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

The Orange County Register reported the jury verdcit in conservative Orange County of $3.1 million to Barbara Lefforge who suffered a brain-damaging morphine overdose at St. Edna skilled nursing home.   Lefforge went to St. Edna on Sept. 17, 2007, to recuperate from tendon repair surgery.  Her doctor, Kobayashi, mistakenly recommended 50 mg of morphine for pain instead of 50 mg of Demerol.  The mistake clearly should have been caught by staff at St. Edna's. The pharmacist warned that the dosage was too high.  But nurses at the facility, unable to immediately retrieve the full dose, obtained 30 mg from an office emergency kit and gave it to Lefforge.  The woman suffered an overdose but was not monitored or taken to the hospital until the next morning, causing brain injury.

St. Edna Subacute & Rehabilitation Center is one of 25 homes in California owned by Covenant Care.  After two days of deliberation, the jury found that St. Edna was 90 percent responsible for the damages and Kobayashi was 10 percent responsible. Jurors awarded Lefforge $2 million for pain and suffering and $1.1 million in medical costs, Wacker said.  The unanimous jury also awarded punitive damages -- which will be set on Tuesday --who was barely at the hospital 5 1/2 hours when the overdose occurred.

Covenant Care facilities are among hundreds of California skilled nursing centers that received $880 million in additional compensation from the state since 2004 to increase staffing and wages at homes that serve Medi-Cal patients. An analysis by the non-profit newsroom California Watch found 232 of those homes statewide slashed staff and let nursing ratios fall below the state minimum.  St. Edna and 12 other homes in the Aliso Viejo-based Covenant Care chain stood out: they accepted $15 million in additional compensation from the state -- but still cut caregivers.

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The Patriot Ledger reported a recent $508,000 verdict against Kindred in Massachusetts by the great trial attorney David Hoey.  The case involved a 93 year old John J. Donahue, a former patient at Brockton’s Embassy Rehabilitation and Health Center.   He was hit in the eye with the cradle bar of the Hoyer Lift. The CNA was not properly trained and was using the lift by herself when it required two people. The facility waited 18 hours before they sent him to hospital where as a result of the damage to his eye it had to be removed.  Donahue died 47 days later, but the jury did not find that the injury contributed to his death.

A Brockton Superior Court civil jury ordered Kindred Healthcare to pay the damages to Marlene Owens.  Donahue’s eye was crushed iwhen he was struck by a piece of a Hoyer lift, a device designed to help injured or disabled people move between their beds and chairs.

Donahue had suffered a debilitating stroke and required assistance moving back and forth from his chair and bed, said Hoey, who has specialized in nursing-home cases for 14 years.

 Considering their recent financial returns, Kindred should have no problem paying the verdict.  Consolidated revenues rose 1% to $1.1 billion.  Each operating division reported revenue growth compared to last year.  See article here.

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Aboutlawsuits.com had a good summary of the recent Pennsylvania case that held that nursing homes can be held corporately liable for injuries caused by substandard care.  The Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned a lower court verdict, ruling that Grane Healthcare, which owns Highland Park Care Center, can be held liable for the 2004 death of one of their residents. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by the son of Madeline Scampone, who died from a heart attack after suffering from a urinary tract infection,untreated bedsores, malnutrition, and dehydration while in the nursing home home.

Key to the case was the fact that the nursing home was chronically understaffed, which the panel of judges said expressly showed failing on the part of the management company.   Witnesses testified on Scampone’s behalf that the nursing home was chronically understaffed, and said that the company would temporarily boost staffing levels when an inspection was scheduled and then immediately return to its understaffed state after the inspection was over. They also testified that nursing home staff altered medical records to hide substandard care.

The panel unanimously ruled that a nursing home has the same responsibility and liability for its residents as a hospital has for its patients, indicating that the evidence suggested the management company and nursing home staff acted with reckless disregard for residents and made nursing home abuse and neglect more likely.

