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

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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The Madison Record had an article about a recent complaint filed by Steven Steiner against Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Caseyville Property.  Theresa Mary Steiner died after employees at an Illinois nursing home allowed her pressure sores to deteriorate, causing sepsis to flow throughout her blood.

On Dec. 12, 2008, Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center admitted Theresa Steiner as its patient, according to the complaint. At the time of her admission, Theresa Steiner had three stage II pressure sores on her buttocks and one pressure sore on each of her heels, the suit states.   However, by the time of her discharge on Dec. 19, 2008, Theresa Steiner had three stage IV pressure sores on her buttocks and multiple pressure sores on her heels, the complaint says.

"Steiner sustained personal injuries, including, but not limited to, development and deterioration of her pressure sores on her buttocks and bilateral heels which, in turn, led to Steiner developing sepsis throughout her bloodstream," the suit states. "On December 19, 2008, Theresa Steiner was hospitalized at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Illinois, where she subsequently died on January 7, 2009, due to sepsis and acute respiratory failure."

Before her death, Theresa Steiner experienced severe pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress and loss of dignity.  Steven Steiner blames the defendants for a number of negligent acts, including their failure to properly screen Theresa Steiner before admitting her, their failure to have an adequate wound care nurse on staff, their failure to develop an appropriate plan to treat Theresa Steiner's pressure sores, their failure to advise Theresa Steiner's physician of the deterioration of her pressure sores and their failure to adopt appropriate policies to treat pressure sores.

In the six-count complaint, Steven Steiner is seeking a judgment of more than $300,000, plus attorney's fees, costs and other relief the court deems just. William P. Gavin of Gavin Law Firm in Belleville will be representing him.

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The Gazette Extra had an article about the death of Jesse Brown because of the neglect and breaches in the standard of care suffered at Alden Meadow Park Health Care Center.

On Feb. 21, Brown complained of severe abdominal pain and was taken to the hospital where he died from a severely impacted bowel.   Brown's son, Printess Pritchard, of Chicago is suing the nursing home for negligence by failing to care for Brown and failing to hire qualified staff.

The also suit claims Alden Meadow Park violated the regulations of the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is listed as an involuntary plaintiff because the state oversees the payment of Medicare and Medicaid. The two could be entitled to reimbursement, according to court documents.

The suit seeks damages, payment of legal fees and hearings on the compensation due to Medicare or Medicaid.
 

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TriCities.com had an article about the case of Anne Brightwell.  She died in a hospice bed June 16 after months of screaming over a fractured left femur that would not heal.  Her upper leg bone shattered Feb. 6, when a hammock sling, used by Cambridge House nursing home staff to hoist her from a bed to a wheelchair, snapped. A medical examiner listed the broken femur as the cause of death on Brightwell’s death certificate.

The fall could have been prevented.  The nursing home had a history of using aging and tattered slings, but throwing newer equipment into use only when Tennessee Health Department inspectors arrived.  Three former Cambridge House employees say administrators hid daily-use equipment from inspectors, only to later pull it out after tucking away the newer items until the next state visit.

Cambridge House is part of a national chain of for profit nursing homes owned by AltaCare Corp., based in Alpharetta, Ga.  A letter faxed to the newspaper by Cambridge House confirmed “an incident involving use of clinical equipment, resulting in an injury that was treated in accordance with accepted clinical standards of practice.”
 
“Granddaughter Amy Shell noted in an interview that Brightwell lived through her twilight years without ever needing prescriptions for such common elderly ailments as high blood pressure or cholesterol.  Brightwell landed in a Cambridge House bed to rehabilitate an ankle she fractured at her Bristol, Tenn., home, where she lived alone, except for nightly visits from relatives.  Shell said Brightwell likely would have left the nursing home after rehab was complete.

Expectations changed the day the hammock sling snapped, with Brightwell awkwardly slamming to the floor on her left side.  Because of her age, the bone would not heal on its own. And, at her age, surgery to amputate the leg might have killed her.  The only option left for the aging matriarch was to rely on pain pills. Family members said it didn’t offer much help.  “Mom would lay in bed and say ‘Help me please, help me God, Jesus,’ and this would go on for hours,” Countiss said.

