The Inspector General’s Office of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services didn’t see the humor in the incidents and has requested Kentucky facilities to prevent the same such use of cell phones among staff.

Some residents were photographed only partially dressed or in compromising situations, such as walking into the bathroom. Others’ voices were recorded as they screamed or made other comments.

In once incident, a woman with Alzheimer’s disease was recorded saying, “I gotta do-do,” to indicate she needed to use the bathroom. The employee who recorded her reportedly played it back to at least 15 people standing at the nurse’s station. At least one staff member said the use of cell phones during the weekend night shift was “out of control.”

Reports of inappropriate cell phone use have sprung up in recent months. Last March, an Oklahoma nursing home employee was arrested after using his phone to videotape his abuse of residents. Last month in Tennessee, two nursing home workers were fired for using their cell phones inappropriately in the home.

A representative with Bluegrass said that all employees involved in the incident at the Kentucky home have been fired and that all 10,000 employees with Signature Healthcare, the company that owns Bluegrass, have been re-educated on the company’s cell phone policy. Those who use cell phones in a resident area are subject to immediate termination.

Source: Kentucky.com

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Kentucky investigators urge nursing homes to ban cell phones

Interviews with Bluegrass Care and Rehabilitation Center in Lexington Kentucky staff including aides, licensed staff and housekeepers revealed that no one recognized the photos and recordings as abuse and as a result did not report the incident to management.

The nursing home received a Type A citation from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services for not enforcing its policy prohibiting staff members from having cell phones in resident-care areas. A Type A citation is the most serious citation a nursing home can receive. “The facility failed to have an effective system in place to ensure (that) residents were protected from abuse,” the citation said. “The facility’s failure placed residents in imminent danger.” The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services found residents to be in immediate jeopardy and imposed a $6,550 per day fine on the nursing home.

A spokesperson with Bluegrass Care and Rehabilitation Center said the facility conducted an internal investigation and as a result fired several employees who participated in the activities. Management also said it is working with state and federal agencies to insure that residents are protected. The facility’s “foremost concern is the care and protection of its residents, and we have taken this matter very seriously.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home staff fired for taking inappropriate photos of residents

Hidden video surveillance

The indictments follow the guilty plea of a third nursing aide, Jaclyn Dawn VanWinkle. Van Winkle was sentenced to 12 months in jail but will serve two years probation for agreeing to testify against other cases of criminal conduct at the nursing home.

Family members of Madison Manor resident Armeda Thomas became suspicious about her care and placed a hidden video camera in her room. The videotape showed a total of nine nursing assistants physically abusing the woman and failing to clean or feed her. Thomas’ family members moved her out of the home, and she later died from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

Extendicare, the Wisconsin-based company that owns Madison Manor, fired the 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.

Hidden video surveillance has led to convictions of numerous nursing home residents since the practice has been approved in select states. New York has used the practice throughout the state, which has led to the conviction of more than 25 nursing home employees.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Hidden cameras lead to nursing home abuse charges

The lawsuit claims that Skilled Healthcare Group issued a rule that Latinos must speak English only, even with other Spanish-speaking residents at the home, while on nursing home grounds, and during breaks. However, that rule was not enforced with individuals from other ethnic groups, such as Tagalog. The Latino workers also claimed they suffered from other forms of harassment from nursing home management.

The nursing home group disputed the allegations, saying it settled the lawsuit to avoid an expensive and time-consuming lawsuit.

One Latino nursing aide said a Spanish-speaking resident told her in Spanish that she needed to use the bathroom. When the aide responded in Spanish she was told by a supervisor that she would be disciplined and possibly fired if she continued to speak Spanish while at work.

The conscent decree requires Skilled Healthcare Group to divide $180,000 among 53 workers as well as offer them English classes. Upon completion of the classes, each worker will receive an additional $2,500. The nursing home group also will provide antidiscrimination training. The group was also instructed to hire a monitor to ensure the home complies with federal law.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home group must pay Latino workers in discrimination lawsuit

In January 2008, two employees at Radius Health Care Center in Quincy, Maine, saw their co-worker Elizabeth Landry, a 25-year-old nursing assistant, slapping a man on the head with an open hand, swearing at him and calling him and obscene name. She also reportedly pulled the man out of his wheelchair and threw him into a bed. The man was a stroke victim and used a wheelchair for mobility.

