Wrongful Death in Nursing Homes

Nursing Home Operator To Pay $43.5M in Wrongful Death Lawsuit—And Faces Federal Fraud Charges

September 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Washington D.C. nursing home injury attorneys have been following the recent news that the former operator of a nursing home was found responsible for the wrongful death of an elderly resident by a Georgia jury—who set the damages at $43 million.

According to the wrongful death lawsuit, Morris Ellison, a former resident at a nursing facility in Rome, was admitted to the facility in 2006, and experienced nursing home falls multiple times—in once case breaking his hip. The home reportedly failed to alert either Ellison’s doctors or his family after he experienced the injuries. When Ellison died the following April at the age of 80, Ellison’s daughter, Loretta Terhune, accused the nursing home of failing to provide her father with proper nursing home care.

The former nursing home operator, George D. Houser, 62, reportedly oversaw Forum Group, the company that operated the Moran Lake Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, and according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is also facing federal charges for stealing $30 million from the Medicaid and Medicare program funding—payments that were to provide proper care and treatment for the nursing residents at three of Houser’s homes. Federal prosecutors are reportedly accusing Houser and his wife, who is also facing federal charges, of fraud, for using the money to purchase luxury items and real estate.

Woman Injured by Morphine Overdose Gets $3M in Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit

August 24, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent nursing home news that our Baltimore nursing home neglect attorneys have been following, a California jury decided this week that a patient who was given a morphine overdose while recovering from surgery at a nursing facility should be awarded over $3 million from the nursing facility and a podiatrist, for nursing home negligence.

Barbara Lefforge, 57, reportedly entered the St. Edna nursing facility in the fall of 2007 to recover from surgery after a tendon was repaired. When Lefforge was out of surgery less than 6 hours later, she was given an accidental overdose of morphine, after her podiatrist ordered 50 mg of morphine for pain management instead of 50 mg of Demerol. Lefforge reportedly suffered the overdose at home, and wasn’t taken to the hospital until the next day, which led to personal injury and brain damage.

Lefforge was awarded $3.1 million by the jury—$2 million for suffering and pain, and $1.1 million in cost for medical care, and the punitive damage amount is still pending. The jury found that the nursing facility is responsible for 90 percent of the medication error, while her podiatrist is being held responsible for 10 percent of the error. Lefforge’s nursing home negligence attorney stated that the nursing facility should have discovered the prescription error made by the podiatrist before the medication was administered. The pharmacist who filled the prescription reportedly even warned that the medication dosage was too strong, but the nurses at St. Edna, who were not even able to retrieve the entire medication dose for Lefforge, continued by acquiring the extra 30mg of morphine from an emergency office supply at the hospital.

Morphine is used as a narcotic pain reliever for moderate to severe pain treatment. It works by dulling the brain’s pain perception center. Symptoms of an overdose of morphine could include confusion, clammy and cold skin, a weak pulse, severe drowsiness, fainting or shallow breathing, or breathing that stops. An individual who has overdosed on morphine should seek medical attention immediately.

If a nursing home or doctor incorrectly prescribes morphine it could result in a morphine overdose and cause patient injury or death, in which case the nursing home could be liable for nursing home negligence or wrongful death.

Report Recommends CMS to Fine Britthaven Nursing Home for Wrongful Death

August 17, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a related blog, our Baltimore nursing home injury attorneys discussed the use of chemical restraints in nursing homes, and the recent indictment of a registered nurse from Britthaven of Chapel Hill Nursing Home, after a nursing home resident died from a morphine overdose. The nurse, 44-year-old Angela Almore was charged last month with one count of second-degree murder, and six counts of felony resident abuse, for over-medicating residents with morphine, that allegedly caused hospitalization and wrongful death.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that they are recommending that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should fine Britthaven nursing home the maximum allowed fine by federal law, $20,000.

The nearly 100-page report based on the investigation performed by the North Carolina Nursing Home Licensure and Certificate Section reportedly revealed details of patient lethargy and altered states with the residents who tested positive for opiates.