Former nursing aide Dickie Norris recalled in an interview the threadbare condition of the three hammock swings used at Cambridge House from last year until soon after Brightwell’s fall.
“They were frail ... like a worn out pair of jeans,” said Norris, who joined the nursing home in June 2008 and left in March.  The lifts remained in use until four weeks after Brightwell’s fall. Norris said he was lifting a patient out of bed and had him in midair when an administrator appeared and told him to get the patient down and hand over the sling.  “Then they ordered slings, but they wouldn’t work on the (pulley) machines,” Norris said. “We couldn’t get people up for physical therapy for weeks.”

Former nursing aide Brian Gross, who worked at the nursing home from May 2008 until October 2008, did not trust the slings.  “In those slings, I wouldn’t want to be lifted in it, and I weigh only 140 pounds,” he said.   Gross estimated that many of the nursing home’s patients weigh more than 200 pounds.  Gross recalled that the slings shown at inspection were slightly used, but in much better shape than the ones kept in daily circulation.

The hammock slings might have been discarded months earlier, had state inspectors seen them. Past nursing home employees said the Cambridge House administration went so far as to hide shabby equipment during health department inspections.  Former nursing aide Tony Apple, in a sworn deposition provided by lawyer Parke Morris, said that administrators pulled out newer equipment specifically for annual state inspections.  “Once the state inspection was over, the old slings came out,” Apple said in the deposition. 

Not only were the hammock slings in ill shape, said Shawna Caudill, a former Cambridge House nursing manager, but the bedsheets, towels and other linens showed considerable wear, too.
Caudill, who joined Cambridge House in April 2007 and left in November 2008, said the administration purposely overlooked the shabby quality of equipment.  “The faulty equipment was definitely brought up at many meetings, but it all boiled down to cost,” Caudill said.   One administrator’s “exact words were to put on my big-girl panties and deal with it.”

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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 Lexington Herald-Leader had an article about a recent lawsuit filed against a nursing home with a history of neglect and violations.  The facts behind the lawsuit suggest that the nursing home's failure to assess the respiratory condition of a 54-year-old man led to his death after a six-day stay.   The Winchester Centre for Health and Rehabilitation has faced numerous state and federal sanctions in the past two years and was threatened with the loss of Medicare and Medicaid funding.

On Jan. 25, 2008, William Baker was admitted to the nursing home.  The facility failed to assess and monitor Baker's respiratory condition or to suction him. Baker developed breathing problems and was transferred to a Lexington hospital where he died on Jan. 31, 2008.  "The lack of care and attention caused Mr. Baker to suffer in a most traumatic fashion and ultimately die," the lawsuit said.  The lawsuit also the said the facility "established staffing levels that created recklessly high nurse/resident ratios."

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of problems for the facility, which in 2008 received two type A citations — the most serious the state can give. One, in August, was for not calling a doctor when a man lost more than 87 pounds in 19 days. At the end of the 19 days, the man was found unresponsive and was taken to the hospital, according to the citation from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services

A second type A citation was issued Jan. 12 after a patient received the wrong dose of an anti-seizure medication for 40 days in November and December, an error that wasn't discovered until the patient suffered a seizure.  The facility didn't have a system to make sure that medications were administered properly, according to the Jan. 12 citation.

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Myjournalcourier.com had an article written by Maria Nagle about a recent lawsuit filed against a nursing home on behalf of Bruce Hopley who was only 51 years young.   The article states that when Mr. Hopley, 51, was admitted to Golden Moments Senior Care Center.  The staff knew or should have known that Mr. Hopley was “severely diabetic.”   He had a history of emergency hospitalizations because of seizures and erratic blood sugar levels.

On Sept. 17, 2006, Mr. Hopley was found dead about an hour after the facility documented he had high blood sugar levels. His death came 19 days after he had been admitted to the facility.

The lawsuit claims negligence in Mr. Hopley’s death because his blood sugar levels were not properly monitored. He was not provided the proper care at the nursing home.   As a result of the alleged negligence, Mr. Hopley suffered “great mental and physical pain prior to his death."

The lawsuit also alleges Golden Moments was under capitalized, and there exists state and federal tax liens against the facility exceeding $250,000. The facility also allegedly employs staff at levels below the national average for similar facilities, “creating dangerous conditions for the residents of the nursing home,” the lawsuit alleges.

