Unbelievable loss of dignity

Entering a nursing home (and losing independence) is the most difficult, but sometimes necessary, decision for many families.  One of the reasons why so many of us are scared about ending up in a nursing home is because of stories like this:

Six Northern California nursing home employees of Valley View Skilled Nursing Facility are under arrest becuase they covered several elderly patients with cream to make them slippery as part of a "prank" against their co-workers.  All of the patients were diagnosed with dementia, and were obviously unable to object.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown called the alleged abuse "despicable behavior."

They face one misdemeanor count each of injury to elder or dependent adult; battery committed on elder or a dependent adult; conspiracy; and battery committed while on hospital property.

Bail has been set for $7,500 each.

 

Failure to Protect from Sexual Assaults

Lexington Herald-Leader have been writing some great articles on different problems going on in Kentucky's nursing homes.  This article discusses the failure to protect residents from sexual assaults such as Mae Campbell who was sexually abused twice as a resident of Hazard Nursing Home, according to the sworn testimony of two former nursing home employees.

Campbell, who has Alzheimer's, was sitting in the hallway of the home last year when, within sight of a nursing supervisor and other staff members, a male resident walked up and ejaculated on her face, according to a former nurse's aide.  When former Hazard nurse's aide Debbie Salley was deposed in the wrongful death case, she said that she had quit working at the nursing home in 2009 after witnessing the episode in the hallway. Salley said she thought the nursing home should have better protected Campbell.

Three months later she was sexually abused by another male resident who performed a similar sexual act, according to the deposition of a former nurse.  Sandy Noble, a former nurse who also was deposed in the wrongful death lawsuit, said she found a second male resident with Campbell in a room where he had blocked the door. He was nude from the waist down and Campbell had semen on her. The nurse said a supervisor told her not to tell anyone and that no harm had been done to Campbell.   According to the deposition, the nursing supervisor told Noble "to go on and keep working and ... not to be discussing it with anyone," and that "there was no actual harm done to the patient."

Under state law, nursing home officials and staff members are required to report incidents of abuse, neglect and exploitation to the cabinet. Hazard Nursing Home did not. "The facility failed to protect residents from unwanted sexual contact, failed to report the allegations to appropriate state agencies and failed to thoroughly investigate the allegations of sexual abuse," said the state's citation in the Campbell case.

In May, Campbell's sons sued the nursing home, saying that neither they nor authorities were contacted about the sexual abuse.  "Someone at the nursing home should have told us what was going on," said John C. Campbell Jr., a son. "If they had, we could have protected Mom. ... We could have gotten her out of there."

A Herald-Leader investigation found that since 2007, nine Kentucky nursing homes received Type A citations for cases involving sexual abuse and assault. At least two other cases of sex abuse have been documented that did not receive Type A citations. The abuse was committed by staff members, residents and visitors. In one case, a registered sex offender abused a woman when he visited a nursing home.

There were cases in which, despite warnings to nursing home officials by staff or family members, residents' sexual abuse of fellow patients went unchecked by nursing home officials.

Pamela Teaster, a University of Kentucky professor who is doing national research on sex abuse in nursing homes, said she suspects that such abuse is under-reported and "woefully" under-prosecuted.   Teaster and her fellow researchers have reported that some nursing home staff confuse assault with consenting activity among residents or assume that there is no harm to residents with cognitive problems.

Other sexual abuse cases cited by the cabinet since 2007 include one in which the facility failed to protect an 89-year-old woman from sexual abuse from a 44-year-old resident and a facility that failed to protect a resident from sexual abuse by a visitor.

In several cases, nursing home officials failed to monitor residents who had aggressive sexual behavior. In one, a male resident targeted nine female patients, in another case, 14 patients.

A male nurses' aide in a Western Kentucky nursing home sexually abused two female residents. In two cases, nurse's aides used cell phones to distribute nude or inappropriate photos and recordings of residents.

