investigation noted that staff had reported that Cole refused to eat or take medication and that he ate nothing at 15 out of 24 meals he was served during his first 20 days at the facility when he lost all the weight. A nutritional supplement was recommended by a dietary manager but the supplement was never ordered. A doctor was notified about Cole’s refusing of medications and food but there was never any mention of his dramatic weight loss, according to the report.

On Dec. 29, 2006, Cole was sent to the hospital. He was discharged to a different nursing home for hospice care on Jan. 10. He died on Jan. 21, 2007.

The investigation into the case found the home negligent in the care it provided Cole by “not preventing his dehydration, not maintaining his weight and not notifying his doctors of his dramatic weight loss,” according to the story.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home sued for wrongful death of man with dementia

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Five days later, the same woman was found lying in her bed naked while Chandler sexually abused her. When the nursing aide found Chandler he asked the nursing aide not to tell authorities. Meanwhile, his victim cried hysterically. For months after the incident, the woman refused to eat and would have crying episodes.

Chandler was charged with first-degree sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration for the alleged molestation of the woman. A judge found him unfit to stand trial and committed him to a mental health unit.

The lawsuit, filed Monday against Healthcare at Foster Creek, alleges that the nursing home failed to protect one of its most vulnerable residents. The lawsuit also contends that 38 complaints of abuse or neglect were substantiated at the home between 2004 and 2008.

Nursing home administer Bill Swanson, who came to Foster Creek three months before the sexual abuse incident, says he is aware of the nursing home’s troubled past but he and a new management company are working to change things for the better.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home faces $2 million lawsuit for sex abuse incident

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Working off of a grant from the Kansas Department of Aging, researchers trained staff at three Kansas nursing homes on what sexuality means to older adults, identifying barriers to fulfilling the sexual needs, finding strategies to help residents and how to discern appropriate from inappropriate sexual behaviors. That includes identifying the root of the patients’ needs – be it sexual desire or simply loneliness – and also understanding if a sexual overture or relationship involves abuse or is borne of real need.

“It wasn’t like we hadn’t cared for these needs in the past, but it was liberating to some folks to have an open discussion with university researchers,” says Lillian Claassen, vice president of health services at one of the homes that received training. “It empowered people to think about how they could help folks.”

Advocates say that sex education in nursing homes will become more important as more baby boomers age and need skilled care. The researchers say that guidelines need to be in place to ensure that sexuality in nursing homes is dealt with in a positive way.

“The ultimate goal should be to value the desires and needs of people who have lived long, productive lives and do not forfeit their rights simply because they have aged,” says Robin Dessel, a national expert on dementia, in the report.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Sexual intimacy among residents not unusual in nursing homes

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“I’d never give any kind of consent for any of that,” says Martin Bowman, Bruce’s son and legal guardian, to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Martin approved all his father’s medication but said he was never told that the drug given to control his father’s agitation and physical aggression could kill him. In clinical trials, patients who died while taking Risperdal suffered from cardiovascular or infectious complications. Other side effects include vomiting, weight loss and muscle stiffness.

Risperdal is approved by the FDA to treat people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism with irritability. In 2005, the FDA issued the black box warning about the possible death in patients with dementia. A public investigator found that the nursing home was using consent forms that were seven years old, and thus didn’t show the black box warning.

Bruce died at the Taylor Park Nursing Home on June 19. His family says they visited him weekly and noticed he had started to deteriorate. They questioned nursing home aides who provided no answers. It was Bruce’s ex-wife, a former registered nurse, who discovered the medication Bruce was taking had a black box warning. The state Bureau of Nursing Home Resident Care investigated the home and found no violations of federal regulations by administering the drug.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Family says nursing home didn’t reveal black box warning

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“What they did was awful. My mother-in-law tried to tell us … she did everything to keep people away — biting, hitting, striking out,” she was reported as saying in a story by the Star Tribune. “Somebody needs to stand up for our moms and grandparents.”

The abuse is part of a investigation into the “attacks-for-thrills” case where six nursing home aides were accused of abusing cognitively impaired residents at Good Samaritan Society for on-the-job entertainment. According to prosecutors, the aides held down residents, put their fingers in residents’ mouths and noses to quiet their cries and screams for help, hit and rubbed their breasts and genitals, and sexually “humped” some residents.

