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

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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Houmatoday had an article about the tragic incident involving Etienne Adams, a 93-year-old nursing home resident.  His solo walk outdoors on a freezing night is the subject of a police investigation.  Luckily, the resident is in stable condition at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center after recovering from a fall outside Lafourche Home for the Aged and Infirm.  He is being treated for extended exposure to freezing temperatures. He was unconscious when police found him, and he has been unable to communicate since. Hypothermia had begun to set in.  His temperature dropped to around 83 degrees, while being exposed to outdoor temperatures in the high teens

Police investigators are trying to determine how Adams made it outside without any of the staff noticing and then stayed there without anyone noticing for hours. Officials are not certain how long he was outside of the home.

The nursing home has working security features available that include surveillance cameras, door alarms and a locked fence around the building.  Obviously either the security was not on or it was ignored by the staff.  There is also no video surveillance footage of Adams leaving his room. The nursing home's cameras capture only what it is happening in real time but do not record.

Adams left the facility and fell off of a ramp outside the facility.  There is no record of nursing-home employees looking for Adams outside once they realized he was not in his room.  After being dispatched to the nursing home on a missing-persons complaint, police found Adams on the ground near the back of the property.  Officer David Melancon’s report said “it was apparent that he had been lying on the ground for several hours.

 Here is a follow up article from the DailyComet on the investigation. 
 

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Miami Herald had a great article about how new technology is helping elderly people.  New devices monitor how well seniors are managing activities of daily living, aid with some tasks and help avoid any move to a nursing home.  Scientists, doctors, engineers and philosophers  gathered last month at a TEDMED (Technology, Entertainment, Design Medicine) conference to unveil solutions to some health care problems.

One of the devices that has been improved over the last few years is a pendant that can call 911 if the wearer falls.  Now the device can be programmed to answer the phone, reminders to take  medicine or alert to a fire, among other things.   It's one of several new products designed to help seniors stay in their homes.  At-home technology now can monitor senior citizens' movements, vital statistics, and sleep and bathroom patterns.  Many older people like having technology provide this extra layer of security because it doesn't require them to give up privacy.

The monitoring systems, which cost $150 to $200 a month, are more often prescribed to seniors for a limited time after a hospitalization or health issue. Some also are being used in assisted-living facilities where operators like the additional protections they offer.

Technology will allow seniors to avoid ``unnecessary early institutionalization'' because it will relieve the anxiety of loved ones. The ability to closely monitor a person's lifestyle also can help family members know when the older person is unable to remain home, said Katie Boyer, director of marketing for Home for Life Solutions, in Lee Summit.

Besides monitoring falls and daily activities, her company sells equipment that will turn off a stove if the user forgets. A built-in motion detector turns the appliance off if the user leaves the room and does not return in a specific time frame. As for managing medicine, systems exist that will dispense it at appropriate times and remind patients to take it. If the patient fails to take the medicine, the pills can move into a locked chamber to avoid an overdose.

GE has two products aimed at seniors: Health Guide allows users to check their blood pressure, sugar levels or heart rate daily. The information is sent to a medical provider who tracks it. If problems arise, the patient can have a teleconference with a nurse or schedule an appointment with their doctor.

The company also offers QuietCare, which uses sensors that learn daily activities and behaviors, and then watches for changes. The sensors will alert help if a person falls, goes to the bathroom at night and doesn't return to bed, or fails to get out of bed in the morning. Sensors also can be placed near the medicine cabinet or refrigerator, so monitors can track whether the person is taking their medicine and eating.

John Cobb, CEO of Senior Lifestyle, started to install QuietCare in some of his company's 70 senior living facilities this summer because he thought it would make residents safer. With QuietCare, his staff can keep track of residents' whereabouts at night, he said.

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The PressRepublican.com had a story about a nursing home employee who took and shared private inappropriate photos of residents in his care.  Shane Spooner has been ordered to jail and probation for taking sexually explicit photos of a traumatic-brain-injury patient in his care.  He was working at Clinton County Nursing Home when he took the inappropriate cell-phone picture of the 49-year-old and sent it via text message to a female co-worker.  Spooner had three prior misdemeanor convictions.  After investigating, authorities charged Spooner with second-degree unlawful surveillance and first-degree dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image.  Within two weeks of his August arrest, Spooner pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of attempted first-degree dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image.  He was sentenced to 45 days in County Jail for taking the picture. He was also ordered to complete three years probation and pay a $500 fine, along with a $200 surcharge.

Shane Spooner has said that he took a picture of the man's genitals for his own amusement, an act that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has called "a disgusting example of abuse within the walls of a New York nursing home."

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San Antonion's KENS5.com had a story about the family of Janice Maier who is in ICU as a result of an assault and  choking incident.   The family blames the facility ofr failing to prevent the assault of their mother who was choked and beaten by a complete stranger. The family says the home not only failed to protect their loved one, they didn't come to her rescue after she was choked and beaten.

Maier remains in I.C.U. at University Hospital. Kens 5 contacted the Brookdale Senior Living Center, but we were told managers were not availible for comment.    A family member who did not want her name given out for her own safety, spoke exclusively to Kens 5 about a lawsuit she's filing against the Brookdale Senior Living Center.

"How did he get in? How did this happen?" she asked. "I was very shocked and horrified."  "The idea that at four in the morning a door is left open on Nacogdoches is imcomprehensible," said her attorney, Tim Maloney.  "First and foremost its the responsibility of these places to protect their patients," said Maloney.

According to the police report Villareal "saw a door in the back that was ajar and after he pushed it hard it opened."   "He just walked right in," said the relative. "I have a lot of questions about that."