Landry said the man had struck her in the face with a menu, but the incident was enough to get her fired from Radius Health Care Center. The nursing home, as it is required, reported the incident to Maine’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs. A social worker informed the man’s stepdaughter of the alleged assault two days after it occurred.

Landry was charged with assault and battery on a disabled person over 60. She entered a plea agreement in the Plymouth District Court. Based on her previous military service and lack of criminal record, the judge gave what the man’s stepdaughter considered a lenient sentence. Landry was ordered to complete an anger-management course and to stay away from the man she abused. The case will be dismissed in one year if Landry manages to stay out of trouble.

Source: Patriot Ledger

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Woman disappointed in judge’s treatment of abusive nursing aide

One report says that John Mitchell-Whiteford, the former manager at the Drey House Nursing Home in St. Neots, left a fallen resident on the floor for an hour and a half, stepping over her at one point while she lay there. He reportedly shouted at the resident and took a walking stick away from her even though she needed the stick for mobility.

The daughter of that victim, Carol Porter, claims her 90-year-old mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease was left unclean and freezing cold in a room with open windows. Porter referred to the home as a “war zone,” adding that the staff at the nursing home were negative and the facility was overrun with concerning incidents. Porter said her mother “looked as if she was fading away, she seemed malnourished.”

The allegations date back to 2002, when Mitchell-Whiteford was named clinical manager. He claims the complaints stem from employees who resisted actions to improve the quality of care at the nursing home. The mental health nurse faces charges brought by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Mitchell-Whiteford could be fired if found guilty of the actions. A hearing, which began late last month, has been scheduled to resume in September.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home manager faces claims of abuse, neglect

Mentally ill people ages 22 to 64 make up 9 percent of the nation’s 1.4 million nursing home residents, a number that has climbed 6 percent since 2002. That increase is attributed to the closing of state mental institutions and a shortage of hospital psychiatric beds.

Allowing mentally ill patients, many with a history of aggression toward others, to live in nursing homes with the elderly has had tragic results. In 2003, a 23-year-old woman was accused of starting a fire in the nursing home where she lived, which killed 16 fellow residents. The woman was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed to a mental institution.

Earlier this year, a 21-year-old nursing home resident diagnosed with bipolar disorder with aggression was charged with raping a 69-year-old resident. Seventy-seven-year-old nursing home resident Ivory Jackson died a brutal death when his mentally ill roommate – 30 years his junior – bashed his face in with a clock radio.

“Sadly, we’re seeing the tragic results of the failure of federal and state governments to provide appropriate treatment and housing for those with mental illnesses and to provide a safe environment for the frail elderly,” said Janet Wells, director of public policy for the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, to the Associated Press.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Mentally ill threaten safety of nursing home patients

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

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

This week in Framingham, Massachusetts, the Boston Herald reported that a former nursing home aide was charged with sexually molesting a 62-year-old woman at Sudbury Pines Extended Care who had recently suffered a stroke which had greatly limited her ability to speak.

Despite her condition, investigators were able to interview the woman. She was able to answer yes and no questions and point to various parts of her body. From that, investigators ascertained that nursing aide Kofi Agana reportedly walked into the room of the victim while she was awake and her roommate asleep, and closed the door nearly all the way. He then rubbed the woman’s breasts and pinned her arms down as he touched her genital area. Agana was accused of assaulting the nursing home resident. He pled not guilty and is being held on $500 bond. He also was fired from the facility where he had worked since August.

In the same week just states away, 2 News TV reported that a Nampa, Idaho, man was arrested for sexually assaulting a mentally disabled resident of an assisted living facility where he worked as a case worker.

The accused, Thomas Hamlin, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The victim is reportedly in her 50s. The name of the assisted living facility where the incident occurred is not known, though reports say the incident occurred within the past few months.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Sexual abuse reported at nursing homes, assisted living facilities

Last fall, Thelma Bryant was a resident at Kane Glen Hazel nursing home in Pittsburgh when nursing home employees alerted officials that they had seen fellow employees on several occasions hit Bryant in the head, strike her in the chest with an elbow, throw oranges at her, stomp her feet and cuss at her. An investigation led to the arrests and firing of five employees.

