Florida updates in category: Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

The Channel 9 Eyewitness News website is reporting allegations that an employee of Pathways to Care in Casselberry has been using illegal drugs and abusing patients. The assisted living facility worker is being accused of smoking crack cocaine on the property, stealing prescription medications, and verbally abusing residents.Channel 9 attempted to get a statement from the head nurse at the...

A nursing home patient who was brought to the hospital with maggots in his eyes and an infected breathing tube died. The Attorney General's office is investigating possible neglect or abuse directed at the man. The man was a resident at University Center West in Deland when he was taken to the hospital with these horrible conditions. He was later moved to a hospital in Jacksonville where he...

A certified nursing home assistant has been taken into custody on allegations that she abused a nursing home resident at a Pensacola nursing home. She is accused of causing injuries to the face and neck of an Alzheimer's patient.The arrest was carried out in Louisiana by the Houma Police Department, acting on behalf of the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. "This victim was...

Right here in Central Florida we have another example of inhumane treatment at a nursing home. The list of alleged abuses is sickening:One resident suffered with an untreated impacted bowel for three weeks until her death.A resident with Alzheimer's fell out of bed. She called for help for an hour until she crawled to a phone and called 911. Firefighters rescued her and found the 3 nursing home...

A nursing home in Girard, Illinois had abuse complaints lodged against it. Investigators found that the workers at Pleasant Hill Village Nursing Home was abusing residents. A fine of $25,000 was levied against the home. A February report by the Illinois Department of Public Health indicated the incidents might have started as early as August 2006.Aides allegedly poked one resident with a pin...

A bill submitted by U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) will allow Medicare and Medicaid to pay long term care facilities for the background check of applicants for hire. It also provides for a centralized database from all states from which the background checks can be made. The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007, which is supported by the American Health Care Association, would allow...

The most common reasons senior citizens require nursing home care are muscle weakness, known as sarcopenia, osteoporosis and dementia, like Alzheimer's disease. While there has been publicity on osteoporosis and dementia, Americans know very little about Sarcopenia - age related loss of muscle mass. To minimize muscle loss as you age participate in strength training, eat a healthy diet, low...

If Julia McCauley,74, had been wearing the monitoring bracelet prescribed by her doctor, authorities believe the elderly resident of Life Care Center would not have plummeted to her death down a stairwell on April 17, 2004.Life Care Centers of America was indited with criminal manslaughter charges due to the workers at the Acton Life Care Center acting recklessly by not making sure the woman...

Federal health officials impose only minimal penalties on nursing homes repeatedly cited for mistreatment and abuse of patients. As a result, some nursing homes go in and out of compliance with federal standards. Those nursing homes pose a continued threat to the health and safety of patients."Some of these homes repeatedly harmed residents over a six-year period and yet remain in the Medicare...

A jury in Palm Beach County has decided that a nursing home must pay $150,000 in damages to a woman's family after they did not follow her living will and advance directive. The 92-year-old woman had stated that she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Workers at Morse Geriatric called paramedics and had her taken to the hosptial where she died six days later after having many...

A man has been charged with striking a disabled resident of a nursing home where he was once employed.The worker was arrested, Friday, after an investigation led by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Units Patient Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation (PANE team). The investigation claims the worker, 56, was employed as a janitor at the Edward J. Healy Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in...

A former nursing home employee in Palm Beach County is being charged with striking a disabled nursing home resident.He was arrested after a completed investigation by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Units Patient Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation (PANE) team. The investigation show's he was employed as a janitor at the Nursing Center.The investigation alleges, he struck a 48-year-old...

Choosing a good nursing home is difficult. Unfortunately for the family of one elderly person, the nursing home they choose for their mother resulted in her wrongful death. The 81 year who suffered from alzheimer's was abused by aides at the nursing home. Thankfully, cases like this are rare - but resident advocates and nursing home administrators alike say elder abuse, in all its forms, is...

According to the Florida Attorney General, two nurses from Suwannee County nursing home have been arrested on several counts of nursing home abuse and neglect. An investigation showed they withheld medication from nursing home patients.The attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began its investigation against the two nurses last October after they had received an abuse report from the...

The quality of care and level of safety have improved in Florida's nursing homes since laws were passed in 2001 to improve the standards. These measures included more time spent with each patient that is charted, more nurses to be hired, and that nursing homes must carry liability insurance. Six nursing homes in Polk County have made Florida's Watch List in the past, which alerts the public to...