Nursing Home Abuse

Hollywood Legend Mickey Rooney Testifies in Congress About Elder Abuse

March 30, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland nursing home abuse attorneys recently discussed different types of elder abuse, plaguing aging victims in nursing homes across the country. According to the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, all nursing home residents are entitled to freedom of abuse, neglect and misappropriation of funds. Elder neglect and abuse are also considered criminal acts regardless of whether they occur inside or outside of a nursing home.

Earlier this month, legendary Hollywood actor Mickey Rooney gave a passionate testimonial in Congress about the problem of elder abuse, affecting 3.5 million victims in this country every year—including movie stars like Rooney.

Rooney, who is now 90-years old, testified before a special Senate committee considering legislation to curb senior abuse, telling the committee about the main forms of elder abuse and neglect–physical and emotional abuse, where elders don’t get the help or treatment they pay for at nursing homes, and financial abuse, where an elder’s life savings can be stolen or swindled, often by people who are closest to them.

In Rooney’s case, he made shocking allegations against his stepson and stepdaughter, claiming that while they were in charge of providing care of their mother and Rooney, they embezzled $400,000 of his life savings, took his Oscar and Emmys, put a lock on his refrigerator and left him with one pair of shoes.

In February, a Los Angeles judge extended a restraining order against his Rooney’s stepson, alleging that he threatened, harassed and intimidated him into signing his assets over to him, and that he prevented him from leaving his home. Last week, a settlement was reached between Rooney and his stepson and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz approved the provisions of Rooney’s voluntary agreement to make his attorney permanent conservator of the actor and Rooney’s estate.

Types of Elder Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes

March 8, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Baltimore, Maryland nursing home injury attorneys we have recently discussed the topic of elder abuse in a nursing home abuse blog, and the prevalence of abuse in health care facilities and communities across the country, unlawfully causing harm, personal injury, and even death to older and vulnerable adults.

According to the NCEA and the NCCNHR, types of elder abuse include emotional, physical, verbal, sexual, and psychological abuse, as well as neglect, intimidation, abandonment, and exploitation.

• Physical abuse includes inflicting physical pain or injury on an elder, or the threat of inflicting pain. Physical abuse also includes hitting, pinching, slapping, shoving, and force-feeding, along with rough handling during nursing home care and treatment, when being moved, cared for, fed or given medicine. Physical abuse can also result from a nursing home staff member or an outside intruder or visitor.

• Emotional or psychological abuse inflicts mental pain, anguish, or distress on an elderly person or nursing home resident through verbal and non-verbal acts, which includes ridiculing or cursing a resident, threats of punishment or deprivation, rejection or isolation.

• Sexual abuse is non-consensual sexual contact where a resident is tricked, forced, threatened or coerced into performing acts of a sexual nature.

• Neglect is the failure to provide elderly adults with basic needs, such as proper health care and medical treatment, shelter, protection or food, which can result in conditions like dehydration, malnourishment, incontinence, pressure sores, incontinence, depression and immobilization.

Elder Abuse—a Rampant Problem in Nursing Homes

March 2, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Elder abuse, as our Baltimore nursing home abuse attorneys have reported in a related Maryland elder abuse blog, is a term used to refer to any treatment by nursing home staff, a health care provider, or any other person that is negligent, intentionally causing harm or a great risk of harm to an elderly adult who is vulnerable.

According to the NCEA, research indicates that more than one in ten elders experience abuse, with only one in five reported every year. The White House reports that every year approximately 700,000 to 3.5 million elderly Americans are abused, exploited and neglected. Studies show that elders are often abused by the very people that they trust the most, like spouses, family members, personal acquaintances or professionals in a position of trust.

According to the NCEA and the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (NCCNHR), types of elder abuse include physical, emotional, verbal, mental, psychological, and sexual abuse, as wall as exploitation, neglect, abandonment, or intimidation.

Elder abuse can happen anywhere, in nursing homes, healthcare facilities or in the community, and is a problem that remains to be under recognized, causing elders to experience consequences that can lead to personal injury or even wrongful death.

“Granny Cam” Footage Captures Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect—Shuts Down Home

February 3, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the use of hidden cameras or “Granny cams” in nursing homes, and how one hidden camera investigation led to the arrest of twenty-two healthcare workers, after the video showed rampant nursing home neglect and abuse.

A residential care home in California has recently been shut down after the grandson of an elderly resident captured footage on his small “granny cam” that reportedly showed his grandmother being abused by the staff, treatment that according to the resident’s family led to her wrongful death while she received care in the elderly home.

