Violence in Nursing Homes

Resident Assault Leads to Wrongful Death Lawsuit

July 27, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Maryland Nursing Home Injury Attorneys have been following, an assisted-living facility in Rochester, Minnesota is being sued for negligence, wrongful death and medical malpractice, after a resident with dementia was allegedly assaulted and died.

According to the civil lawsuit, Donald R. Salli, 78, was assaulted by another resident in September of last year. The complaint claims that Salli was found by the staff at Sunrise Cottages on the floor on September 19th, with a resident assaulting him. Salli allegedly had a large hematoma on his head, as well as a red area from where he had been kicked in the back. He was reportedly not evaluated by a licensed nurse until seven hours after the attack.

The lawsuit also claims that the next day, Salli was found on the floor of his cottage apartment by three staff members, crying and in a great amount of pain, and was unable to walk on his own. He was documented as being unresponsive, sleeping through the day, was unable to stand or communicate, and yelled in pain when his back was touched.

After Salli’s daughter, Elizabeth Pulsifer, asked that Salli be sent to the emergency room, they discovered that he had suffered a fractured skull with internal bleeding and three ribs were fractured. He reportedly remained in the intensive care unit until he was transferred to hospice care, where he died on October 7, from a brain injury. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, neglect was the direct cause of his demise and they cited the facility for negligence.

Another Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence Lawsuit Against Good Samaritan and Former Aides

June 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent nursing home abuse case that our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers discussed in a blog, the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, Minnesota, was sued, after nursing home residents were reportedly subjected to a pattern of nursing home abuse over a period of around five months by nursing assistants in 2008.

Another lawsuit was filed last week in the same elder abuse incident, seeking damages from Good Samaritan, and accusing the supervisors of nursing home negligence for failing to screen employees to prevent abuse. The lawsuit claims that the nursing home failed to properly supervise the four nursing assistants, who are accused of abusing patients in a sexual, physical and emotional way.

In the original case filed earlier this year, the four former nursing assistants were accused of physically and emotionally abusing fifteen Alzheimer’s and dementia patients while videotaping the abuse. The nurses were accused of civil assault, battery and causing emotional distress, and the nursing home was accused of failing to protect the elderly residents from abuse and neglect, and neglecting to properly supervise the nursing aides.

This is the fourth civil lawsuit filed in South Dakota connected with the case, filed on behalf of Beverly Butts. It is similar to the Freeborn County case from January, but the reported victims named in the case have since died, and according to the Globe Gazette, when Minnesota victims die, liability goes away. But family members of the victim can pursue claims in South Dakota, as Sioux Falls is the headquarters for the nursing home chain.

Family of 100-year old Nursing Home Resident files Wrongful Death Suit Against Home

June 10, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A wrongful death lawsuit has recently been brought against Brandon Woods of Dartmouth nursing home, by the family of Elizabeth W. Barrow, a 100-year old resident of the facility who was allegedly strangled to death last year by her roommate, who was 98-years old.

Barrow reportedly shared a room with Laura Lundquist, a 98-year old who has been diagnosed with having dementia and paranoia. According to Barrow’s son Scott, Lundquist allegedly harassed his mother for weeks, making her life miserable because she was jealous of all the attention that Barrow received, as well as the window view. Scott Barrow reportedly asked for the women to be separated, but according to the director of the home, Scott Picone, Barrow declined the option of moving rooms. Picone said the two roommates acted like “sisters” and took walks together.

On September 24th of last year, Elizabeth Barrow was reportedly strangled to death in her bed with a plastic bad. The autopsy revealed that she died by means of asphyxiation, but also received blunt force trauma to her arms, leg, skull and chest. Lundquist has been charged with the murder.

The lawsuit claims that the nursing home staff and executive director were negligent, as they were responsible for providing his mother with a safe environment, and they failed. He claims that as a result of the nursing home’s carelessness and negligence, Barrow was forced to suffer consciously until the time of her death.

Nursing Home Aide Steals Drug By Licking Painkiller Patch on Resident’s Back

May 27, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore, Maryland attorneys have been following the recent nursing home news, that a nurse’s assistant at an Illinois nursing home has been charged with aggravated battery for removing medication from a patch on the back of an incapacitated resident—engaging in nursing home abuse for personal drug use.

According to Eugene Lowery, Crystal Lake’s Deputy Police Chief, Jeremiah Healless, a 25-year old certified nurse’s assistant who worked at the Fair Oaks Health Care Center, would enter the room of a 92-year old resident, roll her to one side, and make holes in resident’s fentanyl medication patch with a pin, a drug given to residents who are in ceaseless pain. Healless would then reportedly steal the drug by squeezing the patch, and then licking the drug from his fingers.