“Corporate negligence as a basis for liability is supported as a cause of action against Grane because it was the entity that managed all aspects of the operation of the nursing facility,” Supreme Court Judge Mary Jane Bowes wrote in the opinion. “Grane had assumed the responsibility of a comprehensive health center, arranging and coordinating the total health care of the nursing facility residents.”

The Superior Court determined that not only could the company be held responsible for compensation, but that a jury could determine it should suffer punitive damages as well. The lower court had ruled that there was insufficient evidence for punitive damages.

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Finally an Attorney General has indicted THI entities for resident abuse and neglect.   It is about time.  Hopefully, this will open the flood gates for other state attorney generals to investigate and indict these entities who have shown a pattern of neglect and careless indifference to their residents. See indictments here and here.   The indictments have a lot of factual information showing the lack of care provided to a vulnerable adult. 

Murray Forman and Leonard Grunstein own and operate Fundamental Long Term Care Holdings which own, operate, and control the hundreds of THI facilities in the U.S. managed by Fundamental Clinical Consulting (the successor company to indicted THI of Baltimore Management).

The pattern of poor care and careless indifference by Fundamental in their THI facilities is well known in the nursing home industry.  Hopefully, these indictments will change their policies and procedures but it is doubtful.

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The Las Vegas Sun had an interesting article about the the Nevada Supreme Court's correct decision to upheld an arbitration award of $754,431 against the Manor Health Care Center in the negligence care of a patient in Las Vegas.

The court upheld the finding of an arbitrator that the standard of care was violated in the care of Edward Monsour.  Monsour died while in the care of the nursing home. The surviving children and the estate filed suit against the center. Both sides agreed in 2008 to binding arbitration before retired District Judge Stephen Huffaker.

Huffaker ruled the nursing home failed to provide the appropriate care mandated by skilled nursing home rules; that it did not keep accurate records of the care and “through neglect and recklessness, failed to provide adequate care, causing pain and suffering to both the deceased and his family.”  Huffaker rejected the wrongful death claim filed by the children.

Manor Health Care appealed but District Judge Timothy Williams backed up the arbitration award.

The Supreme Court rejected the argument of the health care center that the arbitrator wrongfully doubled the amount of certain damages.

The court said there is no evidence that Huffaker knew and disregarded the law in the handling of these claims.

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Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at onlinedegrees.org and performs research surrounding online colleges and education. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Hillcrest Nursing Home Resident, Grace Fugate, Wins Seven Million Dollar Lawsuit

In 2004, Grace Fugate had undergone a knee replacement and was recuperating at Hillcrest Nursing Home. When she used to call button to ask for assistance walking to the restroom, a nursing assistant told her , “Do it yourself,” and “Get over yourself”. She was then left alone, and nobody would respond to her calls for help. Her call button was intentionally left out of reach. As she tried to walk to the bathroom without assistance, she fell and her stitches burst open. When they found her passed out on the floor, she had nearly died from the blood loss. The hospital staff was forced to amputate her leg (http://www.sentinel-echo.com/local/x383290652/Woman-awarded-7-million-in-court-case).

Legal action.

Represented by Annette Morgan from Morgan & White Law Firm, Grace took on Hillcrest Nursing Home for their role in her accident. Ginda Rogers, the nursing assistant who refused help, could not be found for seven years. This stalled the investigation and the ensuing lawsuit. When the case came to trial, Grace was too ill to personally attend. She suffers from ongoing infections.

When the case was decided two weeks ago, the award totaled to nearly seven million dollars. Although Hillcrest Nursing Home has thirty days to appeal, it is unlikely they will overturn the ruling. Grace intends to use the award to finance home care for the remainder of her life. Thanks to the efforts of Morgan & White Law Firm, she will be able to do just that.

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The News & observer had an article about the tragic death of nursing home resident Rachel Holliday.  Angela Almore was arrested and accused of murdering Holliday after an investigation found that Almore gave Holliday morphine that was not prescribed or needed. The indictments allege that Almore intentionally caused each to "ingest morphine that proximately caused serious bodily injury."  Almore has been a registered nurse for four years, and was responsible for taking care of  84-year-old Alzheimer's patient holliday at Britthaven of Chapel Hill.

