Last month, a northern California nursing home received a severe citation and $100,000 fine for allegedly overmedicating an 82-year-old stroke patient with a blood thinning drug. These penalties were imposed following an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the patient’s 2011 death while in the facility’s care.
According to a representative of the organization that filed the complaint with state regulators on behalf of the family, the unidentified patient entered the care facility a year after a stroke left him partially paralyzed. The patient was receiving the drug Coumadin as part of his treatment plan.
The complaint focuses on an incident in May 2011, in which the patient fell from his wheelchair, and according to nursing home records, hit his head and sustained a black eye and other facial bruises. While experts stated the fall should have resulted in the man’s immediate hospitalization, it wasn’t until his daughter insisted that this action was taken four days later. At that point, the man was found to have low blood pressure, multiple organ failure, and a subdural hematoma. Additionally, and most shockingly, hospital admission records indicate that the man’s blood thinner medication levels were allegedly 18 times the normal levels. He died shortly thereafter.
According to the organization helping the family, in 2010 the company who owned the nursing home at the time of the man’s death was required to pay $29.1 million in connection with the death of a different patient in another facility that it owned.
In Maryland, nursing homes are subject to the Code of Maryland Regulations, which provides a set of stringent requirements that all of the licensed elderly care facilities across the state must comply with. One key requirement under this scheme provides that nursing homes in Maryland must establish policies and procedures that will prevent neglect and abuse of facility residents. Failing to implement these regulations can provide a basis for legal action against a nursing home.
If your loved one or an elderly friend in the Maryland or the Washington D.C. areas has suffered from nursing home abuse or neglect, get in touch with the knowledgeable nursing home negligence and abuse attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen right away. We can evaluate your case and help assess whether your loved one or friend may have a cause of action against the nursing home, and what you should do next. We have several years of experience assisting people across Maryland in securing compensation for harm, and in certain cases wrongful death, caused by nursing home neglect or abuse. Contact our office at (800) 654-1949 in order to set up your free and confidential initial consultation. You may also contact us online through our website.
More Blog Posts:
Syracuse Nursing Home Faces Federal Sanctions for Substandard Care, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, published April 16, 2013
Three Connecticut Nursing Homes Face Fines for Negligent Care, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, published April 9, 2013