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

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Silver Lake Care Center

Investigators cited the nursing home in February saying it failed “to screen for, prevent, identify, report and investigate abuse.” Former director of nursing Terri Conley said she resigned from the home in January because the home was severely understaffed. “If you don’t have enough staff, the residents are not going to get the care they need,” she told the newspaper. “Families of the residents noticed and came to me asking why there wasn’t enough staff.”

Several families have filed suit against the home for neglect and wrongful death, and a caretaker at the home, Jason Pearl, was charged last month with abuse. He is currently in Washington County Jail awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for next month.

The nursing home is also facing a litany of financial woes. The Housing and Urban Development’s Public Affairs Office said that an FHA-insured mortgage at was in default, which prompted the home’s closing, and at least one staffing agency is reportedly suing the nursing home owner for nonpayment.

Eddie Martin of Sallisaw is listed as a part owner in the home. Martin also holds an interest in seven other homes in Oklahoma, three of which no longer receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars because of serious code violations. A fourth home is currently under order to clear up deficiencies by May 8 or lose its federal funding as well.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › OK nursing home closes amid allegations of abuse, neglect

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

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

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

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

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Bixby police arrested Marshall and charged him with making a lewd proposal and sexual battery. He was transported to Tulsa jail where he was held on $27,000 bond. He was released Saturday.

“There might be nothing to this, but we felt the authorities must make that call,” said Scott Pilgrim, the nursing home owner. “Because our resident safety and well being is what we stand for, we took this action.”

Cases of nursing home abuse and neglect are not uncommon. In Oklahoma alone, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services recorded 160 referrals of abuse, neglect or exploitation. Forty-four – or 70 cases – were verified by caseworkers, according to a related story on Tulsa television station Fox23.

Wes Bledsoe with the advocacy group A Perfect Cause who spoke with a reporter about the case says that the nurse who walked in on Marshall did the right thing, adding that all cases of suspected of abuse or neglect of nursing home patients should be immediately reported to law enforcement and the state Department of Health.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Oklahoma man accused of sexually abusing nursing home patient

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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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State investigators cited 16 infractions in a 370-page report released earlier this month.

One abuse claim stems from a patient, Carol Crow, who was found by family members covered in bruises on her face, around her neck and completely down her chest. Crow’s family is convinced that Crow was attacked, but the nursing home disputes that claim, insisting that she simply fell.

Another allegation of abuse, detailed in five pages of the report, is of patient who claimed he was hit by another resident day after day. His femur and hip were broken in the attacks, and he died a month later.

“In my opinion, we need a new owner of this facility who’s going to take action for the residents in their care,” says Wes Bledsoe of the Oklahoma Health Department that investigated the claims and filed the report.

The Health Department is recommending Whispering Pines not be allowed to accept any new Medicare and Medicaid patients until the deficiencies are corrected. If the center isn’t in compliance within six months its Medicare and Medicaid payments for existing patients could be cut off.

Whispering Pines has presented a plan to the Department of Health stating that it will correct all violations by Nov. 28.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Oklahoma nursing home faces fines for endangering patients

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For one resident and her family, it was downright stressful.

Last June, a resident in the facility to receive physical therapy after having surgery on both knees, needed to get to her regular orthopedic doctor appointment. She was not ambulatory, needing a mechanical lift to be moved from the bed to the bathroom, and wheelchair to get around. She had to get to her doctor’s appointment in her hometown 32 miles away. The nursing home said its van was unavailable to transport her, leaving the resident and her family in a bind.

When administrator Pamm Dickey got word of the situation, she demanded the family pick up the resident by 5 p.m. that Thursday. The family scrambled, calling around and finally locating another nursing home. But that facility couldn’t accept her until Friday. Dickey was unwilling to budge. Using lewd language, Dickey demanded the family remove the resident from Pleasant Manor by the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline. Never mind that the other nursing home wasn’t ready for the resident. The woman’s family could just move her into their home in the interim, she was reported as saying.

However, moving the resident to the family’s home simply wasn’t an option. They were not equipped to lift and move her when she needed to use the bathroom, much less provide the skilled nursing care she needed. Even if it were for one night, the family just wasn’t able to do it.

Still, Dickey wouldn’t bend, becoming combative with the other nursing facility’s administrator over the phone. That administrator, who said she was “shocked” by Dickey’s unethical conduct, told Dickey she had no choice but to call Adult Protective Services. Dickey’s response, according to the administrator who reported her: “She proceeded to tell me to tell APS to bring a car to pick [the resident] up then because I will set her a– on the g—— curb!”

A 151-page report on the investigation into Pleasant Manor cited several incidents of emotional and verbal abuse by Dickey, including the incident mentioned above as well as berating residents for pushing their call buttons too often at night and arguing with one resident over a remote control. Dickey resigned Aug. 13, but dismissed the claims, saying “What is written (in the report) is not the truth by any means.”

Meanwhile, Pleasant Manor was found by surveyors as subjecting residents to immediate jeopardy and was fined, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has denied payment for all new residents admitted there who require coverage by Medicare or Medicaid effective Oct. 14 until the home achieves compliance with federal and state regulators.

Dickey’s case will be heard before the Oklahoma State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators, who will then determine the status of her license.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home administrator cited for verbal, emotional abuse

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Jack Crow believes the first call should be to the police.

Crow believes his wife was abused in an Oklahoma nursing home; an investigation determined that her injuries were due to a fall. Regardless, Crow is joining forces with the nonprofit organization A Perfect Cause to make crimes against nursing home patients immediately reportable to police, according to Oklahoma City’s KOCO 5.

A Perfect Cause is a victim’s advocacy organization fighting “to end needless suffering and preventable deaths while protecting the rights of citizens from corporate greed and negligence.”

Crow argues that standards for crimes against nursing home patients shouldn’t be different from the rest of the public. “If she (Crow’s wife) had been assaulted at a KMart, we wouldn’t talk about the proper response. We would have called the police,” he told KOCO 5.

The state’s district attorney and attorney general’s office agree. “When you have a crime scene, there is evidence,” said Scott Rowland, of the Oklahoma County district attorney’s office. “There is witness testimony in these crime scenes.”

A committee was formed to look into the proposal.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home advocates fight to change crime-reporting statutes

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According to the news story, the abuse occurred at the Oak Hills Living Center from August 2007 through February 2008.

In addition to the abuse, family members say Curnutt was neglected, left in soiled bedding and clothing.

KOTV quotes Curnutt’s father, Richard Curnutt, as saying, “He’s incontinent. Been left wet. Been left dirty. I’ve had to go down and say, ‘please change James.’”

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Oklahoma man abused, neglected

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

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

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

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

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

Read the full story in the New York Times.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Alabama Among Worst

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