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

Iowa Governor Chet Culver signed a bill in to law this week that removes fines imposed on nursing homes that do not meet minimum health and safety standards, according to the Des Moines Register.

Under the new law, nursing homes would no longer be fined for not having competent, licensed administrators or caregivers in their facilities; not having a qualified nurse on duty, or for understaffing at the facility, one of the leading contributors to resident neglect.

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Early Sunday morning an 86-year-old resident of Kruse Village retirement home in Brenham, Texas, pushed the wheelchair he was riding in out of the sight of nursing home staff and through a security door to a short flight of steps. That’s when police believe he accidentally rolled down the stairs and sustained serious injuries that killed him. While police strongly believe the death was an accident, because he died of unnatural causes they are investigating how and why the accident occurred.

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California nursing homes are taking advantage of last year’s cuts to the state’s ombudsman program and slacking off on responsibilities to their patients, according to Ombudsman Services of Northern California. The organization lost two-thirds of its staff when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed $3.8 million in funding for long-term care ombudsman programs last year, according to News 10.

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An Iowa nursing home has been ordered to pay $7,000 in federal fines for not investigating complaints from staff and residents about sexual abuse from a male nursing aide. Eight separate incidents of abuse against different residents had been made to managers and supervisors at New Homestead Care Center involving staffer Juan Bautista-Meraz, according to the Des Moines Register.

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No one disputes that 74-year-old Julia McCauley, a resident at Life Care Center of Acton in Massachusetts rolled her wheelchair outside the front door of the home where she had lived five years. She had done it on more than one occasion. But in August of 2004, her trip through the exit resulted in her tumbling down a flight of stairs. She died shortly after the fall.

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State Sen. Dan Kotowski said he had good intentions when he sponsored a bill in the Illinois General Assembly that would refund fines paid by nursing homes that promised to use the money to improve care at their facilities. But opponents of the bill say it is faulty and would only “eliminate the financial disincentive for bad behavior,” according to the State Journal-Register.

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The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has issued its most serious citation against a Winchester nursing home and as a result it will lose its Medicare and Medicaid funding, according to the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader. The citation is based on claims of abuse and neglect at Winchester Centre for Health and Rehabilitation that Health and Family Services officials would not detail. However Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency executive director Kathy Gannoe says her agency has received 31 complaints about the nursing home. Almost all were resolved satisfactorily, she says. However, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to move forward on its plans to terminate its contract with the home by February 7.

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A Norman, Okla., nursing home could face fines of up to $3,000 a day for numerous deficiencies, including allegations of not fully investigating abuse allegations and endangering patients’ health by not providing condoms to a sexually active, HIV-positive patient, according to KTUL-TV.

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Iowa lawmakers who complain about state inspectors being overly aggressive in their surveys of nursing homes have been receiving thousands of dollars in contributions from nursing home officials, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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On March 3, the Des Moines Register reported that in 2007 the state fined 23 Iowa nursing homes $10,000 or more for providing substandard care. Some of those homes were also hit with federal fines and sanctions against their state licenses.

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