Nursing Home Abuse

94-Year Old Sexual Assault Victim in Nursing Home Receives $12.5 Million

March 5, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Washington D.C. area nursing home lawyers, we have been following a recent lawsuit settlement, where a 94-year resident who lived in a convalescent home in Santa Clarita, California was awarded 12.5 million by a jury in punitive and compensatory damages for enduring nursing home abuse and sexual assault.

According to the lawsuit, Sophie Schwartz, a resident at Oakdale Heights facility who has dementia, was sexually assaulted by Jose Vazquez in her room on December 16, 2007. Vazquez was a dietary aid working at the facility, and was hired by Oakdale Heights Management Corporation, although he was allegedly an illegal immigrant.

The jury ruled that the corporation falsified certain documents relating to employment when hiring Vazquez, and also violated many California state laws that govern the quality of care for dementia residents in nursing homes that can lead to resident neglect, poor supervision, negligent in hiring practices and understaffing.

Vazquez allegedly had keys that gave him access to all of the resident’s room. According to the suit, his background check was not valid before being hired, and he had no training on how to deal with residents who were elderly. Vazquez was admittedly drunk at the time, and he claimed that he and other workers often drank on the job.

State Investigates Nursing Home for Possible Negligence and Chemical Restraint

February 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As nursing home attorneys in the state of Maryland and the Washington D.C. area, we have been following the recent Britthaven of Chapel Hill Nursing Home investigation where Alzheimer’s patients have tested positive for serious pain-management prescription drugs that weren’t prescribed for them, and that they weren’t supposed to be receiving.

According to a recent news article, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Unit have launched a criminal investigation of the nursing home to determine if the patients were being over-medicated, abused or neglected, or being subjected to chemical restraint.

The investigation began after three Alzheimer’s patients from the nursing home were taken to local hospitals after nursing home staff claimed the patients were acting in an unusual manner. The hospital officials contacted the police, and the state Department of Health and Human Services, and officials from Britthaven after their blood tests showed strong drugs in their system that were not prescribed to them as patients.

The nursing home officials then reportedly tested all of the nearly 25 residents in the Alzheimer’s unit for drugs. Six of these patients tested positively for opiates, the drugs often used for pain management. Three of the patients were subsequently hospitalized, one of which died two days later.

Former Nursing Home Assistants and Good Samaritan Home Sued for Abuse and Negligence

February 9, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In national news, our Maryland-based nursing home abuse lawyers have been reading about a recent lawsuit filed against the operators and four former aides of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society Home in Albert Lea, Minnesota, where nursing home residents were reportedly subjected to a five month pattern of nursing home abuse that involved verbal, sexual and emotional abuse.

According to the Star Tribune, the four former nursing assistants are facing criminal charges for the alleged nursing home abuse of up to fifteen Alzheimer’s and dementia patients in 2008. This lawsuit comes in addition to criminal charges that have already been filed in the case in Freeborn County Court. The incidents reportedly surfaced in May of 2008, and became public after the release of a report from the Minnesota Department of Health that concluded that the four nursing aides who were teenagers at the time were involved in nursing home abuse and neglect.

The former nursing aides, Ashton Larson and Brianna Broitzman, Alicia Heilmann and Kaylee Nash are being accused of abusing residents, by entering their rooms and locking the doors in order to sexually grope and poke at the breasts, genitals and rectums of the residents, spit in residents’ mouths, and simulate sexual activity with residents, among other charges. The suit also accuses the former nursing assistants of video taping the sexual acts and battery and laughing while the frail and vulnerable adults are screaming from the abuse. Broitzman and Larson are scheduled for trial later this year on a total of 21 criminal charges.

In the lawsuit, the nurses are being accused of civil assault and battery, causing emotional distress, and failure to report the unlawful treatment of the residents. Good Samaritan is being accused of failing to protect the elderly residents from abuse and negligence in management and supervision of the nursing aides. The suit states that Good Samaritan owed a duty to the residents to protect them from abuse and neglect, to ensure that the nursing staff were properly supervised and train to care for the needs of vulnerable adults and residents in the nursing home.

Nursing Home Residents Allegedly Drugged for Pharmacy Gain

January 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yesterday’s blog, our Maryland Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys discussed the complaint filed last week by the U.S. Justice Department against Johnson & Johnson, for allegedly paying millions of dollars in kickback payments Omnicare, the largest pharmacy in the country, to increase sales of antipsychotic prescription drugs given to nursing home patients. According to the complaint, Omnicare was allegedly persuading physicians to prescribe drugs like the antipsychotic Risperdal for patients with dementia, even though the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug for dementia treatment.