 

 

 

Nurse Indicted for Neglect

WLKY out of Kentucky reported the indictment for neglect by nurse Elizabeth Toyse who was employed at Golden Livings Nursing Home.  Based on the records, Golden Living and Elizabeth Royse knew the resident was at risk of dehydration, but neglected to execute her duties which include monitoring the patients fluid intake and inadequately supervising the nursing assistants.

The neglect led the resident to become hospitalized.  The Cabinet of Health and Family Services conducted a survey in 2007 of the facility, where Golden Livings received a regulatory Type A citation.

 

Woman Drowns in Bathtub

Chicago Breaking News Center and Chicago Sun-Times had articles on the tragic case of Jean Engstrom who drowned in a bathtub while unsupervised at Warren Park Nursing Pavilion.  Chicago police are conducting a death investigation into the drowning. 

An autopsy conducted determined that Jean Engstrom, 51, drowned according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. But officials could not indicate from the autopsy whether the woman's death was a homicide or an accident.   The woman was mentally ill and lived at the Warren Park Nursing Pavilion.  Police were called to the nursing home after staff members found the woman in a bathtub with the water running. They tried to revive her and called paramedics to the home who then took her to the hospital where she died.

Since the woman was mentally ill, she most likely needed supervision.  I wonder if a staff member started the bath (that is why the water was still running) and walked away.  I hope it was an accident.
 

Abuse Investigation

The Orlando News had an article about the investigation at Springs Group Home into the abuse of a resident with cerebral palsy. DCF is looking into allegations that two caregivers at Springs Group Home used excessive force on Bryan Barborka. His arm was fractured and his body was badly bruised when the workers were trying to restrain him.

DCF investigated this nursing home back in 2008 for a complaint as well.

 

CNA pleads Guilty to Abuse

WREG out of Memphis reported a story from The Mountain Press about a Pigeon Forge nursing home aide pleading guilty to taking photos and video of nude patients. The Mountain Press reported 50-year-old Mary Ann Burgess entered guilty pleas to health care abuse charges.

Burgess and another nursing assistant at Pigeon Forge Care and Rehabilitation Center, April Longmire, were indicted in September on four counts each.  The newspaper reported the photos were discovered when Burgess apparently forgot her cell phone at a restaurant and employees found the pictures while trying to find out who the phone belonged to.

 

LPN pleads guilty to endangerment

The Democrat and Chronicle had an article about the licensed practical nurse admitted that he had sexual contact with a mentally incapacitated patient at a Rochester nursing home. Kipper Allen Stevens pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person for assaulting the patient on Dec. 21, 2008, at Shore Winds nursing home.  Stevens admitted to a police investigator that he had sex with the woman. 

A co-worker witnessed sexual contact between Stevens and the woman and notified the nursing home's management a week later. During the investigation, Stevens told an investigator that he and the woman "were two consenting adults having a relationship" and denied having forcible sex with the woman. But he acknowledged it was improper for a caregiver to have a relationship with a patient.

Stevens also had been charged with second-degree rape, a felony which could have sent him to prison for up to seven years. Stevens only faced a maximum penalty of one year in jail for the misdemeanor but will receive nine months in jail with one-third off the sentence for good behavior, he'll be free in six months.

 

 

 

Assisted Living Neglect

There have been numerous media outlets including WSPA that have discussed the incident involving an assisted living resident who died because of the neglect of the home. The Laurens County Coroner concluded that the resident died of heat stroke at an assisted living facility should not have been allowed to sit in the sun for hours.

Frances Louise Farmer, 67, died from symptoms of heat stroke, according to Coroner Nick Nichols after finding Farmer unresponsive in a chair outside the facility.  Farmer was a resident at La Forrest Community Care, an assisted living facility   Paramedics arrived at 1:13pm,  Farmer's body temperature was 107.8 degrees.  The temperature on that day was over 90 degrees.  Farmer was in the sun "for at least a couple of hours, based on statements given by different witnesses.

Nichols says Farmer had heat blisters all over her upper body and upper legs. “I'm not saying this was anything beyond an accident, but I also wonder how someone who is known to be on this type of medication could be allowed to sit outside in the hot sun for two hours without a nurse or someone making them come inside," says Nichols.

