Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

Nursing Facility Fall Leads to Death of Escaping Resident

April 28, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to an article in the Chicago Sun Times that our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys have been following, a recent nursing home fall caused the death of a resident—who tied sheets together and used them as a rope to try and lower himself out of the window and escape.

Ramon Crisantos, a 57-year old resident living in the Woodbridge Nursing Pavilion, reportedly woke up early in the morning, and was observed by a nurse to be doing his normal routine, so she continued her daily duties at the home. Crisantos was later discovered lying on the ground outside the home near a makeshift rope made out of bed sheets that had been tied together. It appeared Crisantos was trying to escape and lower himself out of a window to the ground 10-12 feet below.

Crisantos was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, five hours after being found, from sustaining multiple injuries from the nursing home fall. It reportedly wasn’t clear why Crisantos was trying to sneak out of the nursing facility, as Woodbridge’s website claims that residents are allowed to leave the facility. His death was ruled an accident.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that each year an average nursing home with 100 beds reports 100 to 200 nursing home falls, with about 1,800 older adults living in nursing homes dying from fall-related injuries. The CDC reports that finding ways to prevent fall-related injuries with elderly residents in nursing homes and hospitals is extremely important in preventing future injuries.

Nursing Home Lawsuit: Facility Fails to Tell Family About Resident’s Death for Four Months

April 26, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A recent nursing home negligence lawsuit, was filed against an Illinois nursing home after the children of a female elderly resident accused the home of failing to notify them of their mother’s death for a four-month period.

According to the lawsuit, that our Baltimore nursing home lawyers have been observing, Lovera Staples was admitted to Ridgeview Nursing Home in December of 1991 with multiple disabilities that required healthcare assistance with basic activities like eating, walking and bathing.

Staples’ daughter, Mary, claims that a few days after she last visited her mother, she received a call from a nursing home employee claiming that her mother was in the hospital. Mary visited her mother in the hospital, and was informed the next day that she was released and returned to the nursing home.

Mary Staples claims that more than four months after her last visit, she called the nursing home to wish her mother a happy birthday, and the nursing home staff told her that there was no one living at the facility with that name. Staples and her brothers then went to the nursing home to find that their mother had actually died in the Saint Francis Hospital and the home neglected to inform them of her death. The body had reportedly been at the medical examiner’s office since her death, for four months.

The Staples family claim to have made arrangements to have their mother buried on the following day, and found out later that Cook County Department of Health removed the body from the morgue and buried her without the family’s permission. The Staples were told that the nursing home authorized the removal of the body.

The distraught family is reportedly seeking over $50,000 from the home, with claims of emotional stress.

Family Awarded Nearly $10M in Nursing Home Neglect and Wrongful Death Lawsuit

April 22, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Hartford County, Maryland nursing home attorneys have been following a recent nursing home neglect and wrongful death lawsuit trial, where a Georgia jury awarded the family of a resident with over $9 million after finding the nursing home responsible for her neglect and mistreatment.

The lawsuit claimed that Charlotte Paulette Dean, a 51-year old resident of the County Crossing Assisted Living and Hutcheson Home Health Care, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was found to have various infected decubitus ulcers, or pressure sores, after being rushed to the hospital in 2006.

Dean reportedly died the following day in the hospital, and her family claims in the lawsuit that Dean’s personal injuries and wrongful death were caused by the nursing home’s negligence and mistreatment, and failure to properly care for Dean while she was a resident of the home. The trial reportedly lasted for one week, wherein the jury decided to award Dean’s family with $9,502,683 to cover pain, suffering, wrongful death, and funeral expenses.

Under the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, all residents living in assisted living or nursing homes are entitled to receive quality care and attention with a supportive environment that improves and maintains the quality of their physical and mental health. If a Maryland assisted living or nursing home resident becomes injured or dies because of nursing home neglect, the home could be responsible for Maryland nursing home wrongful death or negligence.

Nanny Cam Catches Nursing Home Abuse—Dementia Patient Forced to Stand Topless

April 8, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland nursing home abuse attorneys have been watching the shocking news development this week of yet another nursing home abuse incident, where 22-year old nursing home worker Samirah Traynham and two co-workers from Delaware County were arrested after being caught abusing a 78-year old patient on a hidden camera.

According to Philly.com, Lois McCallister, a dementia patient of Quadrangle Assisted Living Facility in Haverford, repeatedly told her family that she was being slapped, punched and picked on by the nursing facility staff. The family discussed the nursing home abuse with the home administration, and the home reportedly blamed the claims on McCallister’s dementia, calling the allegations unfounded.

