South Carolina Nursing Home Blog : South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Poliakoff & Associates Law Firm : Elderly Care, Senior Care

KnoxNews.com had an article about a lawsuit filed against Ashbury Place for failing to protect Katheryn Hill from a known sexual predator living at the nursing home.  The Hill family wants to know why she shared a floor at the nursing home with a convicted sex offender, James Charles Strickland

"They let him roam the floor with everybody else," said David Boyd, the family's lawyer. "He had free rein to assault her."

Hill was living at Asbury Place when Strickland came to her room March 13, 2009, and tried to rape her. Hill called for help, and a worker pulled Strickland off her.  No information about how he was able to get in the room unnoticed by the staff.  Strickland had been previously convicted of rape and incest. 

Federal guidelines require that any nursing homes accepting such patients be able to protect the other patients.  Asbury Place staff knew about Strickland's convictions but did nothing to separate him from other residents or keep an eye on him.  He died about four months later without being charged by police.  Hill's daughter pulled her from the home after the assault and has cared for her at home since then.

 "They moved him immediately after this incident and notified police," Boyd said. "But our beef with Asbury is that they didn't have anything in place to tell the families about him being there or any plan to watch him."

State law bars sex offenders from living near schools or being around children. No such bans exist for nursing homes, said Andrea Turner, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Health.

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Boston Herald had a great article about a family's attempt to learn the truth behind a document a resident allegedly signed while suffering from delusions and memory loss.  They hope to shed light on what she called an “outrageous and deceptive” practice.  Having demented residents sign their right to a jury trial away.  This is a tragic story that I hear all the time.  Resident clearly gets hurt by negligence of facility.  The facility, instead of taking responsibility, tortures the family by ridiculous legal machinations such as arbitration, health courts, malpractice tribunals.  This family has waited years for closure.

John J. Donahue died after suffering injuries at a Brockton nursing home in 2005.  Donahue, a paralyzed retired railroad engineer, spent the final 46 days of his life being shuffled between nursing homes and hospitals following an eye injury he suffered at Embassy House, Hoey said. On Sept. 5, 2005, Donahue’s left eye was gouged by a metal safety hook on a machine an employee was using to move him from his bed. Two people were supposed to operate the machine, called a Hoyer lift, per facility policy, according to a state investigation on the incident. The state Department of Public Health investigated Sept. 21, 2005, and found the allegation of neglect to be valid. The certified nursing assistant who operated the Hoyer machine alone was fired.

He was taken to the hospital more than 15 hours later, where his eye was removed. Donahue died weeks later of sepsis causing blood clots and organ failure. Hoey said experts will testify at trial that the eye trauma placed Donahue in a compromised state, which made him more susceptible to disease and infections.

Two years later, Owens filed a lawsuit alleging the nursing home’s negligence led to her father’s health decline, and in turn, his death.  The nursing home claimed that Donahue had signed an arbitration agreement in 2003, when he was 91, waiving his right to a trial if he was injured or killed.

Arbitration agreements are becoming more common at nursing homes and they are costly and time-consuming to contest, said Donahue’s attorney, David Hoey of North Reading.  Hoey said he fought the alleged agreement for two years, until the Court held the agreement was void based on testimony and records from staff at Embassy House Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brockton.

In December 2003 - the month Donahue signed the agreement - staff noted that Donahue made “confused, depressed (and) delusional statements” and showed “delusional ideation,” according to the February 2009 Plymouth Superior Court order signed by Judge Charles J. Hely. Hely ruled that Donahue was “unable to act in a reasonable manner” on the arbitration contract and that Embassy House “had reason to know of this significantly impaired condition.”

On Feb. 9, a Superior Court medical tribunal cleared the case to go forward to trial.  In Massachusetts, medical malpractice lawsuits must be heard by a tribunal before going to trial.

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NY Daily News had an article about Judge "Kung Fu" Phillips who died at a nursing home as a result of neglect and negligence.  Prospect Park Residence - where Judge John Phillips lived for eight months until his death two years ago - refused to give him a diabetic menu and frequently missed giving him required insulin shots.

Phillips - known as the "Kung Fu judge" during his 17 years on the Civil Court bench for his habit of making martial arts moves in court - died at 83 in February 2008 after collapsing in a Prospect Park Residence elevator.

Phillips' nephew, the Rev. Samuel Boykin, who is managing his estate, said he noticed signs of trouble soon after Phillips moved into the Prospect Park West nursing home.  He insisted poor care - not just advancing age - led to Phillips' decline, noting the judge was "a health fanatic."

"My uncle was a 10th-degree black belt in Asiatic martial arts," he said. "He never drank. He never smoked cigarettes. He went to bed every night at 8 o'clock.

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WLTX.com had a story about residents needing assistance after leaving a nursing home that was closed.   Clarendon Residential Care Center in Manning shut its doors recently.  Many people from that facility have moved to Sumter's Northwoods, formerly known as Trinity Place. When they arrived, the director said their clothes were in such poor condition they had to be thrown out.

"At least it's warm here," said new resident Robin Garrett.

