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

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.

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Josephine Sciacca died on October 24, 2007 after a year and a half in a nursing home in Trinidad, Colorado.  Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that negligent care resulted in the fatal injuries. The lawsuit alleges that Sciacca died due to dehydration, malnutrition and complications due to a pressure ulcer, all problems stemming from neglect and mistreatment at the facility.

The nursing home was negligent in failing to heal and prevent the reopening of a pressure ulcer,  not properly feeding or hydrating Sciacca, and tampering with Sciacca’s medical records.  Sciacca’s mistreatment and death were the result of “knowing and/or intentional actions” by the Colorado nursing home officials and staff, according to the family.

Although there is a cap of $150,000 for Colorado wrongful death lawsuits against the state, the family indicates that they hope to force changes in how the state administrates medical facilities, to make them more caring facilities and less like assembly lines and storage houses for the elderly.
 

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The L.A. Times reported that State officials have fined two nursing homes in Orange County for providing care so inadequate that it caused the deaths of two patients.

In one case, a woman died from dehydration.  This is clearly a preventable death.  The nursing home failed to give a resident sufficient fluids, causing her to suffer dehydration and acute kidney failure.   A doctor ordered that the patient's fluid intake and urine output be monitored during every shift.  A review of the patient's intake and output of fluids was blank or illegible.  The woman's condition had deteriorated so much that she was transferred to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, dehydration and an "altered mental status."  

The patient died six days later, on Christmas Day.  Alamitos West Health Care Center in Los Alamitos was fined $100,000

 In the other, staff failed to provide CPR to a man suffering a heart attack because they mistakenly believed he was under orders not to be resuscitated.  A registered nurse supervisor did not call 911 as a patient was dying "because she thought the patient had orders" not to be resuscitated. In fact, the patient's medical record included an advance directive form from a family member on which was marked the option, "I DO WANT C.P.R." in an emergency situation.  A licensed vocational nurse called to inform a family member that the patient had died. The nurse told the family member that the patient was dead and that paramedics were not called because the facility had orders not to resuscitate the patient.  The family member told the nurse to hang up and call 911.  By the time paramedics arrived, they found the patient in bed with no heartbeat. He was covered with a sheet with no signs that CPR had been initiated.

State officials levied an $80,000 fine on the Huntington Valley Healthcare Center in Huntington Beach.

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Knoxnews.com had an article about the death of Hillcrest North nursing home patient Linda Darlene Carter.  The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation labeled the death as "suspicious" after the Knox County medical examiner labeled the death a homicide, blaming poor treatment. TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said  "We are looking into it as a suspicious death."  "We met with the (district attorney general) and he asked us to look into it more, to review it and come back and meet with him again."

Carter was 46 when she died March 27, 2008, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center after a nine-day stay at Hillcrest North.   The autopsy report by Knox County Medical Examiner Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan concluded, "Because of the nursing home neglect, the manner of death is homicide." The report states, "Linda Carter died of dehydration due to inadequate care following multiple blunt force injuries due to (an) automobile accident."

Carter suffered injuries including a closed head injury in a Feb. 8, 2008, car crash and was recovering at the University of Tennessee Medical Center before being transferred to Hillcrest on March 18, 2008, to continue her recovery, according to the March 9 lawsuit against Hillcrest Healthcare North and Hillcrest Healthcare LLC.

Hillcrest "failed to provide adequate fluids for the decedent to survive, not to mention heal and/or attempt to heal from her injuries.," the lawsuit claims. The suit also alleges that Hillcrest "failed to maintain accurate medical records, develop and implement a nursing care plan regarding her condition during her stay, and to properly track the progress and treatment of her health care issues."

The lawsuit was filed  "just to prevent it from happening to anyone else, to make sure no one else's mother, grandmother or grandfather" go through the same thing.   "You expect better care under someone who is professional. You would expect to be taken care of - not neglected."

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The Columbus Dispatch had an article about the tragic case of Peter Southard who died from a lack of water.  A mild stroke had left him debilitated, forgetful and always in need of water to drink. He died two days after leaving Whetstone Gardens & Care Center in 2005.  A jury found that his care was deficient and negligent and compensated his family for his wrongful death in the amount of $6.5 million.  Jurors found the nursing home solely responsible for Southard's death

"He could be told to take a drink of water and 10 minutes later forget the conversation," said Gerald Leeseberg, attorney for Southard's widow. "He lived moment to moment."

Diana Southard had cared for her husband since the stroke in 1984.   "After Peter suffered a brain aneurysm in 1984, my priority in life was taking care of my husband," Diana Southard said . "When I returned from this particular respite, I was devastated to see the shape he was in.

 She occasionally admitted him to a nursing home to give herself a break.  In May 2005, she took him to the Whetstone center.  When she returned 15 days later, she found the 61-year-old Navy veteran incontinent with clothes strewn about his room and a bloody rash on his groin from urine-soaked bedding.