After discovering bruises on McCallister’s hand and wrist on a later visit, the family secretly installed a hidden camera or ‘nanny cam” in a clock, to record McCallister’s treatment at the home.

The video reportedly showed McCallister being hit in the face and head while being dressed, along with other abuse. In another reported video, Traynham and two other workers laughed and mocked the victim’s dementia for 12 minutes while McCallister stood in front of them, with no clothes from the waist up, trying to leave the room. Another employee reportedly danced on McCallister’s bed post like a stripper, or pole-dancer, while one of the other employees tried to pull on McCallister’s ears, knowing they were sensitive from previously having hearing aids.

Traynham was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment, neglect of a person who is care-dependent, recklessly endangering another person, and criminal conspiracy, and according to the assistant district attorney, addition arrests at the home are expected.

Nursing Home Staff Tries to Initiate Sexual Behavior Between Two Dementia Residents for Amusement

April 6, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As our attorneys discussed in a recent Baltimore nursing home abuse blog, elder abuse is a huge and growing problem in the United States, with more than one in ten elders experiencing abuse and only one in five reported every year. According to the U.S. Government, approximately 700,000 to 3.5 million elderly Americans are abused, exploited and neglected in this country every year.

The New York State Department of Health released new documents last week detailing a disturbing nursing home abuse case where employees in Wheatfield nursing home harassed and abused two elderly residents suffering from dementia by placing them in the same bed together and trying to convince them that they were husband and wife—to allegedly spur inappropriate interaction for their own amusement.

According to the report, Gloria Maxwell, an employee of the home, and Alicia Clemens, a certified nursing assistant, placed an elderly female resident who suffers from schizophrenia and mild retardation, into a room occupied by an elderly resident and his actual wife. The elderly man, who suffers from dementia and is reported to be legally blind, is described in the documents as being occasionally prone to sexually inappropriate behavior. By placing the female resident in his bed, Clemens and Maxwell reportedly engaged in nursing home abuse by attempting to convince the two residents that they were married in order to solicit physical interaction—providing sexually provocative commentary, and taking cell phone photographs of the two.

According to the 10-month investigation conducted by the health department, the evidence of the case did not rise to the level of criminal activity, but was considered inappropriate interaction with residents, and the nurses aides were immediately fired and fined after the incident, and are not eligible to work at any other nursing home in the state.

Nursing Home Fall leads to Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Motion Picture & Television Fund

April 4, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news, that our nursing home injury attorneys based in Baltimore, Maryland have been following, the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s nursing home is being sued for negligence by the family of a nursing home resident who reportedly died after suffering from a nursing home fall.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the family claims that the nursing staff failed to properly care for and monitor Carrie Delay, an 89-year old patient at the home who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was bound to a wheelchair. Delay reportedly fell in the stairwell between the first and second floors of the nursing home, fracturing her spine, along with sustaining other critical nursing home injures that her family allege caused her death the following week.

The nursing home is being accused of nursing home neglect, elderly abuse, and wrongful death, and the family’s suit is seeking unspecified punitive damages.

The Carrie Delay incident was reportedly the most serious to date at the facility, which has faced repeated complaints from family members that the quality of elder care has diminished since the fund announced that the nursing home and hospital would shut down. The home has also received two fines from the Department of Public Health for failure to prevent resident falls and serious injuries.

The Importance of Reporting Nursing Home and Elder Abuse

April 2, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland elder abuse lawyers recently discussed the vastly under reported problem of elder financial abuse among vulnerable seniors across the country, that according to a recent study estimated financial losses of at least $2.6 billion per year.

Under the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, it is a violation of Federal and State law for any person, including nursing home facility staff, visitors, facility volunteers, guardians or other residents to engage in nursing home abuse or neglect.

Experts are stressing the importance of public awareness of elder abuse and neglect in communities, as our related Baltimore nursing home neglect blog recently discussed and how important it is for healthcare providers, families, bankers, or even church members—anyone who might be privy to information that could indicate that a senior is being abused physically, emotionally or financially–to come forward and report the abuse.

According to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (NCCNHR) anyone can and should report abuse and neglect. If a nursing home resident tells you they are being abused:

• Always believe the resident and report the allegations immediately to prevent any other suffering by the resident.

• Many state laws require the reporting of nursing home abuse and neglect–find out what your state laws.

When filing a report, make sure to put your report in writing, date it and keep a copy of it. Include as much evidence as possible about the abuse and remember to include:

• The name, age and address of the victim. Also include the name of nursing home facility and the name of the people responsible for the care, along with the person who you believe is responsible for abuse or neglect.
• Include the nature of the abuse, and the extent of harm as well as any physical signs of elder abuse. If there were any previous incidents of abuse, write down every detail of what happened.
• Remember to add the location of the place that the incident happened, and the time and date of the incident.
• Always include as much background information as possible to help an investigator to address the incident and situation quickly.

