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Nursing Home Negligence
- Nursing Home Resident Dies Because Staff Not Trained in Heimlich! Jury Awards $2.35 Million
- NY Nursing Homes Rank Among the Worst for Support and Family Caregivers!
- Are You More Likely To Develop Bed Sores Because Of The Color Of Your Skin? Click Here To Find Out!
- New Study reveals Antipsychotic Drugs Hazardous to the Elderly in Nursing Homes
- Times Union Publishes Moving Letter From Local Nursing Home Resident
Library
Nursing Home Negligence
- Pressure sores occur far more often in African-Americans than any other racial or ethnic group in nursing homes in Kingston, New York
- Top 3 steps you can take to avoid pressure sores in a nursing home or hospital in Kingston, New York
- Beware of the dangers of bed rails in your Kingston, New York nursing home
- What you can do to prevent your loved one from having an unintended weight loss in a nursing home
- What you need to know today to protect the rights of your family member in a nursing home in Kingston, New York
Discover the secrets to finding the safest and best nursing home for your family member in Kingston, New York
Nursing home negligence ranges from pressures sores (also known as bedsores, pressure ulcers and decubitus ulcers), falls, overdoses of medication, dehydration and malnutrition, sexual assault, and physical and chemical restraints. Elderly residents of a nursing home are at risk of injury that can result from lack of care, neglect and poor nutrition. It is important that you know how to get answers in a nursing home and what you can do to make sure that your loved one is getting the care he/she needs.
Why nursing home residents are at risk for injuries
In most cases, a nursing home resident is either unable to care for herself (or himself) and may not be mentally able to advocate for his or her rights. Some nursing home residents suffer from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or have other forms of dementia and they have virtually no ability to alert the nurse manager or other authority at the nursing home.
Daily skin inspections are crucial to preventing pressure sores in nursing homes
Unlike most medical malpractice cases, nursing homes have clear policies and procedures for virtually every situation. For example, upon admission to the nursing home, every resident must be assessed for their risk of developing pressure sores. If the resident is classified as "high risk" for pressure sores, the nursing home must follow a written protocol that sets forth clear rules as to the treatment that must be given, including daily skin inspections during each nursing shft. In many cases, patients at risk for pressure sores must be turned and positioned at least once every two hours. Such treatment protocols are set forth in the Comprehensive Care Plan that every nursing home must have.
Interventions that prevent falls in nursing homes
In cases where a resident is classified as being "high risk" for falling, the Comprehensive Care Plan will have clear rules that must be followed to prevent a fall. For example, such residents should not be left alone in their room in the middle of the day. While residents cannot be physically or chemically restrained, they should be placed in an area, such as in front of the nurse's station, where someone will see if they try to get up from their wheelchair. There are additional precautions that are followed for the resident's bed, such as mattresses on the floor on each side of the bed, bed alarms that are activated if the resident leaves the bed, and lowering of the bed to just above the level of the floor. Such precautions minimize the chance of a fall and if a fall occurs, the extent of the injury is less significant.
Why bed rails pose safety hazards to your loved one in a nursing home
Bed rails are supposed to prevent falls for residents in a nursing home. But for residents at high risk for falling, especially those with confusion, disorientation or Alzheimer's, the risk of a serious fall are significantly increased with the use of bed rails. Nursing home residents, when confused and disoriented, will often attempt to climb over the bed rails and a greater distance than if bed rails were not used. Other residents, when confused, can become entangled and trapped in the bed rails when trying to exit the bed. If there is a gap between the bed rail and the mattress, the resident can become trapped in this gap.
There are much less dangerous interventions that can be used to prevent falls, such as lowering the bed, placing a high impact mat around the bed and putting bed alarm on to alert the nursing staff when the resident gets out of bed. Adjustable height beds can be used to raise the bed when care is provided and lowering the bed when the resident is sleeping.
If bed rails must be used for your loved one in a nursing home, make sure you educate your family member about the risks of bed rails and that alternatives to bed rails are considered first.
The most common accident in a nursing home? Falls
The most common injury in a nursing home? Falls. On average, a resident of a nursing home falls 2.6 times each year and 10% to 20% of all falls result in serious injuries that require hospitalization and surgery. Nursing home residents are generally at much greater risk of falling since they sometimes frail with impaired ability to walk and often have a prior history of falling.
Why physical restraints do more harm than good for nursing home residents
Physical and chemical restraints are more likely to cause harm than prevent it. Specific rules must be followed before a physician can order physical restraints and residents must be closely monitored once restraints are used. Restraints can cause humiliation, loss of independence and increase the risk that the resident will fall or hurt themselves while trying to get free of the restraint.
Who is caring for your loved one in a nursing home?
