Posts tagged neglect

• Bill To Require DHS To Timely Investigate Claims

  Scott Barber | October 02, 2007 10:53 AM | 0 CommentsSan Diego County, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  A bill which would require the California Department of Health Services (DHS) to investigate the majority of all claims of elder abuse in nursing homes within 40 days, has made it to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) and passed the Legislature last month. An article in the Los Angles Times referred to a number of occasions...

• Want to be Profitable? Go Private, Cut Nursing

  Randy Walton | October 01, 2007 9:53 AM | 0 CommentsSan Diego County, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  The county-owned nursing home Vermilion Manor in Virginia is looking to increase the bottom line. Last year it lost money, and a consultant hired to address the problem has the answer: reduce the number of nurses. According to the News Gazett, the consultant found that the nursing facility provides daily nursing that exceeds the state and national averages, so cutting nursing hours, he...

• Bedrail Entrapment - How To Be Safe

  Randy Walton | September 29, 2007 8:23 AM | 0 CommentsSan Diego County, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  Last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a major crib recall, reporting that 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs have been recalled after three children became entrapped and suffocated, including a 9-month-old child who died. But bed rail entrapment is a danger not limited to the young. It continues to injure and kill many elder Americans every year.It is estimated that...

• More Profits, Less Nursing Care in U.S. Nursing Homes

  Randy Walton | September 24, 2007 3:35 AM | 0 CommentsSan Diego, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  For years now, we have heard the story from nursing home owners that they are barely getting by, and the lawsuits against them for negligent care are going to drive them out of business, leaving no place to put seniors. We always reject this argument as a time-honored trick by tortfeasors to try to portray themselves as victims after causing harm to others. A New York Times article this weekend...

• Elders More Vulnerable To "Poisonous" Drug Cocktails

  Scott Barber | September 18, 2007 7:07 PM | 0 CommentsSan Diego, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  A recent New York Times article reports that elderly patients are much more vulnerable to "poisonous" drug cocktails. Elderly persons, those over the age of 65, are more likely to be taking multiple medications for multiple conditions which have been prescribed by multiple physicians. This can result in elders receiving medications which should not be prescribed together. This can even occur...

• Medicare To Stop Paying For The Treatment Of Pressure Ulcers

  Scott Barber | September 17, 2007 5:42 PM | 0 CommentsSan Diego, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  Medicare to stop paying nursing homes for treating pressure ulcers which they cause. Pressue ulcers are one of the most common bases for elder aqbuse lawsuits. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced last month that, it will no longer reimburse hospitals for treating eight "reasonably preventable" conditions as of October 2008. Pressure ulcers are among the most prevalent,...

• Upset about Nursing Home Care? Complain!

  Randy Walton | September 14, 2007 10:25 PM | 0 CommentsSan Diego, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  As a lawyer who sues nursing homes and residential care facilities for the abuse or neglect of their residents, I frequently get calls from people who feel that they or their loved one have been a victim abuse or neglect. When I hear genuine stories abuse or neglect, or of highly questionable conduct on the part of nursing home staff, I always ask whether or not anyone complained about it to...

• Nursing Home Complaint Investigation Improvement Act of 2007 Heads to Governor's Desk

  Randy Walton | September 13, 2007 7:11 PM | 0 CommentsSan Diego, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  The Nursing Home Complaint Investigation Improvement Act would require the Department of Health Services (DHS) to complete investigations within 40 working days; send complainants a written summary of findings about their complaint; investigate facility-reported complaints of abuse and neglect within the same timeframes as public complaints; and extend the number of days a complainant has to...

• Berea Nursing Home Resident Assaulted

  Shannon Weidemann | September 08, 2007 9:35 AM | 0 CommentsSan Diego County, CA Category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse
  

  A man entered a nursing home in Berea, Kentucky and sexually assaulted a 90-year-old resident there. It is unknown how he was able to enter the building or what kind of security measures were in place. The nursing home assault happened early in the morning on Monday. "Basically what happened is that the employees of the nursing home heard a patient scream," Clark said. "When they went to...