Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

Resident Dies From Sepsis—Home Sued by Family for Negligence and Wrongful Death

July 22, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Maryland nursing home neglect lawyers have been following, a Convalescent Center is being sued by the family of a resident, after alleged nursing home negligence led to the decline of health of the resident’s health.

According to the lawsuit, Helen Hammes became sick after receiving improper care while she resided at the care facility. The lawsuit claims that the home failed to develop a care plan that was comprehensive, failed to transfer Hammes to another nursing facility, and neglected to monitor her bowel movement after showing signs of polyuria, a problem with the overproduction of urine. The home is also being accused of failing to follow the physician’s orders by performing a rectal exam, and failing to discontinue diuretic therapy even after the patient experienced dehydration.

The lawsuit claims several violations of the state Nursing Home Care Act, and claims that Hammes suffered physical pain and developed sepsis as a result of the improper care.

As our lawyers have reported in a previous Maryland nursing home blog post, sepsis is a deadly blood disease that develops when an infection in the body spreads quickly—causing blood poisoning, tissue damage and often organ failure. It is reported that every year, over 200,000 people die from different forms of sepsis. Sepsis is dangerous with nursing home residents, as their immune systems are often weak.

Hospital to Pay $5.4M in Bedsore Injury Lawsuit

July 19, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Frederick County nursing home negligence lawyers have been following the recent announcement that a New York State jury has awarded over $5 million in monetary damages in a negligence case, after a patient at the Staten Island University Hospital and the Golden Gate Rehabilitation and Health Care Center reportedly developed severe and untreated bedsores that caused great suffering while staying at both facilities.

According to the lawsuit, Robert Messina. 63, was staying at the hospital and rehabilitation center after a brain dysfunction caused him to collapse in August of 2006. While a resident of both facilities, Messina reportedly developed pressure sores, or bedsores, that caused him to lose the ability to walk and led to a hip infection.

Messina claims in the lawsuit that the bedsores went untreated and developed into massive ulcers affecting his buttocks, genitals, mouth and ankles, leading to a spinal ulcer and a bone infection, or osteomyelitis.

In a related Baltimore nursing home injury lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the danger of bedsores in nursing homes, and the importance of detecting and treating pressure ulcers early, to prevent the life-threatening infections that can stem from the advanced stages of bed sores like sepsis, a blood infection, and osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of the bone.

Daughter Sues Sunny Hill Nursing Home for Wrongful Death, Negligence

July 15, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Baltimore nursing home lawyers have been following, a nursing home resident’s daughter in a Chicago-area home claims that the nursing home neglected to investigate symptoms of her mother’s illness—that allegedly lead to the resident’s wrongful death.

According to Jodine Murphy Sistek, who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sunny Hill Nursing Home, her mother, Pauline Benedict lived as a resident at the home for over three years. In the days before her death, Benedict reportedly complained to the nursing home staff of stomach pains that according to the wrongful death lawsuit, were symptoms of a bowel distention.

Sunny Hill is being accused of ignoring Benedict’s stomach pain complaints, neglecting to tell her physician or family about her medical condition, and failing to immediately send the resident to the hospital. Benedict was reportedly taken to the hospital on July 8, 2009, and died the following day.

If a Baltimore, Maryland nursing home fails to protect residents from developing symptoms that can result in personal injury or wrongful death, the nursing home could be held liable for nursing home negligence or wrongful death. At Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, our attorneys represent victims and their families in the state of Maryland and the Washington D.C. area who have suffered from nursing home negligence and harm. Call our lawyers toll-free, at 1-800-654-1949, for a free consultation about your nursing home rights.

Family Installs “Granny Cam” to Catch Nursing Home Abuse—Sues for Wrongful Death

July 7, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to a recent Baltimore County nursing home lawyer blog entry, our attorneys discussed recent cases of nursing home abuse and negligence, where hidden cameras or “Granny Cams” were used in nursing homes by families who suspected that their loved ones were being treated with abuse or negligence, and didn’t trust the nursing home staff responsible for their healthcare and safety—filing lawsuits after the abuse was revealed on-camera.