Garrett is one of several residents thrilled about her recent move from the Manning facility. "It was terrible," said another new resident.  Several of those residents often did not have warm water, warm food, or much heat among other problems.

The faith based, non-profit houses low to moderate income seniors 55 years and older. They also serve those with physical and mental disabilities on a case by case basis. Barrineau says their newest residents are badly in need of new clothes.

"Many of them have no one to give them support so many of the residents who came here had very little and what they did have was in very poor condition and had to be discarded," said Barrineau.

The influx of people has also put a strain on their resources.

"We need toiletries. We are clearing our shelves very quickly of toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, razor blades, shampoo, that type of stuff."

"Many of the people we serve are the people our communities would like to forget. They have needs; they're human beings as you and I. They're moms and dads, uncles and aunts that are just not able to meet their needs."

If you want to help call Northwoods at 803.774.5700 or drop off donations at 1267 North Main Street in Sumter.

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San Jose Mercury News had an article about a nursing home resident who was able to walk out of a nursing home.  Rosemary Nelson  was reported missing from a Concord nursing home over the weekend has been found dead.   Concord police say 63-year-old Nelson was found in a small culvert around 8 a.m. Nelson was reported missing Saturday night from a skilled nursing facility about three miles away from where her body was found.

Though officers had searched the area, police say Nelson's body was discovered in an area that was difficult to see from a nearby road. The coroner's office says Nelson died from exposure.

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Philadelphia Daily News had an article about the sad death of Harold Chapman, a vet who was allowed to wander away from Delaware Valley Veterans Home.   Chapman, diagnosed with dementia and work-related brain damage, wore only pajamas when he stepped past a manned security desk at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 2007, and into the winter cold. Two hours later, a staffer reported that she could not find Chapman, a Korean War veteran, in his room or anywhere else.  Ten hours passed before Chapman's lifeless body was found a few yards from the state-run nursing home.  Details about Chapman's death emerged in a lawsuit his daughters filed against the state.  Evidence produced for the lawsuit includes surveillance tapes of the former policeman leaving the home.

Records from the Delaware Valley Veterans Home show that there were multiple failures by staffers, first by not monitoring Chapman's movements and, after he was belatedly discovered missing, by failing to immediately follow established emergency procedures. Staffers didn't notify the home's commander until after 9 p.m., more than three hours after Chapman disappeared. They didn't call police until 9:15 p.m.

Surveillance tapes show that Chapman left his restricted area by riding the elevator with an employee who was not authorized to be in the building at that time. One staffer, one of the last to be seen with Chapman, abruptly quit his job when told he would be questioned. Called "a person of interest" by investigators, the aide later was discovered to have a criminal record for stalking.

"If he were any closer, they would have tripped over him," his widow, Barbara Chapman, said in a recent interview.  "It was New Year's Eve, and everyone was getting ready for a party. He walked right by them," said Barbara Chapman, who viewed the tape. "He couldn't find his way back, and got lost. They told me it was painless, but I later found out it can be a very horrible death."

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has been investigating state veterans' homes and has found serious deficiencies at two of them, in Hollidaysburg and Scranton. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rated those facilities below average in meeting inspection requirements, giving them the lowest possible ranking: one star out of five, while other homes in the system fared better.

The 1,632-bed state veterans health system, dating to the Civil War era, costs $165 million a year to operate. It is separate from the federal Veterans Affairs. The state facilities include nursing-home beds, personal care facilities and locked dementia units, where many of the serious violations occurred.

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My hometown paper the Spartanburg Herald had an article about the Mountainview nursing home employee arrested for taking more than $32,000 from a patient trust account charged with exploitation of a vulnerable adult.  Jenny Denise Birch was released on $10,000 bond after spending a little less than three hours in the Spartanburg County jail.

An arrest warrant obtained by the Attorney General's Office accuses Birch of making "unlawful, unauthorized or improper use of the funds" from Mountainview Nursing Home's Bank of America patient trust account between Nov. 3, 2008, and Nov. 27, 2009.

Mountainview Nursing Home's Web site indicates Birch had worked there since 2004. Wilson Dillard, the adminstrator of the nursing home, said that Birch formerly worked in the facility's business office.  Dillard said the facility became aware of "problems associated with (Birch's) work" and contacted the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud division to begin an investigation.

The arrest warrant accuses Birch of making "electronic transfers of received cash from the patient trust account in the amount of $32,413.42 for her personal benefit." It also states that the funds belonged to vulnerable adults who were living at the facility.

Upon discovery of the problem, Dillard said the facility completely routed that amount of money to the patient accounts and that no patients had been adversely affected. Dillard said the facility will "pursue whatever avenues" exist to reclaim the funds.

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St. Louis Today had an article about a criminal enterprise masquerading as a nursing home.  Luckily they got caught and the company pleaded guilty to fraud and will pay $1.6 million in fines and restitution.

When the Texas-based Cathedral Rock Corp. bought 11 Missouri and Illinois nursing homes in 2001, owner and CEO C. Kent Harrington told employees that residents were the first priority and would get "extra-special treatment."