"Two days later, he passed away as a result of the lack of care he received while I was away. I lost the love of my life." Doctors said he died of dehydration that caused kidney failure.

The nine-day trial included testimony from doctors who said the care at the nursing home fell below minimum standards and from aides who said they were never told of Southard's critical need for water.  A glass of water was left by his TV stand. But brain damage had left Southard both thirsty and forgetful, which meant that someone had to make sure he drank enough water by watching him do it.

Jurors awarded Southard $500,000 for his pain and suffering before death and $6 million to his wife, their two daughters and three grandchildren for compensatory damages and mental anguish.

Attorneys for Whetstone argued that the dehydration death probably was the result of diarrhea after he left the nursing home.   They also countersued Southard's primary-care physician, claiming negligent care and instruction.

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Carolinalive.com had an article about the recent outbreak of a highly contagious virus at a Murrells Inlet nursing home. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) reports as many as 75 people have suffered symptoms of norovirus at the NHC nursing home in Murrells Inlet.

The virus is a stomach flu and can be spread if infection controls are not in place and practiced among the staff in the nursing home.   This is of particular concern for the elderly -- as they can easily become dehydrated and can cause fatalities.

The nursing home is not releasing any information.  No visitors will be allowed until the virus is under control.
 

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Colleen Jenkins of the St. Petersburg Times had an article on the conditions of abused residents and the failure to prosecute the health care providers to the fullest extent of the law.  The article explains the living conditions in Daphne Jones' boarding home in West Tampa.   After finding elderly and disabled people crammed into windowless bedrooms without air conditioning or enough drinking water in August 2007, authorities arrested Jones on 18 felony counts of adult abuse.  Jones pled guilty to a single misdemeanor count, for which she will serve six months of probation and 25 hours of community service. Her attorney said the whole ordeal had been overblown.

Prosecutors offered little explanation for the lack of a jail sentence.

Jones had pulled a bait-and-switch scheme. Some residents' family members said they thought their loved ones were living in Jones' 6,000-square-foot gated mansion in Temple Terrace. The property was licensed by the state as an adult family care home.  The families were upset to learn their loved ones had been moved to the boarding house, sharing one bathroom and sleeping on bunk beds.

Tampa police officers arrived on Aug. 9, 2007, after receiving a tip about neglect.  The air conditioning had been broken and the residents were dehydrated.   Goudie said she took the deposition of one former resident who had bad things to say about the boarding house. The woman substantiated the information about the air conditioning.

Elrod Curry, 64, of Plant City, said his family had suspected that "something strange" was going on at the boarding house where his sister, Rosa Wilson, lived, but she couldn't tell them much because her mind came and went. He said Thursday that Jones' sentence seemed too light.

In 2003, a federal judge sentenced Jones to 24 months of probation and ordered her to pay $41,000 in restitution to the Social Security Administration after she misrepresented her financial situation when applying for benefits for her son, who has cerebral palsy.

After her most recent arrest, the state Agency for Health Care Administration fined Jones $20,000 and revoked her license for not cooperating with the agency.

On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to culpable negligence. That charge resulted from one elderly female resident who had to be hospitalized for severe dehydration after police arrived.

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Twincities.com had an article about a lawsuit filed by the family of a man so neglected by a Stillwater nursing home in Minneapolis that he had to be hospitalized for dehydration.  He died as a result of dehydration and malnutrition.  There is no excuse for this kind of neglect. How difficult is it to make sure residents have enough fluids to drink?

Dean Cole died Jan. 21, 2007, after losing 21 pounds in 15 days while in the Golden LivingCenter-Greeley facility. The state Department of Health investigated the death and found the center "in neglect."

He weighed 155 pounds Dec. 12.   By Dec. 27, he weighed only 134 pounds--a 21 pound drop.  Records show Cole ate nothing for 15 meals during the eight-day period before he collapsed. An employee said she planned to request a nutritional supplement for Cole, to be eaten three times a day — but it was never provided.

"When you have patients with dementia, they do not understand that they are hungry or thirsty," Plaintiff's attorney Mark Kosieradzki said. "That is one of the reasons you take them to nursing homes. They are supposed to get care there."

Cole's wife, Virginia, visited him every day. She noticed his weight loss and asked the staff about it — and was told he was fine.  The center staff did not notify doctors or family about Cole's weight loss.  

Cole was finally sent to a hospital Dec. 29. He was diagnosed with dehydration, kidney failure and pneumonia.  Doctors had to give him more than 2.5 gallons of fluids intravenously. He then regained 20 pounds of weight — proof of how severely dehydrated he was.  But the damage to Cole had been done. Severe dehydration damages cells and organs, including the brain. Cole died in hospice care Jan. 21, 2007.

The Golden LivingCenter facility in Stillwater is part of a national chain of nursing care facilities.

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