In 1987, Congress passed landmark laws protecting patients from unnecessary drugs, and, according to these regulations, nursing home residents have the right to be protected from chemical restraints and medication for the sake of convenience or discipline to nursing home staff or doctors. It is illegal for facilities to give strong psychotropic drugs to patients without a doctor’s orders, patient’s consent and treatment justification, as patients may experience dangerous side effects like tremors, severe lethargy, nursing home falls, and wrongful death.

The Department of Health and Human Services states that nursing homes are required to have an outside pharmacist consult and review a patient’s medication schedule at least once a month. Once the outside pharmacist checks with the patient, they are obligated to report any oddities in the prescription drug schedule with the physician, and are able to make recommendations on how they would alter the medicine plan. But according to the complaint by the government, Johnson & Johnson used the consultant pharmacists as a tool to increase market share—dissolving the trust and integrity that should be a cornerstone for the health and safety of nursing home residents.

The New York Times reported this is not the first time that a drug company has been charged for using antipsychotic prescriptions to drug elderly residents. Eli Lilly pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor last January in a nearly $1.5 billion settlement of criminal and civil charges that the pharmaceutical company had marketed Zyprexa, the antipsychotic drug for the treatment of dementia with elderly people. Omnicare and Johnson & Johnson were reportedly trying to compete against AstraZenica’s antipsychotics, by increasing market share for Risperdal.

Johnson & Johnson Accused of Pharmacy Kickbacks

January 21, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent nursing home injury blog, our Maryland-based attorneys discussed the epidemic of unnecessary drugging and chemical restraints going on in nursing homes, that can cause nursing home injury and threaten the lives of elderly residents.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil False Claims Act complaint against the drug giant Johnson & Johnson, for allegedly paying millions of dollars in kickback payments to a pharmacy company, in order to boost sales of antipsychotic prescription drugs for nursing home patients—drugs that can be used as chemical restraints with residents, that patients may or may not need.

The complaint alleges that from 1999—2004, pharmacists from Omnicare, the nation’s largest pharmacy, worked intensively to persuade physicians to prescribe Johnson & Johnson drugs in nursing homes, including the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, in exchange for kickback payments. The kickbacks were reportedly delivered to Omnicare in the form of rebates, grants, or educational funding.

Johnson & Johnson reportedly turned to Omnicare to increase the building of market share, knowing that physicians accepted advice on drugs from Omnicare pharmacists more than 80% of the time, and they were seen as an extension of the Johnson & Johnson workforce. The nursing home residents allegedly included people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Maryland Lawmaker Supports Nursing Home Video Monitoring Legislation

January 19, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland Lawmakers headed to Annapolis last week for the annual 90-day session of the Maryland General Assembly, and Delegate Sue Hecht from Frederick County, a Democrat, has returned to support one of her bills that would allow families to use video cameras to monitor the treatment of elderly residents in a nursing home or assisted living facility.

Hecht is reportedly reintroducing Vera’s Law, HB557—Video Monitoring Legislation, a longtime bill she has worked on, to allow elderly residents to have video monitoring in their rooms for protection against nursing home abuse, negligence and violence.

Delegate Hecht originally introduced the bill after she witnessed her grandmother experience nursing home abuse by a nurse’s aid while residing in a home, over ten years ago. Vera’s Law is named after her Grandmother.

Hecht also reintroduced this legislative proposal in 2009—to give assisted nursing home and assisted living facility residents and their families the right to install video cameras or monitoring devices in the resident’s room, with consent of the roommate. The bill from 2009 did not require that the monitoring was paid for by the facility—the cost would be covered by the resident or resident’s family, as would the mounting device for the camera.

Pressure Ulcers Claim Resident’s Life—Nursing Home Sued for Negligence

January 15, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent article discussing decubitus ulcers, a leading cause of nursing home injury and death in this country affecting nearly one million Americans every year, our Maryland-based attorneys from Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers have read about another tragic case, where a resident of a nursing home developed multiple non-healing pressure ulcers that allegedly lead to his death.

According to the lawsuit, Edwin Ley developed multiple pressure sores or decubitus ulcers while staying in Collinsville Rehabilitation and Health Care, that developed on his buttocks, feet, elbows and coccyx. Ley reportedly died from the complications of these sores and from severe malnourishment and neglect while being a patient at the center from December 4, 2007 through January 23, 2008.