Shortly after Kyong Hui Duncan moved into Fair Oaks elderly care, her grandson installed a camera by the bed to ensure that his grandmother did not experience any nursing home abuse or negligence. But when he visited his grandmother, Seah Suh would often find the camera unplugged.

After Duncan died, Suh reportedly discovered footage that captured Duncan being moved to and from her wheelchair in a violent manner, with abusive shaking by a staffer. The staff members are also being accused of improperly restraining Duncan, and failing to care for her in a fast enough manner after she had fallen. After seeing the footage from the “Granny Cam” the California Department of Social Services investigated the home, ordering that the home’s operators close their doors. The state is also reportedly moving to permanently revoke the home’s nursing home license.

Nursing Assistants Sentenced to 2 Years For Taking Derogatory Photos Of Helpless Residents

January 27, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore County nursing home attorneys were stunned to see the recent details revealed in a nursing home abuse sentence from this month, where two women working at a Tennessee nursing facility were given a two-year prison sentence for engaging in the abuse of elders by taking video and photos of severely disabled residents on a cell phone in degrading and helpless positions.

According to the Knox News Sentinel, two Pigeon Forge Care and Rehabilitation Center nursing assistants, Mary Ann Burgess and April Longmire, 52 and 37, were indicted after the TBI, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found that the two certified nursing assistants took photos at the center from 2007-2009 that were, according to Judge Richard Vance, the Sevier County Circuit Court Judge, shocking, offensive and reprehensible.

The duties of the two women included changing, dressing and feeding adults in the home who were severely disabled, from mild dementia to severe Alzheimer’s disease. According to the TBI, the photos were discovered after a cell phone was turned in and administrators tried to figure out who the missing phone belonged to. After TBI interviews, it was determined that Longmire was the owner of the phone, who is also stated to be one who instigated taking the photos.

Photos that were taken by Burgess and Longmire reportedly include images of naked elderly residents in helpless positions lying on the floor, in the bathroom, or in their beds, as well as abusive and degrading shots of some residents attempting to eat while food fell from their mouths.

Man Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Nursing Home Rape of Elderly CA Resident

January 26, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news, a 43-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years in California state prison for the 2002 assault and rape of a woman residing in a Palo Alto, California nursing home.

As our Baltimore, Maryland employment attorneys previously reported on this case in a blog, Roberto Recendes pleaded guilty in October of last year to one count of sexual penetration by force, one count of elder abuse, and also pleased guilty to a penalty enhancement for inflicting bodily injury on the elderly woman.

Recendes was only linked to the 2002 crime when a DNA sample was taken from him after he was convicted of domestic violence in 2004. Two years after the conviction, his DNA was matched to the sample taken at the nursing home rape crime scene. In 2002, the case drew national attention, after a high school student was arrested by the Palo Alto police, and reportedly forced to confess to the nursing home abuse and rape crimes. The student was later exonerated of the crimes due to the DNA evidence.

As our Prince George’s County nursing home attorneys have stated in a previous blog, under the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, residents have the right to live in a nursing home environment that is safe, and provides quality care and attention that improves and maintains their highest mental and physical well being, and is free from nursing home abuse and negligence.

Nursing Home Owner Pays Family $3.5M For Neglecting Resident’s Penile Cancer

January 25, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A 3.5 million nursing home negligence settlement has been reached in the lawsuit against Washington-based Everett Care & Rehabilitation, that our Prince George’s County nursing home injury lawyers discussed in a recent blog, where the family of 97-year-old nursing home resident Charles Bradley sued the home for abuse and negligence after the resident tragically suffered from penile cancer that allegedly led to his wrongful death.

According to the lawsuit, in 2007, a nurse told the home’s care manager that Bradley was experiencing skin breakdown on his penis that needed treatment. The care manager allegedly neglected to tell the doctor about Bradley, who had been a resident since 2004. Four months after the initial report, Bradley started to lose weight due to an infection of the wound, yet allegedly continued to receive no care and remained untreated.

By the time Bradley reached the emergency room in March 2008, the doctors reportedly discovered a gaping skin wound and a severe infection that had led to the total disintegration of his genitalia. The court documents claim that Bradley’s skin wound was neglected and went untreated for months in the nursing facility, developing into life threatening penile cancer. Bradley died just over two weeks after entering hospital.

Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) reportedly began investigating Bradley’s case before his death, and cited the center for failure to provide a federal standard of care for Bradley as required by law.