Two of the accused – 19-year-old Brianna Broitzman and 18-year-old Ashton Larson – are charged as adults with assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct, and failure to report suspected maltreatment. All are gross misdemeanors. Four other aides, all charged as juveniles, are charged with not reporting the suspected abuse. The Freeborn County Attorney says Broitzman and Larson will likely face suspended jail sentences and probation, which family members think is an outrage.

A family member, who is not named, contacted Wes Bledsoe, president and founder of A Perfect Cause, a watchdog group that fights “to end needless suffering and preventable deaths while protecting the rights of citizens from corporate greed and negligence.” Bledsoe came to Albert Lea to organize a town hall meeting, which was preceded by the press conference. At the gathering, Bledsoe denounced the county attorney who filed the charges, Good Samaritan, and the Minnesota State Health Department. Bledsoe argued that had the two women charged with the crimes been men, they would be facing much more serious felony charges instead of misdemeanors.

“They thought they could get away with it, because the residents had dementia, couldn’t speak up for themselves. Well, if they are guilty, maybe they will get away with a slap on the wrists,” the Star Tribune quoted Bledsoe.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Families, advocate speak out at Albert Lea town hall meeting

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The family members raised concerns of their aunt’s welfare, and questioned the choices of a third niece, who had power of attorney over the aunt. It was she who placed the elderly woman at Bissell Hospital.

After communicating by e-mail with the hospital, the two nieces in late July released the DVD evidence to the Delaware Division of Long Term Care Resident Protection. The agency inspects the 46 skilled nursing homes and four intermediate-care facilities and oversees licensing, conducts criminal background checks, enforces regulations and monitors the welfare of nursing-home patients.

Shortly thereafter, all three nieces were banned from the facility until mediation of a public guardian. The guardian requested the elderly woman be moved to another facility. The move was approved and is planned to take place in January.

The investigation resulted in the firing of three employees and the suspension without pay of two others. Four of the five employees also have been placed on the state’s Adult Abuse Registry, a list of caregivers who have been accused of abuse. Three of those employees are appealing to be removed from that list. There are 246 people on that list and 25 are pending appeal.

The Delaware Attorney General’s Office did not say why it will not prosecute the caregivers in this case.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › No charges filed against caregivers who abused ailing aunt

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Brianna Marie Broitzman, 19, and Ashton Michelle Larson, 18, are charged with assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct, and failure to report suspected maltreatment. Broitzman and Larson are face up to a year in jail and $3,000 fine if convicted.

Prosecutors say that the women held down residents, put their fingers in residents’ mouths and noses to quiet their cries for help, hit and rubbed their breasts and genitals, and sexually “humped” some residents. The aides called the humiliating abuse, “work fun to get a good laugh,” according to reports.

Four other teenaged employees have been charged in juvenile court for failing to report the abuse.

State health department investigators reviewed the medical files of all patients who were suspected of being abused, and made personal visits to the 12 survivors. All 15 patients had some form of cognitive disorder, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Many were physically disabled and almost all required assistance with activities of daily living.

Minnesota health officials told the Associated Press this week that abuse in nursing homes is rare. However, this week the department reported another case of alleged sexual, emotional and physical abuse of six resident by a nurse’s aide at a nursing home in Montevideo, Minn. The employee, who was fired, denies the allegations. Authorities say that it is unlikely the nurse’s aide will be charged as the patients suffer from cognitive disorders that limit their ability to testify.

Albert Lea has a population of 20,000. With 240 employees, Good Samaritan Society is one of the town’s largest employers.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Three victims deceased in Albert Lea ‘abuse-for-thrills’ case

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The violent acts are hard to fathom. Corey Austin, a certified nursing aide (CNA), was convicted of using racial epithets and attacking a patient by assisting another staff member in taking the patient back to his room and then repeatedly pushing the patient onto the floor. Austin then allegedly pinned the patient to the bed with his knee. Austin, who will be sentenced in January, faces a two-year sentence.

Those charged with crimes against the elderly include CNA Patricia Penman, who is accused of slapping a 100-year-old patient in the face. The patient has dementia and physical disabilities that left her unable to defend herself. Penman is charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and willful violations of health laws, according to the news report.