But something else that is raising her eyebrows even more in the report?

"Police had to tell the workers there to check the rooms," said the relative. "My poor aunt was laying there who knows how long until it was discovered she was hurt."
 

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Pittsburgh Live had a story about a resident who died as a result of a preventable fall.  Authorities are investigating the death of Loretta Benzel, a resident of the Presbyterian SeniorCare facility, who fell to her death.  Ms. Benzel was found shortly after 6 a.m. below the window of her third-floor room in the section of the facility known as The Willows.

Pat Kornick, spokesman for Presbyterian SeniorCare, said that when the incident occurred, "The staff was working with the residents, getting them breakfast and getting them showered."  She said the staff member who was working with Benzel was getting tea for her at the time she fell.  Kornick said Benzel, a former Plum resident, had lived at The Willows, which is a skilled nursing unit providing around the clock care.  Kornick said Benzel was not suffering from Alzheimer's disease or dementia.  Kornick said the windows are equipped with safety features.  Kornick said the preliminary investigation indicated it was a suicide. She said she had no knowledge that Benzel had been despondent or suicidal.

As for the possibility that Benzel was suicidal, police responded, "That was never conveyed to us. She had health problems, but nothing like that was conveyed to us. "At this point, there is nothing indicative of any foul play," the chief said. "Now whether it was an accident or a suicide has yet to be determined."

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Coastal Courier had an article about another nursing home employee stealing from residents.  Demetria Denise Williams, an employee of Coastal Manor Long Term Care Facility, was arrested after Elise Stafford, the home’s chief long-term care officer, reported the center had information showing an employee had been stealing.   Williams was then taken to the police station where she was charged with theft by deception, theft by taking and exploitation of the elderly.
Williams has been charged with stealing more than $4,000 and that he anticipates as many as 25 more theft warrants.  Williams stole from residents by taking money for their families, but not depositing it into appropriate accounts.

Williams also stole from the facility by taking payment of services not provided to residents.
“The majority of the money that was stolen was from payment for services,” Stafford said. “There was a minimal amount taken from the residents.”
 

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Here is an interesting article from the Chicago Tribune stating that mentally ill patients now constitute more than 15% of Illinois' total nursing population (92,225) and the number of residents convicted of serious felonies has increased to 3,000, including 82 convicted murderers, 179 sex offenders and 185 armed robbers.  These are troubling statistics and may explain the increases in resident to resident assaults, rapes, and molestation.  Hopefully, the nursing home industry will decide to increase staffing to supervise residents with a history of violence or criminal behavior.
The article mentions several instances where the mentally ill and the nursing homes' lack of supervision caused injuries and death to residents.

More than any other state, Illinois relies heavily on nursing homes to house mentally ill patients, including those who have committed crimes. But the Tribune investigation found that the industry has failed to adequately manage the resulting influx of younger residents who shuttle into nursing facilities from jail cells, shelters and psychiatric wards.  The state's background checks on new residents are riddled with errors and omissions that understate their criminal records, and homes with the most felons are among those with the lowest nursing staff levels.  The facilities had a financial motive for accepting them, suggested Richard Dees, chief of the state public health department's Bureau of Long-term Care. When "the number of seniors going into nursing homes began to decline, there were facilities with empty beds," Dees said.

Meanwhile, state authorities don't track assaults and other crimes in nursing homes, making it difficult to uncover patterns and address the problems caused by unstable individuals.  Police reports show that since March 2008, police reported 511 cases of assault or battery, 27 cases of criminal sexual assault and 24 narcotics violations in city nursing homes.  The Tribune documented instances in which nursing homes failed to report attacks to the state health department as required by law. At the same time, state inspectors do not compile incident reports in a central location. And because the health department's computerized case-tracking software is antiquated and ineffective, department officials have difficulty assembling and analyzing the facility reports to uncover patterns of attacks at unsafe homes, the Tribune found.

Several national studies question whether they receive meaningful psychiatric care in nursing facilities. A pending class-action lawsuit, brought by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and the American Civil Liberties Union, describes some Illinois homes as filthy, frightening holding pens where "groggy" residents watch TV in crowded, noisy common areas or are directed over loudspeakers to wait for medication and meals in long lines.

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Minnesota's Star Tribune had a disturbing article about a teenage aide at Glenwood Village Care Center nursing home who physically and emotionally abused two frail residents -- getting one to cry by telling her she soon could see her dead husband and threatening to send the other to jail, where she might be raped.

The case represents the fourth time in just over a year that Health Department investigators concluded that aides emotionally and physically abused frail residents of residential facilities. Two of the cases have resulted in criminal charges.  Many of the aides implicated in the other abuse cases also were teenagers.

Another Glenwood Village employee told administrators June 22 that on the previous evening, the aide threatened to hit her, telling her coworker, "I wouldn't really hit her, but believe me, I want to. I just want to smash her."   A different employee later told investigators that the aide said she had told the resident, "If you hit me, you are going to go to jail, and do you know what happens to people in jail? They get raped."

Later that evening, the aide began lifting another resident's leg and continued moving it when the woman cried out in pain, telling her, "Cry if you want to cry."

The string of high-profile abuse cases began in Albert Lea on Aug. 29, 2008, when the Health Department found that four aides had abused 15 residents with dementia over five months by poking and groping residents' genitals, sticking fingers in their mouths and noses and taunting them until they screamed. Two teenagers who worked at the home were charged as adults.   In Montevideo, an aide pleaded guilty this summer to charges that she abused four residents. This month, three aides at a Virginia assisted living facility were found to have pinched and slapped several elderly residents.

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