In another recent nursing home abuse lawsuit, the children of an 87-year-old resident of a New Jersey nursing home have sued the home for wrongful death, after the children caught the their mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, being physically abused by a nurse on a hidden camera placed in her room—which they claim led to her death.

The resident’s children reportedly suspected that their mother was being abused by her nurse, and installed a hidden camera to protect her health and safety. The camera footage reportedly showed the nursing home aide removing the victim’s oxygen mask and negligently, recklessly, and intentionally hitting and abusing her while she was supposed to be providing proper healthcare.

The victim’s family claim that this kind of abuse made their mother suffer, and violated her rights as a citizen and as a nursing home resident—as all nursing home residents under law are entitled to receive quality care and attention in an environment that improves and maintains the quality of their mental and physical health.

Nursing Home Sued Again for Wrongful Death and Negligence

July 1, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed a nursing home negligence lawsuit filed by the widow of a resident—who claims in the suit that while her husband was staying in the Madison Manor nursing home, his foot infection was not properly cared for, leading to the amputation of his leg, and wrongful death.

In a related report, the same Madison Manor nursing home has been sued again by the son of a former resident who says the home failed to properly care for his mother, leading to nursing home negligence and wrongful death.

In this second lawsuit, filed just a month after the home was sued for negligence, David Drury claims that the nursing home owners, operators and staff knew that the facility could not provide the minimum standard of healthcare that was promised to his mother, Lena McKinney, causing her to suffer an accelerated deterioration of health and physical condition that was far beyond what is caused by the normal process of aging.

Drury claims that while his mother was a resident of the home from December of 2008 to July of 2009, she experienced nursing home negligence that led to fluid imbalance and malnutrition, weight loss, poor hygiene, nursing home falls, and infections including urinary tract infections and sepsis that led to acute renal failure. As our Baltimore nursing home lawyer blog has reported in the past, sepsis is a serious blood infection in the body resulting in blood poisoning, and can be a lethal condition if it progresses rapidly, leading to organ failure.

Nursing Home Worker Steals Resident’s Pain Patch for Pleasure

June 30, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to recent nursing home neglect news that our Charles County, Maryland nursing home attorneys have been following, a worker in a Saint Louis nursing home was found last week to have removed the Fentanyl drug pain patch from an 87-year-old resident, in order to take the drug herself.

Kathleen Lung, the 41-year-old nursing home worker, reportedly took the patch to ingest the pain medication for personal use. Fetanyl is an opioid pain relieving medication, often administered with patches, that as our nursing home abuse attorneys discussed in a recent Baltimore medication error blog is over 100 times stronger than morphine and should only be administered to opioid-tolerant people who have long-term and chronic pain, like cancer patients. The drug reportedly has effects on the body that are similar to heroin.

The other staff members reportedly noticed the removal of the nursing home resident’s patch and quickly replaced it. Lung was charged with criminal abuse and neglect of an elderly person, along with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Our Maryland nursing home attorneys reported on a similar case of nursing home abuse and neglect recently after a nurse’s assistant was found to have removed medication from a fentanyl medication pain patch on a 92-year-old nursing home resident—also for personal drug use. The nurse’s aide poked holes with a pin in the resident’s fentanyl patch, and reportedly squeezed the drug out of the patch, stealing the drug by licking his fingers.

“Granny Cam” Footage Documents Nursing Home Abuse of Alzheimer Resident

June 28, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of nursing home abuse in facilities across the country, and how families are fighting back by installing hidden cameras to ensure the safe and proper treatment of their loved ones.

In a recent nursing home abuse incident, the son of a 78-year-old resident installed a hidden camera in April of this year, after he feared that his mother was being mistreated at MetroHealth Medical Center’s nursing home care facilities in Ohio.

According to WKYC- Channel 3 News, Steve Piskor felt that his mother, who suffers from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, was being abused by the staff. Piskor contacted administrators to discuss marks on her face, and the fact that when he approached her, she would raise her hands to protect her face in a fearful manner. He also reported incidents of negligence, after he found the heat off and the window open in his mother’s room in the middle of winter.