The nursing home staff started to suspect that something was amiss when the resident’s patch started to become discolored. After asking the woman’s family for permission, as the resident has mental and physical incapacities, the staff set up a hidden surveillance camera in her room to monitor for nursing home abuse.

Healless was subsequently caught forcing the drug out of the patient’s patch on camera and was immediately fired from his position and arrested. He reportedly made other incriminating statements to the police.

Nursing Home Falls and Injury in Veterans State Homes

April 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog, our Washington D.C.-based Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys discussed the prevalence of violent elder abuse incidents including nursing home falls occurring in seven veterans homes in the state of Texas, as reported by the Dallas Morning News.

According to the state’s Department of Aging and Disability Services, inspections in the Amarillo veterans home uncovered a series of nursing home neglect incidents and resident falls. In one case an elderly patient with Alzheimer’s was allegedly found on the floor, after the neck of her nightgown got stuck in the bedrails, causing redness around her neck. After an investigation, it was discovered that this patient had been previously assessed and that staff members were supposed to assist the woman get in and out of bed, to prevent nursing home falls and personal injury. The assessment did not order restraints, which are controversial, but sometimes used to prevent falls, a topic that our lawyers discussed a few weeks ago in a blog.

In another nursing home fall incident at the Big Spring home, one of the seven veterans nursing homes has been cited for several violations since 2004, a man who was known to be at risk of falling out of bed was reportedly not carefully monitored and fell twice in the bathroom, experiencing personal injury both times. Another man experienced a fall after his bed rolled—as there was no system established for ensuring that the beds were locked into place. Another resident who needed supervision from nursing home falls and wandering was found on the floor at least four times in a period of less than two months.

In another wandering case in Big Spring Home, where felony charges were filed against two employees last month for nursing home abuse, a resident was found eighty feet from the nursing home building after being left unattended in his wheelchair. He was allegedly found lying on the cement with a swollen face and spent two days in the hospital.

Landmark Settlement Moves Mentally Ill Residents Out of Nursing Homes

March 15, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a previous blog, our Hartford, Maryland Nursing Home Attorneys discussed the ongoing and serious issue many nursing homes are facing today—how to keep elderly residents who share facilities with younger mentally ill patients and criminals, safe from nursing home abuse and violence.

The Chicago Tribune reported today after an historic Illinois court settlement, that thousands of mentally ill patients are likely to move out of nursing homes over the next five years and into settings that are more community-based, due to a new legal agreement that has been created to rework the long-term health care system in Illinois.

According to the Chicago Tribune, more than any other state, Illinois uses nursing home facilities to house younger mentally ill adults, and this includes thousands of residents with felony records. The Tribune spearheaded a massive investigation recently, reporting a long list of nursing home violence, sexual assault, substandard care, and drug abuse in nursing home facilities, where psychiatric patients weren’t adequately supervised or monitored to maintain their safety as well as the health and safety of the elderly residents of the nursing home, to prevent resident injury or harm.

The agreement reportedly plans for state officials to offer around 4,500 nursing home residents who are mentally ill a choice between staying in the 24 large facilities that are known as IMDs, or “institutions for mental diseases,” or to move into smaller environments that are better suited for their disabilities and reportedly less expensive. The settlement reportedly only covers residents of the IMDs, which will still leave nearly 10,000 mentally ill residents living in nursing home facilities without the IMD classification among elderly and disabled residents.

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.

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.

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.

Mentally Ill Man Charged in Nursing Home Rape

December 23, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a previous blog from October, our Maryland Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys reported on a nursing home assault from earlier this year that shed light on the ongoing problem many nursing homes are facing today—on how to maintain nursing home safety for residents who share facilities with mentally ill patients and criminals with violent pasts.

In January of this year, a 69-year old female resident of Maplewood care nursing home in Elgin, Illinois was found assaulted and raped in her room, allegedly by 21-year old Christopher Shelton, a mentally ill patient from the second floor of the nursing home. Reports stated the Shelton was reported missing during the evening bed check, and was later found in the woman’s bathroom after the assault.

This week Shelton, who suffers from bipolar disorder, pleaded guilty to the sexual assault, and agreed to a sentence of 12 years in prison in exchange for the guilty plea of one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault— a Class X felony. Illinois law states that Shelton must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, or about 10 years. He will receive 335 days of credit from his time served in the county jail since he was arrested in January.

Before Shelton moved into the nursing home at the end of last year, the staff didn’t properly check his criminal background, or listen to the warnings from the previous nursing home’s director on his violent behavior. Shelton reportedly had a violent history including an aggravated battery conviction, as well as other aggression related arrests. The Chicago Tribune reported that Shelton was arrested last year three times for alleged offenses that all included nursing home violence. At Maplewood, officials reserve rooms on the nursing home’s second floor for the psychiatric patients—but the separation between floors was not safely protected or monitored, so Shelton allegedly easily found his way to the resident’s room on the first floor.