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Sunrise Senior Living faces another neglect and negligence lawsuit (08/20/08 Orange County Register).  Sunrise was ordered to pay $2 million in damages after the death of a resident in May.  The family of Therese Sperry is suing Virginia-based Sunrise Senior Living which owns and operates Villa Valencia Health Care Center.

Sperry spent two weeks in Villa Valencia's skilled nursing unit in January 2007. She developed avoidable pressure ulcers on her feet that were neglected and went untreated.  The lawsuit alleges negligence by Sunrise Senior Living and says the nursing home failed to provide adequate medical staff for ailing residents - despite five health and safety citations in the last decade by state health regulators.   The most recent violations, from last year, include sexual molestation of a patient during a bath and failure to change a patient's catheter often enough to prevent infection.

After a brief hospital stay, she was sent to Villa Valencia for a week to gain strength.  Four days after her admission, she had redness on both heels, which later developed into ulcers that spread to her muscle and bone. Sperry's family immediately transferred to a different nursing home, where she was properly treated for wounds.  She endured debilitating pain until her death.

The suit argues that the facility "carried out a scheme to place 'profits over people' ... (and) intentionally underfunded and understaffed the facility in order to decrease expenses and increase profits."  Proof of understaffing arose in the trial over the death of Mary Kathleen Adams, who also developed pressure ulcers while at the center in February 2005. She died two months later.  In May, a jury ordered Sunrise to pay $2 million to Adams' family for negligence and punitive damages.

"Big corporations like Sunrise cut down on costs and staffing at the expense of patients," said Kim Valentine, one of the lawyers representing the Sperry family, and who also represented Adams.  Valentine also said court testimony showed employees were quitting because of the poor quality of care - a finding reflected in a report by the independent California Nursing Home Search. The agency found that nursing staff turnover at Villa Valencia was 82 percent in 2006, much higher than the state average of 67 percent.

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Article about lawsuit over husband's fall at nursing home by David Yates, writer for The Southeast Texas Record. 

The nursing home staff found him in a pool of his own blood two years ago.  Clifford Ozen has suffered from seizures and decreased mobility sinc ethat fall.  The Senior Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Port Arthur allowed Mr. Ozen to fall from his bed.  His wife, Sharon Ozen, filed suit against the healthcare provider July 9 in Jefferson County District Court.

On July 28, 2006, Sharon Ozen visited her husband at the 199-bed rehabilitation facility.   After leaving the center, Sharon received a call and was advised that her husband was being rushed to the hospital.   "According to Mr. Ozen's chart, an aide called a nurse because he was found on the floor with his head lying against the frame of the bedside table," the lawsuit said. "Defendant's staff observed blood on the floor in a puddle, as well as a contusion and laceration to the top of Mr. Ozen's head."

Since the fall, Clifford Ozen has suffered from seizures and has been bedridden. Upon his admission to the nursing home in January 2006, Clifford was diagnosed with dementia, confusion, wandering and an unsteady gait.   All risk factors for falling.  Nursing home was on notice that he could fall but did nothing to try to prevent him from injuring himself even though his wife consented to the use of restraints and safety devicesto protect him.

"The only safety precautions being utilized for Mr. Ozen were side rails on his bed and geriatric chair," the suit says. "These precautions were used only intermittently. Further, during his stay, he was unable to ambulate himself and had an impaired safety awareness."

Sharon alleges she informed the nursing home staff of her concerns, but the healthcare provider negligently failed to assess her husband's risk for falling.  The nursing home also allegedly "failed to adequately protect him from falling in light of his confusion, agitation and impaired safety awareness."

Senior Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center is owned by Victoria, Texas-based Regency Nursing & Rehabilitation Centers, Inc.

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A new article, 'Torts Provide Best Relief for Nursing Home Residents,' is now available free from Clifford Law Offices web site at http://www.cliffordlaw.com. The Chicago law office is posting legal articles on their website in an effort to educate the public about legal matters.

Torts Provide Best Relief for Nursing Home Residents

Clifford's Notes, Chicago Lawyer, 08/01/2005
By Robert A. Clifford


A man in his 70s with a psychotic disorder, known as someone who smokes in prohibited areas, sneaks out of his room in a Niles nursing home when two of the three nurses on duty are on a break.

He leaves the dementia unit and wanders into an unused wing of the hospital, where he lights a cigarette that causes most of the room to be engulfed in flames. He is burned over 25 percent of his body, and both of his legs have to be amputated.