When a nursing home resident rests for too long in one position without shifting weight, the resident’s blood supply to the skin is cut off, due to unrelieved pressure. The skin then begins to breaks down, and causes decubitus ulcers to form.

The suit was filed by Dorothy Ley, special administrator for Ley’s estate, and she states in the complaint that Ley’s condition deteriorated to such an extreme state that he was sent to the emergency room and diagnosed with dehydration and pressure ulcers. Edwin Ley died on June 10, 2008 from his condition, and according to the suit, in the months before his death, he suffered pain, disability, medical costs, and disfigurement.

Former Nurse’s Aide Enters Guilty Plea for Nursing Home Abuse

January 13, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In national nursing home abuse news, our Maryland-based Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers have been following the recent lawsuit in which Valerie Lamb, one of three former employees of Madison Manor who were indicted for nursing home abuse, pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge, for abusing an adult patient.

Lamb, a former employee of Madison Manor, otherwise known as Richmond Health and Rehabilitation Complex, was indicted in a grand jury trial in April, after being filmed on a hidden camera abusing Armeda Thomas, an Alzheimer’s patient and resident of the Kentucky home.

The family of Thomas suspected that Armeda was experiencing nursing home abuse, and they planted a hidden surveillance camera to film her treatment in August of 2008. The camera caught incidents of abuse and neglect on tape by several of the nursing home staff members.

In the indictment, Lamb was accused of reckless nursing home abuse and neglect of an adult, and charged her with holding Thomas up by her neck and raising her legs to a height that caused personal injury and pain when she changed her adult diapers for incontinence.

Nursing Homes and Operator Admit to Fraud and Negligence in 1.6 Million Settlement

January 8, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers in Maryland and the Washington D.C. area have been following the news of a lawsuit settlement announced yesterday between five Missouri-based nursing homes, the operator of the homes, and federal prosecutors. The homes were charged with severe negligence, inadequate care, lack of staffing, and complaints of fraud.

The five nursing homes are all operated by Cathedral Rock of Texas, but are located in Missouri. According to the Star-Telegram, the nursing home company acted with severe nursing home neglect, by leaving nursing home residents’ skin sores untreated for so long that they became infested with maggots and amputations were necessary. The staff was also accused of not bathing, feeding, or providing the proper bathroom accommodations for the nursing home residents.

In the plea agreements, the company admitted that the homes were not equipped with enough staff to provide adequate nursing home care and that residents often did not receive required medication or proper wound care treatment. The company also admitted to doctoring the medical records to give the appearance that all patient medications had been administered, regardless of whether they had been given or not. The nursing home was also charged with cheating Medicare and Missouri Medicaid, by submitting fraudulent claims for services that weren’t provided or were of no value.

Cathedral Rock of Texas pleaded guilty to felony health care fraud, and C. Kent Harrington, a majority owner in Forth Worth, entered a plea agreement that will require him to pay, along with Cathedral Rock, $1 million in criminal fines. Harrington and the nursing home company must also pay $628,000 to resolve civil allegations of fraudulent claims made to Medicare and Missouri Medicaid, as well as implement programs that protect nursing home residents from abuse and neglect in the future.

Sweep in Nursing Home Finds Felons and Sex Offenders with Outstanding Warrants

December 28, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog on nursing home injury, our Maryland-based attorneys discussed the problem many nursing homes are facing today, of creating a safe environment for residents who live in nursing home facilities with patients who are mentally ill or have violent criminal pasts.

After the Chicago Tribune’s investigative reports over the past few months, fueled by a series of nursing home abuse and assault cases, the publication has shed light on the high numbers of felons and sex offenders that reside in Illinois nursing homes, and how this is affecting the safety of nursing home residents. Last week, twenty federal marshals and the County Cook sheriff’s police, initiated by the Illinois Attorney General’s office, conducted a raid of two Chicago-based homes, looking for felons with outstanding arrest warrants.

After the sweep of the nursing homes, eighteen residents were discovered in the homes who are wanted on charges that vary from burglary and assault to disorderly conduct. The authorities arrested five people, including an unregistered sex offender from another state. According to the Attorney General’s office, this was the first step in an ongoing effort to identify residents in nursing homes who are wanted on arrest warrants.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the number of residents living in Illinois nursing homes who are felons has grown as the state continues to rely on the nursing home facilities to place younger psychiatric patients, many of whom have criminal records, which can endanger resident safety and cause nursing home injury or abuse to older residents.