Danielle Taylor, Shelly Keene and Karen Perry were charged with aggravated assault. Shalaya Hatten was charged with simple assault and neglect of a care-dependent person. And Mary Ann Bower was charged with summary harassment. Bower is the licensed practical nurse in charge of the nursing aides. Other nursing home staff members told officials they had seen Bower throw objects at Bryant and pour water over her head.

This week, charges were withdrawn against Taylor after the district attorney’s office said there wasn’t enough evidence to build a case against her. The court heard testimony from four other nursing home employees who witnessed the abuse those charged with the crime inflicted on Bryant. As a result Keene, Hatten and Perry will stand trail. Bower, the nursing supervisor, is still awaiting her preliminary hearing.

There is no explanation why Bryant was singled out by her abusers. Allegheny County executive Dan Onorato released a statement about the incident saying he was “incensed by the alleged actions by these five individuals…. We will absolutely not tolerate any level of disrespect, neglect or mistreatment of Kane Center residents.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Three to stand trail in Kane Glen Hazel abuse case

The single-story building burned so quickly that it was entirely engulfed in flames by the time fire fighters arrived. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined but many are beginning to suspect the 45-year-old building’s poor infrastructure and the gross negligence of a nursing home manager, who had been fined several times prior to the fires for neglecting fire safety rules. For one, he was repeatedly told to install smoke detectors but never did. The home’s staff also reportedly left residents unattended at night.

Russia has been plagued with fire deaths in recent years. In 2008 alone, more than 15,000 people died in fires – five times more than in the U.S. And thus far in 2009, 2,000 Russians have perished in fires. Over the past two years, at least six Russian orphanages, nursing homes and schools have caught fire, killing more than 100 people.

The country is populated by numerous aging buildings with weakened infrastructures and outdated electrical systems, making the buildings unsafe. Inadequate and dysfunctional fire fighting equipment makes fighting the fires difficult. That paired with social issues such as high rates of smoking and alcohol abuse have only exasperated the problem, according to the story.

Critics say the government would rather focus on defense spending, security services and “showy displays of the country’s military,” according to the story. Perhaps the biggest problem, says Boris Nemtsov, a member of congress and former Russian Deputy Prime Minister, is the government’s indifference to its own people.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Russian nursing home fire kills 23, proves fire safety lax in country

The police launched an investigation at the home, interviewing everyone there who had contact with Asher. It was only then that the staff director admitted to wrong doing – she had burned him with hot water. That admission led to the arrest of Seijdra Eribo on suspicion of felony injury of a disabled person causing severe bodily injury, according to the report.

A spokesperson with Medical Case Management said the company performed a routine criminal background check on Eribo before she was hired in 2007. She began work at the home as a nursing aide. The company fired Eribo for not fully cooperating with the investigation.

The home has not received any disciplinary action by state regulators in the past, and doesn’t plan to make any changes in the future as the home, he said, followed followed state regulations. “It bothers us. It really bothers me if she did it,” said Robert Taylor, program director for Medical Case Management.

Asher’s family still cries when they think about the burns their son sustained while at the nursing home. “That house should not be open for business,” said Asher’s sister Katrina, to CBS11 TV.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing aide arrested for burning disabled man

Washburn was working as marketing and admissions coordinator at Montrose when she spotted a coworker chiding a resident who was in a wheelchair. The worker, who had been with the facility 11 years, called the resident pathetic, reducing the patient to tears. Washburn reported the incident to the nursing home administrator, David Payne, but days later when he didn’t take action, Washburn took the matter into her own hands, calling state authorities to report the incident.

After all, it is state law to report suspected abuse. The “mandatory-reporter” law, which states that it is a crime for employees not to report cases of suspected dependent-adult abuse, exists in 45 states.

Washburn went one step further. She talked to coworker Tammy Hopp and encouraged her to tell the inspector everything she saw during the incident of abuse. But when Hopp met with inspectors she did not fully disclose the details, choosing instead to protect her coworkers. As a result of Hopp’s testimony, the abuse was ruled unfounded. And shortly thereafter, Hopp was promoted and Washburn was sent packing.

Washburn’s firing was not based on her reporting the incident of abuse, contends Payne. He says she was let go because, by coercing Hopp, she interfered with a government investigation.