Another nursing home in suburban Niles fails to adequately supervise a 71-year-old woman who falls down the stairs in her wheelchair.

In Chicago, a nursing-home care worker is charged with involuntary manslaughter earlier this year after she allegedly attacked a 62-year-old resident, dragging him out of bed and causing him to fall and break his hip. He dies of a heart attack a week later, and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office rules it a result of the stress of the assault.

Reports of nursing-home abuse appear to be on the rise for a number of reasons: the growing aging population, a greater cognizance of neglect and abuse of the elderly and the increasing specialized care for the aged. Projections of 2000 census data indicate that the elderly population will rise to 71 million Americans by 2030, more than twice the number counted in the 2000 census. By 2050, the elderly population is expected to reach nearly 87 million, comprising about 20 percent of the U.S. population.

Who is going to take care of all of the aged people, given the number of small families, divorced couples and working people? Much of the care will be left to the 18,000 nursing homes operating in this country.

Nursing homes did not really begin to develop until after World War II, when the federal government began licensing and regulating them. With the passage of Medicare and medicaid legislation in 1965 that authorized federal reimbursements for these homes, the number of beds soared, and nursing homes became big business, from private sole-proprietorship facilities to corporate chain operations.

Such facilities deal with residents’ needs ranging from rehabilitation to custodial care. Although a host of federal regulations are in place and administered under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, state governments are responsible for enforcing compliance with federal and state regulations. Generally, the state’s public health department conducts inspections.

When abuse and neglect occur, it is possible to bring a breach of contract action when residents and their families sign an agreement specifying a certain quality of care. But it is generally under state tort law that nursing home residents and their families appear to find the greatest satisfaction and relief.

In Illinois, the Nursing Home Care Act, 210 ILCS 45/1-101 (2005), deals with such facilities. When it was originally passed in 1979, it was hailed as the most comprehensive legislation in the nation dealing with long-term care. The act explains the conditions necessary to provide adequate long-term care and penalties for failing to meet them, with the most drastic remedy being license revocation and closing the facility.

Although such laws are necessary to protect the elderly, they do little for those who personally suffer harm. It is generally left to negligence standards to compensate those who suffer at the hands of nursing home workers. The courts, though, have made a distinction between professional negligence and ordinary negligence, both of which can occur in a nursing home facility.

For example in Myers v. Heritage Enterprises Inc., 354 Ill.App.3d 241, 820 N.E.2d 604 (4th Dist.2004), a 78-year-old resident of a downstate nursing home fractured both legs when she fell while being transported in a special lift. She died two weeks later, apparently of unrelated causes.

The executor of her estate filed a lawsuit alleging negligent transfer and supervision of the patient under the NHCA, as well as a common law negligence. The trial court instructed the jury, though, that only expert testimony could be used to determine if negligence occurred. "You must not attempt to determine this question from any personal knowledge you have," was part of the court’s instruction under I.P.I. 105.01.

On appeal, however, the court reversed and remanded, holding that the plaintiff was prejudiced by such an instruction. The court found that operation of the lift did not require expert testimony necessitating a professional negligence instruction. Jurors should have been allowed to use their own experience to decide if the nurses’ aides negligently dropped the woman.

In Harris v. Manor Healthcare Corporation, 111 Ill.2d 350, 489 N.E.2d 1374 (1986), the Illinois Supreme Court held that the term "adequate care" was synonymous with "ordinary care" or "reasonable care," thus denoting the use of an ordinary care standard of negligence in proceedings against nursing home attendants.

Illinois defines institutional abuse as, "Any physical or mental injury or sexual assault inflicted on a resident other than by accidental means in a facility," Ill. Admin. Code, Title 77, 300, 330 (1983). Malnutrition, bedsores, improper restraints, scalding in bath water or thermal blanket burns, even food poisoning are some of the institutional abuse that has been witnessed by the residents and their loved ones.

Robert Browning, the 19th century poet, once wrote, "Grow old along with me!/The best is yet to be./The last of life, for which the first was made:/Our times are in His hand."

Life in Illinois’ nursing homes may not live up to Browning’s ideal. It is left to the legal community to at least ensure that a decent quality of life for the elderly is sustained, particularly for those who often cannot take care of themselves.

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