The Herald-Sun reports that further investigation from the toxicology reports indicate that 14 residents out of 29 in the Alzheimer’s wing at Britthaven tested positive for opiates in February. Not one of these patients had prescriptions for opiate medication. Rachel Holliday, an 84-year old resident, and one of the hospitalized patients with high levels of morphine in her system, died on February 16, 2010 from pneumonia due to reported morphine toxicity.

Britthaven was reportedly investigated after patients were hospitalized from the Alzheimer’s wing of the nursing home, which lead to the discovery of opiates in their blood. A criminal investigation was launched in February by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Unit, and The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), to investigate for nursing home abuse or neglect, over-medication, or chemical restraint in an effort to make the nursing home residents more manageable.

Report Shows Less Physical Restraint in Nursing Homes

August 13, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the number of American residents living in nursing homes who are subjected to physical restraint has dropped by more than half, from 1999 to 2007. This reportedly came from part of the National Healthcare Quality & Disparities Report from 2009.

The report states that the number of physically restrained nursing home residents dropped from around 10.4% in 2000 to 5% in 2007. As our Maryland nursing home attorneys reported in a recent blog, physical restraints can be used to keep a resident or patient from moving freely, and is only allowed when medically necessary, as it can also cause patients to become weak or develop other health complications. Common restraints include belts, wrist ties or bands, vests, bedside rails, or special chairs.

The report also discovered that number of Asian and Hispanic residents living in nursing homes who were physically restrained fell from around 16% in 1999 to around 7% in 2007.

According to Karen K. Ho, MHS, research analyst for Maryland’s Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at AHRQ, there is a disparity between white and Asian populations being restrained in nursing homes. Ho claimed that the report shows that Asians and Hispanics are reportedly more likely to be restrained in nursing homes, and this could be because of language and literature issues. Ho claims that the ability to communicate with a health care provider, and the ability for the health care provider to talk to the patient is hugely important. If there is a language barrier and communication problems arise, the patient will most likely not get the care that they would like, or that is recommended.

Kentucky Governor Orders a Review of Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Cases

August 5, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys in Washington D.C. have been following the recent news from state of Kentucky, that Governor Beshear has asked for an investigation on how Kentucky is handling nursing home neglect and abuse reports, after a recent investigation by the Lexington Herald-Leader found serious problems with the system, as reported in our previous blog.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, from 2007 to 2010, 107 citations were issued by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services that endangered the health and safety of nursing home residents. The newspaper discovered that only seven out of the over 100 cases of nursing home abuse or deaths were ever prosecuted criminally.

Although the state reportedly hands serious violations of nursing home laws and regulations to the attorney general’s office, the attorney general can only prosecute if the local prosecutors grant the attorney general permission. And the local prosecutors claim that they are rarely made aware of such cases. Also, police and coroners are reportedly rarely alerted of nursing home deaths or serious injuries in nursing homes.

The Herald-Leader reported that of the 107 citations that were investigated, there were eighteen deaths, thirty occurrences of hospitalization, 5 incidents involving residents with bones broken, and two instances of amputation that reportedly were a result of nursing home state law and regulation violations. The citations also claimed that three residents experienced nursing home injuries after staff members failed to provide proper health care.

Sexual Abuse in Kentucky Nursing Homes

July 31, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news, that our Hartford, Maryland Nursing Home Injury Attorneys have been following, a nursing home abuse lawsuit has brought to light the problem of unreported sexual abuse incidents in Kentucky nursing homes.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Mae Campbell, an 88-year old, was sexually abused two times while being a resident at Hazard Nursing Home. Campbell suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and was reportedly sitting in a hallway last year, in view of other staff members and a nursing supervisor, when a male nursing home resident sexually assaulted her by ejaculating onto her face. She was reportedly sexually abused three months later by another male resident of the home who had allegedly entered her room to perform a similar sexual act. The nurse on duty was told by her supervisor not to discuss the incident with anyone because Campbell had not been harmed.

Under Kentucky law, staff members and officials of nursing homes are legally mandated to report nursing home neglect or abuse. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services issued the home a Type A citation, claiming that Hazard Nursing Home did not follow state regulations and failed to protect Campbell from sexual contact that was unwanted, failed to protect her health and safety as a resident, failed to report the sexual abuse allegations to the necessary state agencies, and failed to investigate the sexual abuse allegations thoroughly.