After MetroHealth reportedly ignored his complaints of abuse, Piskor installed the camera to prove that his mother was experiencing nursing home abuse and mistreatment. Although the camera was hidden inside a fan, Piskor put up a sign warning workers that a camera had been installed in the room.

Piskor said that it took only a few days to capture abuse—showing a nursing aide striking his mother’s face, violently shoving her into bed and the wheelchair, and pushing her face into the wall. Other footage reportedly showed another nurse’s aide hitting his mother, while another nursing home employee turned a blind eye to the abuse. Piskor kept the hidden camera rolling for two months to ensure that MetroHealth wouldn’t dismiss the nursing home abuse.

Widow Files Lawsuit for Nursing Home Negligence and Wrongful Death

June 24, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Last month, the widow of a former resident at Madison Manor nursing home filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit against the Kentucky home, after she claims the nursing home neglected to care for her husband’s foot infection—which led to leg amputation and wrongful death.

According to a Richmond Register report, that our Baltimore nursing home attorneys have been watching develop, Donna Anderson claims that while her husband Robert was a patient at the Richmond Health and Rehabilitation facility/Madison Manor from April to May 2009, the home contributed to the deterioration of her husband’s physical health condition—that was far beyond the normal process of aging.

Anderson claims in the suit that her husband, Robert, suffered severe pain and suffering, disability, mental anguish, and disfigurement while he was a resident in the home, as well as loss of personal dignity, because of the negligent care in the nursing home.

The lawsuit also states that Anderson’s infection spread because the home did not take the necessary steps to provide proper care and hygiene, as well as taking necessary precautions to prevent malnutrition. As our Baltimore nursing home lawyer blog has reported in the past, key nutrition and a healthy diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals can be an important step to the prevention, healing and recovery of nursing home infection. Anderson also claimed that her husband’s care records were not properly maintained, and that his symptoms and pain were not properly monitored.

Nursing Home Resident Dies in Heat Wave—Home Investigated for Negligence

June 17, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Last year’s east coast heat wave in July led to the closing of Baltimore, Maryland’s Ravenwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, as our Baltimore nursing home lawyer blog discussed, moving 150 residents out of the facility, as well as 70 residents from Liberty Health and Rehabilitation Center, after the air condition systems in both homes experienced malfunctions, failing to keep residents safe and cool in the dangerous heat.

Maryland officially issued a “Code Red – Heat Alert” cautioning all licensed health care and residential facilities in the state to implement the necessary precautions to make sure to protect the health and safety of all residents inside, while the outside temperatures were hovering at around 100°F.

Earlier this month, Milwaukee, Wisconsin health officials also warned residents to use caution in the current heat wave, as a nursing home resident was left in the scorching heat by caretakers for over three hours, which could have caused his wrongful death.

Martin Belkin, a 69-year-old resident who lived at Sunrise Care Center, reportedly asked to be taken outside to enjoy the warm summer weather. Belkin was left sitting from 2:45 p.m. until 6 p.m. and was unsupervised, according to the Medical Examiner’s office.

Psychiatric Report Says U.S. Needs to Prepare for Increase of Elderly Dementia

June 8, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to a recent Los Angeles Times report from the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, the United States needs to prepare itself for the growing number of elderly people with dementia and other mental illnesses—as the first group of baby boomers are turning 65 this year.

The problem, according to the report, is not due to an increase in mental illness with older people— but rather that 20% of this country’s population will be 65 and older by 2030. This will be a 12% increase from now.

The average life expectancy is also increasing with seniors, so elderly people who suffer from mental problems like dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease are living longer, with illnesses that can cause forms of behavior that are aggressive, with disorientation, delusions, nursing home wandering and other behavior, leading to harm or resident injury.

A recent Queen’s Medical Center study in Honolulu, Hawaii, found that the number of senior patients with mental illnesses receiving emergency treatment has spiked, with a 30% jump from 2008-2009. Many elderly patients were reportedly brought into the hospital by caregivers or family members who were unable to deal with the severe symptoms of the mental illnesses, and were exhausted or overwhelmed by the caregiving. The study found that emergency room treatment often occurs after many attempts of local placement for the senior.