A medical examiner reported that Holliday died of pneumonia from asphyxiation, and that the levels of morphine in her system likely contributed to her death.  The report listed "morphine toxicity" as a contributing factor to her death, noting that tests done at UNC Hospitals before her death determined she had a morphine level of more than 50,000 nanograms per milliliter of urine.

Almore was also charged with six counts of felony patient abuse related to other Britthaven patients who were hospitalized after they became lethargic. Tests indicated they had been given morphine, even though none had been prescribed the powerful pain medication. All but Holliday survived.

Nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding must follow specific regulations about how medications are bought, stored, ordered and distributed. If the nursing home's oversight was lacking, it must correct the problems and could face fines and be held liable for the death of holliday.

See other article about these incidents here and here.

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The Record on NorthJersey.com had an article about the trial between the family of a resident who fell to his death from a window left open on the second floor at Preakness Healthcare Center.

“Simply put, as a result of their negligence, he suffered 23 days of hell,” said attorney Angelo Bisceglie, referring to Ora Tate  Tate had been admitted to Preakness by his sister, Loretta Tinsley, on July 3, 2006. He was found by a construction worker at about 7:30 a.m. lying 16 feet below his second-floor room window on July 28, 2006. Pulmonary problems and injuries led to his death three weeks later.

Bisceglie said it was unfortunate that Tate’s room had what is known as an “awning window,” which a person of average size could fall out of as Tate did.

Preakness staffers should have known that Tate might harm himself, given his psychological condition, and been placed in a room that would have been safer.

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MYFox9 had an article about the Minnesota Department of Health's investigation into the wandering death of a resident who froze to death.  The investigation revealed that the Jones-Harrison assisted living facility was guilty of neglect in the death of a patient who wandered outside last November.  The cause of the patient's death was listed as hypothermia from cold exposure.

Staff carelessly lost track of the woman with dementia on the evening of Nov. 21.  The family member said when she arrived at Jones-Harrison on the morning of Nov. 22, police had still not been called and the patient hadn't been seen inside the facility in 16 hours. Staff members were unable to locate the woman and were confused about her whereabouts before finding her around 10:30 a.m. the next morning frozen, with no pulse, near a parking garage. 

The report concluded that the resident walked through a gate door that was left open.  A maintenance worker leaving around 4 p.m. the day of the incident left the gate unlocked. The worker admitted to leaving it unlocked for his own convenience, using it to get to quickly get to his car in the cold weather.  There was no explanation why another staff member did not see that the gate was unlocked or how the resident was able to leave the facility without anyone noticing.

The nursing home did not effectively manage its resident register to keep tabs on patients, and staff did not initiate the missing persons protocol in a timely manner.

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ChicoER.com had an article about a lawsuit  filed against Windsor Chico Care Center by  Virginia White, a resident who claims the staff's negligence led to a fall that caused significant injuries.  
White was living with her grandson, Donald White, because she needed so much help with activities of daily living. In August 2009, Donald White needed to go to San Francisco for medical tests, and he arranged for Windsor Chico Care Center to take care of her in his absence.

Donald White carefully explained to nursing-home administrators how his grandmother needed help when moving from place to place or going to the bathroom.  When moving about with her walker, she needed two people to assist her, one in front and one in back, to guard against falls.

On Aug. 14, less than a week after she was admitted to Windsor Chico, Virginia White fell and was hurt.  She had called for help to go to the bathroom, and one certified nursing assistant came to her aid and helped her get to the bathroom.  Contrary to Virginia White's care plan and the doctor's orders, the assistant left her standing in the bathroom. White fell forward, hitting her neighbor's bathroom door and falling into her neighbor's room, face first on the floor.

She sustained "a multitude of facial fractures."   Virginia White was admitted to an acute-care hospital where she spent four days. Then she was transferred to an acute-care rehabilitation facility to recuperate. Finally, she was transferred to another nursing home for long-term care.

The suit alleges that Windsor Chico Care Center was at fault by, among other things, failing to carry out all written orders and failing to employ enough nursing staff to meet the minimum daily requirement of the law.

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