CNA Jeffrey Perry was charged with the same offense stemming from a late August incident in which he tied a patient with dementia to a chair for two consecutive nights. Licensed practical nurse Jeanette Sovereign found the patient alone in his room and is accused of knowing about the abusive act but not reporting it to proper authorities.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Cuomo continues to investigate nursing home abuse, neglect

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According to state health department documents, the victim had only been at Grace Living Center a short time before she was attacked. Staff witnessed the incident and told the charge nurse, who said to get the woman and dress her. Shortly afterward, the woman was found crying and moaning. Staff noticed she was bleeding and contacted police and the woman’s daughter. The victim was later sent to the hospital.

The attacker is a male resident with a history of fondling female residents who are unable to call for help. He also suffers from dementia. The state contends that Grace Living Center staff was aware of the man’s wandering but did not take proper measures to prevent him from harming others. Nursing home resident advocate Wes Bledsoe asked the district attorney’s office to consider filing charges against the perpetrator.

Investigators reported to the State Department of Health that the facility also “did a poor job of protecting evidence” by removing the linens and clothing from the crime scene and putting them in the laundry before they could be investigated by police, according to the news report.

Grace Living Center released a written statement saying it took immediate steps “to provide safety and care of the residents and the male resident was promptly removed from the facility.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home blamed for resident molesting another resident

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

Last summer, White walked into Manor Care Nursing Home in Philadelphia and somehow left the building with the woman, according to the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Daily News. The woman, who suffers from vascular dementia and a brain tumor, was living out her last days in the nursing home. Doctors say she has less than six months to live.

White drove the woman to a local bar for mixed drinks and then to a park where they drank beer until the early morning. When he returned her to the nursing home, staffers noticed White was shirtless and his pants were unbuttoned. White said he was a friend of the woman’s as he drove away.

Staff later noticed bruises on the woman’s mouth, neck and arms, and that she was not wearing underwear. A DNA sample taken from White matched semen from the victim’s anal cavity.

Because the victim has a diminished mental capacity and is unable to form consent, it is automatically considered a rape case, police said.

White is being held for trail on 15 counts of rape and related charges.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Philly man charged with raping dying nursing home patient

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The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act is sponsored by New Mexico’s senior senator, Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis.

This process could greatly reduce the number of nursing home abuse and neglect cases that plague the long-term care industry. These are tragedies we hear about daily in the news, like the report two days ago of the Jacksonville, Ill., woman suing her father’s nursing home for his wrongful death just 19 days after he was admitted; or the painfully sad story last month of the four nursing home aides in Minnesota who taunted and molested 15 residents suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia simply to “get a good laugh.”

“This bill is an important step in providing the safeguards needed to prevent abuse and mistreatment by those who care for our elderly and disabled,” Sen. Domenici was quoted as saying in The Daily Times. “I hope the Senate will pass it during this legislative session.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Senate to consider Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention bill

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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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There is truly a special place … well you know where … for people who would do something like this. According to the report, which was carried by local CBS affiliate WCCO, the nursing assistants allegedly spit in residents’ mouths, poked their breasts and touched their genitals, and teased them.

Nursing home abuse has to be one of the most incomprehensible acts I encounter in my work with personal injury cases. I just don’t understand how people who are supposed to offer care and comfort, security and peace, could be so cruel. Particularly in the case of Alzheimer’s or dementia patients, who so often are bewildered and afraid, adrift in unclear memories and unsure of what is happening around them to begin with. To abuse these defenseless people – it’s just inexcusable.

Unfortunately, there is still no system for compiling official national statistics about nursing home abuse and neglect. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, as a result no one knows precisely how many older Americans are being abused, neglected or exploited.

The major types of elder abuse are physical abuse, which includes inappropriate use of drugs and physical restraints; sexual abuse; emotional or psychological abuse, which, in addition to verbal attacks or intimidation includes enforced social isolation and treating an older person like an infant; neglect; abandonment; and financial or material exploitation.

It is most often left up to the individual – family members of loved ones – to monitor the care provided by their chosen nursing home facility. Too often, distance prevents regular visits, and families are left to worry, and hope for the best.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › a special place …

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