The State Law Enforcement Division confirms it is investigating the death along with the Department of Health and Environmental Control, which has oversight of all registered residential care facilities. No charges have been filed yet and knowing the competency and enforcement history of DHEC, none will be filed.

 

Do nursing homes ignore abuse?

Michael Owens of the Bristol Herald Courier wrote an article about National HealthCare-Bristol ignoring the obvious warning signs of abuse including those acts done by James Wright who was recently convicted of sexual assaults.

The article talks about one resident who rolls into a fetal position and reaches with both hands between her legs and around her back and shifting hands from side to side along her inner thighs have left her flesh tissue thin, red and raw as if to block sexual advances. The actions are the psychological remnants of a sexual assault by former employee and convicted serial molester James Wright.

The traumatized woman is among the dozen patients that state detectives say were sexually assaulted at NHC between February 2000 and August 2007.  State detectives have linked him to seven attacks. State medical licensing documents also tie Wright to a later rape at another assisted-living facility, where he took a job immediately after leaving NHC.

Somehow, the abuse continued for seven years even though there were red flags.

The first showed up in February 2000. A resident accused Wright of touching her inappropriately, and then warned him to stay out of her room.  In the following years, accusations by three other patients sent officers from multiple law enforcement agencies looking for an unknown assailant.

NHC contends the attacks could have been stopped had only the abuse been reported up the chain of command to the home administrator.  Employee records and witness accounts suggest that NHC-Bristol management also might have harbored concerns about Wright.   Five female patients complained of being attacked in the months leading up to Wright’s departure. Three times, co-workers blamed Wright almost immediately.

However, instead of firing him or reporting him to the authorities, NHC allowed him to resign with favorable recommendations amid a crescendo of sexual assault complaints. Wright jumped to a similar job at nearby Grand Court Assisted Living immediately leaving NHC.  A solid recommendation by then-NHC Director of Nursing Elizabeth Anne Franklin helped him land the job, internal Grand Court documents show. The reference-check report, penned by Grand Court recruiter Sue Huff, does not mention any warning that Wright had been the prime suspect in a sexual assault case just days before he applied for the job.

These assaults, and the manner in which the complaints were handled, illustrates the skepticism that surrounded abuse claims, and the problem of nursing homes failing to investigate or worse, covering the abuse up.

 

Resident Suffers Severe Burns

BakersfieldNow had an article about the neglect suffered by Anita Ramirez after spending less than two weeks at LifeHouse Parkview nursing home.  The family discovered that Ramirez ended up with serious burns during her brief stay. Ramirez was sent to the nursing home to resolve a bedsore from a recent hospitalization

"She needed to be turned every two hours," Dias (daughter) said. "And she was on an I.V. antibiotic, and they felt this was the best course of action."

The family soon had concerns about Ramirez' care.  Another daughter, Amanda Ayala, was very worried and she called police to help get Ramirez transferred to the hospital.  "The same nurse that saw her two weeks or three weeks prior, saw her -- and said, What happened to you?" Dias said. "One of the nurses that bathed her cried, and said nobody deserves this."

The doctors then ordered Ramirez to be transferred to the burn center at San Joaquin Hospital. 

"Once they did an evaluation, they came to realize that these were severe burns all over her body," Dias said. The family has photos showing badly damaged and darkened skin. "She literally has no skin left on parts of her body," Dias said.

The article states that Eyewitness News contacted the California Department of Public Health, and spokesman Ralph Montano said the agency "can confirm an on-going investigation regarding Parkview Health Center." He could not say if that relates to the complaints regarding Ramirez.

Checking the state Health Department website, two complaints are currently on file regarding the LifeHouse Parkview facility on Real Road, but one is from mid-March and the other was started in mid-January.


 

Poliakoff & Associates, P.A., is one of South Carolina’s most respected and distinguished law firms. The Poliakoff firm began nearly 60 years ago by three attorney brothers: Matthew, J. Manning, and Bernard. With a history of believing the justice system...More...