Hopp has since testified under oath that she downplayed the incident to state authorities. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has reopened the case.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home worker fired after reporting abuse

She also gave authorities a false name, for there was a warrant out for her arrest after she failed to appear in court two weeks ago on a charge of driving with a suspended license. She was also on probation after pleading guilty to a Jan. 6 marijuana possession charge.

Deputies placed Peay under arrest and charged her with two counts of neglect of a disabled person. They also arrested her for the outstanding warrants and for giving a false name to a law enforcement officers. She is being held in Manatee County jail on $12,120 bond.

The nursing home administrator said Peay had worked for the company for several years, but that she was fired over the incident. Residents of North West Care Center are routinely taken on field trips to sporting events or to the theater; however, employees must follow strict guidelines, such as never leaving a resident alone. As a safety measure, North West Care Center is conducting training sessions for all staff.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Caregiver leaves patients alone at ball game

The AARP and trial lawyers say that the nursing home industry is simply trying to protect itself at a time when reports of violations at nursing homes are running rampant in the media. The opposition already has caused the powerful nursing home industry to revamp its “The Nursing Home Patient Protection Act of 2008” proposal, raising its proposed cap from $300,000 to $500,000. The lobby group also removed language opposed by AARP that would have allowed nursing homes to require their patients to sign arbitration agreements to prevent lawsuits and to require nursing home suits to have the same legal restrictions as medical malpractice claims.

According to a study conducted by the nursing home industry, Tennessee nursing homes paid nearly $5,000 on average per patient on liability costs, whereas states that had tort reform paid about a quarter of that on average per patient. A nursing home representative said that the mounting costs paid by nursing homes to defend lawsuits eats into profits that could be invested to improve patient care.

Tennessee Rep. Mike Turner, a firefighter who fought the 2003 Tennessee nursing home fire that killed 16 people, says the caps would open the door for more negligence. “These are our most vulnerable people and they earned the right to be treated with dignity in their old age,” Turner said to the paper. “I just think by capping it, we’ve done a disservice to them.”

The nursing home industry and trial lawyers have agreed to meet later this week to discuss a reasonable compromise.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Tennessee nursing homes lobby for caps on damage claims

Kane Glen Hazel, located in Pittsburgh’s Glen Hazel neighborhood, is run by Kane Regional Hospital. An investigation into the alleged incidents there resulted in the firing of five employees, and charges of aggravated assault and neglect of a care dependant have been filed against the suspects.

The investigation began in October, spurred by concerns from other employees. Officials relied on testimony from coworkers who had witnessed the abuse on several occasions from the five different former employees. Danielle Taylor, Shelly Keene and Karen Perry were charged with aggravated assault. Shalaya Hatten was charged with simple assault and neglect of a care dependent person. Mary Ann Bower was charged with summary harassment. She is the licensed practical nurse in charge of the nursing aides. She reportedly was seen throwing objects at Bryant and pouring water over her head.

Arrests were made in late November. Preliminary hearings have been scheduled for Jan. 5 for all but one of the suspects. No hearing has yet been set for Bower.

There is no explanation why Bryant was singled out for the abuse. Allegheny County executive Dan Onorato released a statement about the horrendous incident: “The care and safety of the residents is of paramount importance. I am incensed by the alleged actions of these five individuals. … We will absolutely not tolerate any level of disrespect, neglect or mistreatment of Kane Center residents.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Five employees fired, charged in abuse of elderly woman

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

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

Chmura had scooped the ice from the ice bin at By the Lake senior assisted living facility she owns in Hayden, Idaho. She immediately had a suspect in mind – a disgruntled employee who had just joined two other employees in a walkout to protest of a firing of two employees three days prior, according to The Seattle Times.

“I won’t put up with this crap,” Chmura told the newspaper. Chmura opened the facility two years ago.

Chmura contacted Kootenai County officials and informed them of the urine-in-the-bin incident as well as suspected theft and fraud by the former employees. The facility owner accused the former employees of stealing money and prescription drugs from the assisted living center, including OxyContin and hydrocodone. She claims the three made more than $10,000 in credit card purchases for personal items such as groceries and gift cards, restaurant dinners and theater tickets.

She told police that before the walkout, the employees woke up residents and told them the assisted living center was closing and that all employees had been fired.