The owner of Everett nursing home reportedly agreed to pay Bradley’s family $3.5 million, after the family sued Everett Care & Rehabilitation in 2009 for nursing home abuse and neglect for failing to protect and care for the elderly and for failing to provide Bradley with his lawful right to great nursing home care as well as his daily basic nursing home needs—causing serious harm to Bradley that allegedly resulted in his wrongful death.

Children of Hollywood Actor Gene Barry Sue Nursing Home for Elder Abuse and Negligence

December 15, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore nursing home injury attorneys have been following a recent lawsuit filed by the children of well-known Hollywood film and television actor Gene Barry, who allege that a nursing home neglected to monitor the actor’s health after he suffered a tragic nursing home fall, which led to his death.

Barry was reportedly admitted to Sunrise of Woodland Hills nursing home in stable condition in June of 2009 at the age of 90, even though the home was not equipped to properly care for the actor’s health needs, as he suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Barry’s children allege that their father suffered a devastating nursing home fall at the facility in December of 2009, that left him with major head injuries, brain damage, broken ribs, and an injury to his hip. The lawsuit claims that after Barry’s fall, the nursing home failed to notify a doctor and Barry’s children, and for four days he was neglected while he suffered in great pain. According to Barry’s family, this nursing home fall caused his wrongful death.

Barry’s children state that the nursing home staff, management and corporate officers are liable for nursing home negligence, elder abuse, wrongful death and nursing home fraud, in relation to the tragic incidents that led to Barry’s death. The suit claims that Barry was not properly assessed during the pre-admission process in the home, and the facility staff and management reportedly falsely represented the home to Barry’s children—as Barry was promised a nursing home environment filled with a proper standard of care that he was legally entitled to. The complaint alleges that the facility fell short of this promise, and was not equipped to handle Barry’s needs.

Federal Nursing Home Reform Act Compliance

December 6, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog, our nursing home lawyers based in Baltimore, Maryland discussed the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, (NHRA) and the standards and services legally available to residents under the act, to prevent nursing home negligence, abuse, or substandard care.

The main objective of the NHRA is to make sure all nursing home residents are entitled to receive quality care and attention in a nursing home environment that improves and maintains their highest mental and physical health and psychosocial well being. To secure that quality care is provided in homes, the NHRA requires that homes provide each resident with certain services, and a Bill of Rights.

As our Baltimore nursing home attorneys reported previously in a blog, nursing homes receive Medicare and Medicaid payments for long-term resident care only if they receive state certification to be in compliance with the NHRA requirements. To monitor whether or not nursing homes meet the requirements, the act established a certification process that requires each state to conduct surveys in the home that are unannounced and poised at irregular intervals, at least once every 15 months.

The surveys reportedly focus on the residents’ quality of care, rights, quality of life, and the home’s provision of resident services. Targeted surveys are also performed, with resident interviews, and any nursing home negligence or other resident complaints against the home are required to be investigated.

Residents’ Rights under the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987

November 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As our Baltimore, Maryland nursing home injury attorneys discussed in a recent blog, under the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, (NHRA), all residents living in nursing homes are entitled to receive quality care and attention in an environment that improves and maintains their highest physical, mental health and psychosocial well being.

According to AARP, in 1986, Congress ordered a nursing home study to be performed by the Institute of Medicine, IOM. The study reportedly revealed widespread nursing home negligence, abuse, and substandard care. The IOM proposed massive reforms, a large majority of which became law in the passing of the NHRA, which is part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation act of 1987, (OBRA).

The NHRA secures quality care by requiring certain nursing home services to every resident and by establishing standards for these services. Required services include, periodic assessments of each resident, pharmaceutical, rehabilitation, and social services, a care plan for each resident that is comprehensive, and the services of a full-time social worker if there are more than 120 beds in a nursing home.

A Bill of Rights was also established under the NHRA to secure quality care for each resident. Under the Resident’s Bill of Rights, a resident has the right to freedom of nursing home neglect, abuse and mistreatment, and the right to treatment that is free from physical restraints. Under the act, residents and patients also have the right to privacy, the right to be treated with dignity, the right communicate freely, the right to have medical, social, physical and psychological needs accommodated, the right to exercise self determination, and the right to participate in reviewing their own plan, with full disclosure in advance about any changes in treatment, care, or status change within the nursing home. Nursing home residents are also entitled to communicate any problems without experiencing any discrimination or retaliation.