The real priority was packing elderly and disabled clients into those homes — including five in the St. Louis area that were understaffed and provided substandard care, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.   Until 2005, the services "were grossly inadequate" and represented "a complete failure of care," Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry said in court.

It also settled a whistle-blower civil lawsuit filed by nurses in 2003 that triggered what officials said was a relatively rare criminal prosecution of a nursing home over poor care.

Five Cathedral Rock-owned companies that ran those homes agreed to pay $1 million in criminal fines and penalties, and $628,000 in the civil settlement.  The companies will be formally sentenced in April, likely to some term of probation in addition to the fines and penalties.  So no one is going to jail for defrauding the government, stealing from medicare and medicaid, and directly causing the deaths of dozens of residents!

Among the claims was that the homes' staff doctored patient charts, falsified drug records and failed to give necessary medications. Some residents suffered from bed sores. Others wandered away. One ended up on a roof. One was found days later. One died after falling from a window.  The homes were repeatedly cited by regulators, fined and penalized.   Officials said the homes filed corrective plans but then failed to comply or "misrepresented" their efforts to comply.

"FTB (fill the beds) is everything," read a 2004 e-mail from a Cathedral Rock regional vice president to another executive. "Whereas compliance is important and cost control is as well, CENSUS is to be your primary focus," the e-mail read.

In 2004, Cathedral Rock had 2,600 beds in 25 nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Ohio and South Carolina, Harrington said at the time.

Its website currently lists 1,308 beds in 15 homes in Texas and New Mexico. A spokesman said it no longer operates facilities in Missouri or Illinois.

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The Hartford Courant had an article about another greedy nursing home CEO. The former chief executive of a now defunct nursing home chain pleaded guilty to federal charges that he improperly used money intended for the homes to buy real estate.   Raymond Termini pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and engaging in unlawful monetary transaction.

Termini stole a $6 million loan for private business transactions, and up to $2 million for sprinklers at the nursing homes instead to buy real estate and other purposes.  Termini was CEO of Middletown-based Haven Healthcare, one of the state's largest nursing home chains before it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2007, operating 27 facilities in five states, including 15 in Connecticut.  Termini agreed to forfeit $500,000.  So he steals millions but he "agreed" to pay a measly half a million. 

"Mr. Termini admitted he made some errors," Keefe said. "Otherwise he did a lot of good for a lot of people in that industry."

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ABC News reported a story about the deaths of residents caused by over medication and chemical restraint.  When residents at the Kern Valley Nursing Home complained or annoyed nursing director Gwen Hughes, prosecutors say she chemically restrained them with powerful anti-psychotic drugs. Her methods were so severe, three residents died.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown says that Hughes ordered one patient drugged just for glaring at her, and another for throwing a carton of milk. Some residents were left drooling, dehydrated, and dangerously thin.  According to Brown, "In a couple cases, elderly people were actually held down, restrained against their will, and given excessive amounts of medicine to keep them quiet."

Even more shocking -- Hughes had been fired for over-drugging once before, from a nursing home in nearby Fresno, Calif. The administrator of that nursing home said they told her next employer only the dates she worked there.

Three nursing home officials appeared at a hearing on charges of elder abuse at the Kern Valley facility from 2003 to 2007 -- Gwen Hughes, as well as administrator Pamela Ott and staff physician, Dr. Hoshang Pormir. The three defendants each face up to 11 years in prison, and all have pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing is set for March 9, 2010.

Additionally, a former pharmacist at the facility, Debbi Gayle Hayes, accepted a plea bargain on the condition that she testifies for the prosecution.

Experts say over-drugging is common nationwide, and the number of nursing home residents who are given these drugs is rising.   It has been estimated that nursing homes give anti-psychotics to one in every four patients. Some suggest that the drugs are replacing physical restraints, which are now illegal except as a last resort.

Toby Edelman, from the watchdog Center for Medicare Advocacy, says, "They're hiding the restraints. A physical restraint is visible, but a chemical restraint is not."

Using a chemical purely as a restraint is also illegal, but they are so widely used that the lawyer for Pormir, the doctor in the California case, plans to cite the drugs' widespread use as part of his defense.

His attorney, Dennis Thelen, says, "To suggest that using psychotropic medication is contrary to a patient's best interest is just flatly contradicted by what happens every day in the United States, yesterday, right now, and tomorrow."

A Food and Drug Administration official estimates that unnecessary anti-psychotics kill 15,000 nursing home patients each year, including Fannie Mae Brinkley.

There are steps you can take to make sure your loved one isn't at risk. Click the links below for more information.

Elder Justice Coalition http://www.elderjusticecoalition.gov

National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse http://www.preventelderabuse.org

National Adult Protective Services Association http://www.apsnetwork.org/

National Center on Elder Abuse http://www.ncea.aoa.gov

National Association of State Units on Aging www.nasua.org

National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys www.naela.org

National Association of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs http://www.nasop.org/

Nursing Home Comparison Tool from Medicare http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare

Center for Medicare Advocacy www.medicareadvocacy.org

Directory of State Resources from the National Center on Elder Abuse http://www.ncea.aoa.gov/NCEAroot/Main_Site/Find_Help/State_Resources.aspx

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