Chmura is part of an advocacy group that fights for stronger laws against those who abuse and neglect vulnerable adults. The group is credited with triggering the 2005 state legislation that made abusing the elderly a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Disgruntled employee accused of putting urine in ice bin

The employee is accused of calling residents names such as “crack head,” cursing at them, borrowing money from then and even selling food to them from her nearby apartment. She berated residents for sitting down for meals at the wrong time and was described by residents as “rude and loud.”

An investigation by state inspectors led to the firing of the allegedly abusive employee.

Unlike most assisted living residents, many of the residents of Caring and Sharing Home for Adults require state grants to cover living costs above and beyond what their social security covers. Not only are several residents considered poor, many suffer from mental disabilities, making them easy targets for abuse.

The state would not give an overall assessment on the status of the home and a representative from the facility refused to comment.

Steve Lambert with the social services division of licensing programs said the downsizing of the state’s mental health facilities has left more mentally ill people with fewer choices in treatment homes. “These residents are finding themselves in these facilities,” Lambert was quoted in the story, “and unfortunately they (the facilities) are probably less equipped to handle the range of disabilities, and they don’t have sufficient financial resources to meet these needs.”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Assisted living employee fired for verbal abuse

The caregiver was spotted by neighbors five to 10 times over the next several weeks carrying the items out of Fenton’s house by the armload. When questioned by neighbors, the caregiver said she was a friend of Fenton’s and was simply delivering Fenton’s winter wardrobe to her in the nursing home.

When Fenton’s brother went to his sister’s home, he noticed several items missing. He called the police and filed a report. Officers questioned the caregiver. In her car were several items, but no clothes. The suspect also had a key to the Fenton’s front door.

Police scoured pawn shop records and suspected at least three of the rings had been pawned. Several other pieces of jewelry remain missing. Family members put the price tag of the missing jewelry at about $20,000. A search warrant turned up so much of Fenton’s belongings officers had to execute a second search warrant to actually take possession of the items, according to the story.

As it turned out, the suspect had a prior felony stealing conviction. She was since fired from the nursing home and now faces burglary charges in the Cambridge Retirement Residence case.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Caregiver steals thousands from patient’s home

WKTV News Channel 2 featured a story of an 89-year-old resident of Bethany Gardens Skilled Living Facility in Rome, N.Y. The elderly woman wore two rings on her fingers – a gold-and-diamond engagement ring given to her in 1940 by her husband, and a family ring made of various gemstones. The rings hung loose on her frail fingers, and when Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) Amanda Thaler offered to take the rings and have them fitted for her, the elderly women obliged. But Thaler never returned the rings, probably thinking the nursing home resident would forget. But she didn’t. She asked Thaler about the rings a half hour later and then later that day in the dining room. Finally, Thaler returned the family ring but kept the engagement ring.

When questioned about the engagement ring, Thaler suddenly claimed to feel ill, and caught a ride with her boyfriend, Sheldon Stoddard, who was a dietary technician at the nursing home. The two then drove to a pawn shop and sold the heirloom ring for a mere $15.

Bethany Gardens, rightly so, fired the couple over the incident, and the ring was recovered. It is currently being held by Rome Police as evidence. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office will take significant steps to protect New York’s seniors from those who abuse or steal money or personal possessions from seniors. “These employees are accused of stealing a personal heirloom with priceless sentimental value from a vulnerable nursing home resident for whom they were supposed to be caring,” he was quoted by the station.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing assistant caught stealing rings from elderly woman

The Des Moines Register reviewed 81 bonus payment programs in 36 different states. Iowa, which began participating in the bonus program six years ago, was one of the first to establish a bonus program.

Of the 36 states that participate in the bonus program, eight do not disqualify a nursing home from receiving bonus money based on regulation violations. Fifteen of the bonus programs are based on quality of care. Points also are awarded for having a large percentage of patients on Medicaid and for offsetting expenses such as property taxes, fire sprinklers, or paying the minimum wage.

Nursing homes that receive the most bonus money do not necessarily have the best rating, the report points out. The bonus program may appear to be an incentive program or to reward quality care; however, its purpose in some cases is to reimburse or offset cost of bringing homes up to state or federal standards or encourage more homes to accept Medicare-dependent patients.