The Herald-Leader reported that Campbell’s sexual abuse was only discovered after depositions in a wrongful death case led to a former nurse’s aide’s description of Campbell’s sexual assault, where the former employee claimed that she stopped working at Hazard Nursing Home after the incident, as she thought the home should have protected Campbell better. Another former nurse also admitted to witnessing Campbell’s other assault. She was told not to discuss it with anybody—because Campbell had not been harmed.

The Prevalence of Pressure Sores—Family Sues Assisted Living Home for Negligence

July 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yesterday’s blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of pressure sores in nursing homes and assisted living residences, that often result in injury or wrongful death.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, the family of Frances Graham, a former 81-year old resident of an assisted living home in San Leandro, California, is suing Graham’s doctor, as well as the assisted living home, after Graham suffered from nursing home violence and devastating pressure sores all over her body, some reportedly as large as a baseballs—that lead to her tragic death. Graham’s family is also suing the nonprofit responsible for her care, the Center for Elders Independence, claiming that they put profits over her nursing home health and safety.

According to the suit, Graham was kept at the Andrew Elijah residential care home even though laws require that Alzheimer’s patients are cared for by a nursing staff that is skilled for such illnesses. Graham reportedly shared a room with a 72-year old dementia patient, who in June of last year, was found attacking Graham with a plastic hair pick. Graham suffered dozens of cuts on her body, and her left eye was bleeding and also bruised. Graham was reportedly treated by a doctor, and sent back to the Andrew Elijah home and put in a room that was private.

Graham’s son claims that soon after, Graham was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia, where a doctor discovered multiple bedsores on her body, so many that the doctors wrote in the notes that they weren’t sure that they even seen them all. The worst sore was allegedly a 4-inch hole that had eaten down to the tendons and smelled horribly. The doctor also found her to be anemic and dehydrated. Graham was moved to another health care center, and died two days later.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Nursing Home for Untreated Pressure Sores

July 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Pressure sores, also known as bedsores or decubitus ulcers, plague nearly one million Americans every year, and are a leading cause of nursing home injury, as our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys reported in a recent blog.

Pressure sores develop after an individual rests for too long in one position without moving, cutting off the blood supply to a resident’s skin, forming sores from the pressure on the skin that is unrelieved. Nursing homes residents who are elderly and immobile are highly vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Many advanced decubitus ulcer cases are often the result of nursing home abuse and neglect, and can end in wrongful death. Around sixty thousand people reportedly die each year from complications of some of the more advanced stages of bedsores.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, a hospital is being charged with allegedly failing to prevent, treat, and monitor the pressure sores of a patient, causing him to develop serious infections that allegedly lead to his wrongful death.

According to the suit, William B. McCuller became a resident of Memorial Hospital and Memorial Convalescent Center in April of last year, where he developed pressure ulcers that became infected. The hospital and center staff are being accused of negligence, for failing to properly treat McCuller, failing to monitor and care for his bedsores properly, failing to identify him as a high risk patient for bedsores, and failing to identify the early states of ulcer occurrence. The staff is also being accused of neglecting to treat McCuller with the proper wound prevention and treatment protocol, and to properly train their staff on the prevention protocol as well.

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.

Maryland Nursing Home Fined, Report Says Facility Harmed Residents in A/C Malfunction

July 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog, our nursing home injury attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers discussed a news story involving a Baltimore, Maryland nursing home that moved 150 residents out of the center after the building’s air conditioning system malfunctioned—failing to keep residents cool during a heat wave, and reportedly affecting the health and safety of the residents.

This week, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) released a lengthy report, after conducting a thorough investigation, and claimed that the Ravenswood Nursing Home gave nursing home residents a “substandard” quality of care that resulted in “actual harm” to the residents.

Maryland regulators reportedly fined Ravenswood $52,500 after the air conditioning malfunction left residents sweltering in nearly 100-degree heat in the nursing home.

In the DHMH report, six state and federal violations were reportedly cited, that focus on the air conditioning problem. The report also found that the nursing home facility was storing food that was potentially hazardous at unsafe temperatures, the building was not in good shape, and that the nursing home residents were receiving inadequate care, treatment and services.