Elder Abuse—the Financial Exploitation of Seniors and Nursing Home Residents

April 1, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Baltimore nursing home abuse and neglect blog post, our lawyers discussed the Mickey Rooney’s recent role as elder abuse advocate, in his passionate testimonial before Congress last month, sharing his own experiences of elder abuse, and how the 90-year old was left without food, medication and had $400,000 of his life savings embezzled by a stepson and stepdaughter.

As Rooney told the Senate subcommittee, elderly financial abuse is a huge problem that happens to 3.5 million Americans every year, including him. According to MSNBC, a 2009 study performed by MetLife Mature Market Institute estimated that financial losses from elder abuses across the country are around $2.6 billion annually at the least. The study found that financial abuse of seniors is a hugely under reported problem with only one in six cases ever reported.

Elder financial abuse can take place anywhere—at a nursing home or healthcare facility, where a nurse or staff member abuses a resident by gaining money, jewelry, personal possessions or even power of attorney, or within families, where certain members feel they have entitlement to their parents, or grandparents’ money and estate and find opportunities to take control of it. Older and vulnerable people are also often taken advantage of financially by complete strangers, or con artists who befriend older people through random contacts, the Internet, or even over the phone.

According to Paul Greenwood, the head of San Diego County District Attorney’s Office-elder abuse prosecutions unit, elder abuse takes place in every community and could get worse in the next five to ten years as the baby boomer generation ages. Greenwood claims that in order to find out about abusers in the community, it requires important people like bankers, healthcare providers and church members to step up and report any suspected abuse that might indicate the financial exploitation of an elderly person or nursing home resident.

Hollywood Legend Mickey Rooney Testifies in Congress About Elder Abuse

March 30, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Maryland nursing home abuse attorneys recently discussed different types of elder abuse, plaguing aging victims in nursing homes across the country. According to the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, all nursing home residents are entitled to freedom of abuse, neglect and misappropriation of funds. Elder neglect and abuse are also considered criminal acts regardless of whether they occur inside or outside of a nursing home.

Earlier this month, legendary Hollywood actor Mickey Rooney gave a passionate testimonial in Congress about the problem of elder abuse, affecting 3.5 million victims in this country every year—including movie stars like Rooney.

Rooney, who is now 90-years old, testified before a special Senate committee considering legislation to curb senior abuse, telling the committee about the main forms of elder abuse and neglect–physical and emotional abuse, where elders don’t get the help or treatment they pay for at nursing homes, and financial abuse, where an elder’s life savings can be stolen or swindled, often by people who are closest to them.

In Rooney’s case, he made shocking allegations against his stepson and stepdaughter, claiming that while they were in charge of providing care of their mother and Rooney, they embezzled $400,000 of his life savings, took his Oscar and Emmys, put a lock on his refrigerator and left him with one pair of shoes.

In February, a Los Angeles judge extended a restraining order against his Rooney’s stepson, alleging that he threatened, harassed and intimidated him into signing his assets over to him, and that he prevented him from leaving his home. Last week, a settlement was reached between Rooney and his stepson and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz approved the provisions of Rooney’s voluntary agreement to make his attorney permanent conservator of the actor and Rooney’s estate.

Daughter Sues Nursing Home for Negligence After Mother Dies from Pressure Sores

March 10, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Baltimore County nursing home injury attorneys, we have recently read about yet another nursing home negligence lawsuit filed in Illinois, where a health and rehabilitation center is being sued for failing to properly care for Betty Dressel, a resident suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, who reportedly developed pressure ulcers all over her body while residing at the home that her family claims led to her wrongful death.

Decubitus Ulcers, also known as pressure ulcers or bedsores often occur with elderly nursing home residents suffering from Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease, who are resting in the same position for long periods of time without moving—causing areas on the body to lose circulation, which leads to skin breakdown, a problem that our lawyers recently stated in a Maryland nursing home injury blog, is entirely preventable.

Without proper nursing home staff attention, pressure sores often progress into the four stages of bedsore development, where small sores turn into deep painful craters as a result of skin breakdown, damaging joints and tendons and causing major infections which can lead to personal injury or even death.

The lawsuit claims that Betty Dressel was treated at Cedar Ridge Health Care and Rehab Center with substandard care, and as a result of her deteriorated mental condition, they restrained her to her bed, placing her at a high risk of physical deterioration. According to her daughter, this negligent treatment lead to the development of pressure sores that reportedly formed on Dressel’s back, legs, buttocks and feet that became infected, causing sepsis, a potentially fatal infection of the blood.