The bonus program first came to light in March after the Des Moines Register reported that some of the state’s most deficient homes were receiving money from the bonus program. Since then, Iowa has begun revising its program, reducing payments to homes that have recently been cited for causing “actual harm” to residents and eliminating payments to homes that put residents in “immediate jeopardy” of death or injury.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Bonuses paid to nursing homes with no regard to quality care

But when Fitzgerald returned 2 ½ hours later, the facility was overrun with firefighters and deputies, according to the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.

While Fitzgerald was out of the building to handle what she later told police was a home health crisis, an 88-year-old woman fell on the bathroom floor. Unable to get up, she asked a fellow resident to call 911. When medical personnel from Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue arrived, they discovered there were no staff members on site and called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office to investigate.

When Fitzgerald returned, she willingly told police she had left a resident in charge. Police then found Vicodin, a controlled substance, in her pocket. Fitzgerald, 60, was booked on one count of abuse and neglect of the elderly, a second-degree felony and one count of possession of a controlled substance, also a felony. Police say other charges may follow. Fitzgerald was jailed with a $12,000 bail.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nurse arrested for leaving 21 assisted living residents alone

It seemed as if there was no one else to care for them.

A recent investigation has revealed that the residents there were subjected to deplorable living conditions, resulting in the nursing home closing and the Cincinnati Health Department being stripped of its ability to license and inspect skilled nursing homes and residential-care facilities, according to the Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer.

It all began last February when Cincinnati police officer Aaron Layton dropped by the facility in search of a suspect. He didn’t find the person he was looking for, but what he did find stopped him in his tracks. The condition of the home was sickening.

Officer Layton got a search warrant and returned 16 days later with other investigators and officers in tow. They were shocked at what they found: exposed wires, leaking sewage, soiled and torn mattresses, vomit on the floor, broken toilets, unqualified employees, improperly stored drugs and people languishing in their own waste.

“There was no compassion, no sympathy for people who were living in these conditions,” says Councilwoman Laketa Cole. “The very people you’d expect to be a proponent for them, failed them.”
The Ohio Department of Health reportedly inspected the facility in January and found 10 deficiencies. Just eight days before the raid in March, the state had cleared the facility of seven of the 10 problems cited, the Enquirer stated.

After months of debate, the City Council concluded city health inspectors had failed to protect the residents and ordered the city’s health department’s licensure and inspection responsibilities be handed over to the state.

Facilities administrator Abe Fischer could serve jail time because of 27 alleged building and fire code violations. He could learn as early as next week if the residential-care facility will lose its city license. The state began fining Fischer this spring – a bill that has reached more than $100,000 – and mandated that he no longer take on new Medicaid cases, according to the story.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Health department stripped of nursing home responsibilities

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

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

According to a report in the Senior Journal, the Government Accountability Office estimated in a July 2004 report that automatic sprinkler systems can decrease the chance of fire-related deaths by 82 percent. In March 2005, CMS began requiring all long-term care facilities that did not have sprinklers to install battery-operated smoke alarms in all patient rooms and public areas, the publication reports.

By 2013, all nursing homes will have to have sprinkler coverage in areas including resident rooms, kitchen, dining and activity areas, corridors, attics, canopies, overhangs, offices, waiting areas, closets, storage areas for trash and linen, and maintenance areas.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Lifesaving: not an option

The Register reports that records with names of caregivers fired for abuse were sealed beginning last August based on a new interpretation of a state law that has been on the books for 17 years, which specifies that judges are obligated to keep “unspecified types of abuse information” confidential. Prior to the new practice of sealing records, the names of Iowa caregivers fired for abuse were provided to Iowa Workforce Development, which could disclose them publicly.

Sealing the records eliminated public access to information such as names of workers fired for abuse, their employers, and cities where abuse occurred, making it difficult for families considering nursing home facilities to examine a facility’s history of safety. The Register reports that recently sealed cases included incidents involving a patient death, and the financial exploitation of a patient by a caregiver who took about $1,000 in cash and gift cards from a nursing home resident.

The new ruling allows public disclosure of the names of workers fired for abuse, their employers, and related agency records, but maintains the confidentiality of state investigators’ abuse reports, to protect the identity of nursing home residents involved in abuse situations. The decision also gives the public the right to review documents such as care facility inspection reports. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals keeps a database of more than 18,000 nursing home inspection reports, which is accessible to the public online.

Read the full article at The Des Moines Register online.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Abuse Records Reopened