Nursing Home Negligence

Medication Mistake Leads to Wrongful Death in Nursing Home

March 9, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Washington D.C. area nursing home negligence and abuse attorneys, we have been following the recent news of the an 82-year old patient who experienced a wrongful death after receiving another patient’s medication while staying at the Fair Oaks Lodge, a nursing facility in Minnesota.

According to ABC News, an employee at the home negligently gave the patient, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, another resident’s medicine on June 1, 2009. The medication mistake caused the patient’s blood pressure to seriously drop, and after being rushed to the hospital, the woman died six days later while in intensive care.

The article claims that this same medical mistake has happened at the facility twice before, with two different patients, from May 27 to June 23, 2009. The two residents reportedly survived, but the nursing home was held responsible by the state for nursing home neglect, and their procedures were audited.

As a result of the nursing home negligence, the employee who made the medical mistake was reportedly reprimanded and re-trained, but no longer works at the nursing home.

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.

Pressure Sores Lead to Wrongful Death—Nursing Homes Settles Suit with Family

March 1, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent national news that our Maryland-based Nursing Home Attorneys have been following, two nursing homes have settled in a wrongful death lawsuit, after the family of a resident sued the homes for not providing adequate care, and acting with nursing home negligence.

In the lawsuit, the family members of Ralph Seewald claimed that both Riverside Health Care Center and Village Health Care Center failed to provide proper care for the late-87-year old resident during his stay at the homes before his death in November 2005.

According to the suit, Seewald entered the Riverside Health Care Center in December 2004, with slight symptoms of dementia, and the plan for his care required two nursing home attendants to use a safety gain belt to assist him with all lifting and transfers to and from the wheelchair. Seewald was reportedly often transferred from the wheelchair by only one attendant with no gain belt, which reportedly lead to numerous falls.

Seewald allegedly suffered a fall while being transferred by only one attendant without a gain belt, from his wheelchair to the toilet on May 23, 2005, and broke his neck—leaving him bound to his bed. While immobile and bedridden, he developed serious decubitus ulcers, or pressure sores, that progressed rapidly during a few months, and led to a case of gangrene in his leg that allegedly caused his wrongful death.

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.

Wrongful Death and Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit—Family Sues for Damages

February 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Maryland Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys we recently discussed the blog topic of health and safety in nursing homes and the importance of supervising residents who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, to prevent the common problem of resident wandering and nursing home falls that can lead to wrongful deaths.

In related nursing home negligence news, an Illinois family is suing Maryville Manor’s nursing home for negligence and the wrongful death of Jewel Lane, a resident of the home. In the suit they allege that the nursing home allowed Lane to escape—an act that reportedly lead to his death.

According to the suit, Lane was admitted to the nursing home on March 24, and suffered a nursing home fall days later on April 1. The suit alleges that one week later, Lane was allowed to leave the nursing home premises, and died shortly after from pulmonary arrest, hypothermia, and exposure to the outside elements. The home is being accused of negligence for failing to supervise Lane properly, failure to properly secure the exits and windows to prevent wandering residents, failure to protect Lane from harming himself, and failing to house Lane in a room that would prevent him from leaving the premises unnoticed.

The Lanes seek a judgment of more than $200,000 as well as fees and costs for the attorneys, and funeral and medical costs. Lane’s wife and daughter claim that because of his death, they have lost his financial support, companionship, and affection.

Man Sues Nursing Home for Negligence After Losing Finger to Gangrene

February 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Washington D.C. Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys have been following, a nursing home resident filed a negligence lawsuit after the home allegedly failed to keep him safe from nursing home falls, and diagnose, treat and care for his injuries after a fall—which lead to infection, gangrene, and ultimately the amputation of his finger.

According to the suit, Juan Riostirado, a resident of Glenbridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Illinois, fell in his room and injured his hand on December 7, 2008. Although Riostirado was reported to have a high risk for such falls, there were no notes recording the fall or the personal injury in his paperwork until December 19, 2008.

The suit alleges that the only record of the injury was on December 19th, 2008, when a nurse wrote that Riostirado’s right ring finger was swollen, and that the finger should be monitored for five days. There were no more notes entered between December 19th and December 16th, 2008.

Family of ‘Kung Fu judge’ Claims Neglect and Wrongful Death in Nursing Home Lawsuit

February 17, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Maryland Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys, we have been following the recent $10 million lawsuit filed by the family of John Phillips, a well known judge from Brooklyn, alleging that a Park Slope nursing home gave him substandard care and treated him with negligence, leading to his wrongful death.

According to the suit, Judge John Phillips, otherwise known as the “Kung Fu judge” for making martial arts moves in court during his 17 years as a Civil Court judge, the Prospect Park Residence allegedly neglected to give Phillips meals that adhered to his diabetic restrictions, and often missed giving him his necessary insulin shots.

Phillips was a resident in the Prospect Park Residence for eight months, until his death at the age of 83, after collapsing in an elevator of the home. His family claims that his wrongful death resulted from nursing home negligence.

According to the family of Phillips, he was a health fanatic, with a 10th-degree black belt in martial arts, who never drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes. He reportedly went to bed every night at eight o’clock in the evening.

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.

Family Sues for Nursing Home Falls and Wrongful Death

January 28, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys, we have been following a lawsuit in which a 65-year old paralyzed patient in a nursing home was allegedly dropped to the floor twice. Her family claims that the second nursing home fall resulted in her wrongful death.

According to the lawsuit, Adriana Neagoe fainted in front of her church and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After surgery to treat the tumor left her body paralyzed with the ability to only move one arm, her family decided on Midway Nursing Home in Queens, New York for her care.

In the spring of 2008, Neagoe’s family was told that she had fallen from her bed, a bed that is protected by guardrails. Her family claims in the suit that she couldn’t have fallen, as she was paralyzed. The resident needed constant care—to be lifted up for bathing, and so the sheets could be changed.

Neagoe reportedly told her family that they dropped her on her head, from five feet up in the air. After she experienced the second nursing home fall, she was rushed to the hospital, where she died six days later from severe head injuries. Her family claims her death was caused from complications of these falls, due to nursing home negligence.

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.