To lower expenses and raise profits, many nursing homes replace registered nurses with LPNs, certified nurses aides and unlicensed workers. You have the right to know who is caring for your loved one. The law requires the nursing home to disclose the staffing and the ratios of nurses to LPNs and CNAs. Get the details about your nursing home's staffing in order to pick the right environment for your family member.
The Care Plan is the document that you should ask for in a nursing home
The Comprehensive Care Plan is the most important document kept by a nursing home. The Care Plan lists all interventions that are specific to each resident and it is amended as there are changes to the needs of the resident. If you or a family member are injured in a nursing home, the Care Plan will have the answers that you need.
The quarterly Care Plan Meeting gives you the chance to make sure that the needs of your loved one are addressed by the staff members of the nursing home. Make sure you attend the Care Plan Meetings and stand up for the rights of your family member.
Why Malnutrition and an Unintended Weight Loss are the Enemy in a Nursing Home
An unintended weight loss, or malnutrition, can lead to muscle atrophy, infection and disease complications. A nutritional assessment is the first step to finding the cause of the unintended weight loss. Medical conditions and psychological issues may be at the root of the unintended weight loss. You need to take a multi-disciplinary approach to finding the cause of your loved one's unintended weight loss.
If you have questions, I welcome your phone call
I welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 866-889-6882 if you have any questions, or you can send your questions to me at jfisher@mmolaw.net. If you want more information about preventing injuries at nursing homes, you can request my free book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, which I know you'll like. The book can be requested on the home page this website, www.protectingpatientrights.com.
Blog for Nursing Home Negligence
- Nursing Home Resident Dies Because Staff Not Trained in Heimlich! Jury Awards $2.35 Million
Description: Jury found nursing home negligent in death of resident who was not supposed to be eating certain foods, choked, and staff was not trained in the heimlich!
- NY Nursing Homes Rank Among the Worst for Support and Family Caregivers!
Description: New York nursing homes ranked among the worst in the country! A comprehensive study confirms that great changes need to be done in this state for our elderly.
- Are You More Likely To Develop Bed Sores Because Of The Color Of Your Skin? Click Here To Find Out!
Description: A new study has found that black nursing home residents are more likely than white nursing home residents to develop bed sores.
- New Study reveals Antipsychotic Drugs Hazardous to the Elderly in Nursing Homes
Description: Discover why antipsychotic drugs may be dangerous to your loved one in a nursing home. Get your FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims.
- Times Union Publishes Moving Letter From Local Nursing Home Resident
Description: County Executive Mike Breslin has been advocating for the Albany County Nursing Home's closure. On Tuesday, Albany County Nursing Home Resident, Donna Lynn Mosley-Simpson wrote a passionate plea in the Times Union for the Legislature to keep the home open.
- Will There Soon Be Better Housing Conditions for the Mentally Ill?
Description: The mentally ill will soon be able to receive better housing conditions in supportive living communities instead of nursing homes. Earlier this year, a U.S. District Court judge in Brooklyn ruled that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, mentally ill people living in adult nursing homes should be allowed to move into their own supportive living apartments.
- In Response to Public Outcry, the D.E.A. Issues New Prescription Drug Guidelines!
Description: The D.E.A. has just issued new guidelines that will allow nursing home nurses to call in prescriptions for painkillers and anti-anxiety medication!
- Is Facebook Causing Complications In Nursing Home Abuse Cases?
Description: Recently, Facebook has been causing numerous complications in both criminal and civil trials.There have been several prominent cases across the nation within the last few years where either (1) co-defendants have tried to communicate with one another despite no-contact orders through Facebook (2) a defendant has threatened or contacted a juror through the networking site or (3) a defendant gained access to a plaintiff's "private information" on the site and used it as ammunition within which to impeach their credibility during trial.
- Is the D.E.A.'s "War on Drugs" Hurting Nursing Home Residents?
Description: Nursing home residents are becoming unintended casualties of the Drug Enforcement Agency's war on drugs. According to an article recently published in the New York Times, a new level of drug enforcement intended to prevent narcotic abuse is making it extremely difficult for nursing home residents to receive the prescription drugs that they need. In the past, medical staff from nursing homes would be able to have a prescription filled for a resident based on instructions given to the pharmacy by the resident's clinic or physician. However, that practice is now "under scrutiny" by the D.E.A. Pharmacies are now requiring a written or faxed prescription from the patient's doctor before dispensing the medicine and many nursing homes are unaware of the change. This means that some residents are being forced to wait days before getting the prescriptions they need if the doctor prescribing the medication is unavailable. This was the case with Roland Lorenz, a 75 year-old nursing home resident in St. Louis, Illinois. Mr. Lorenz has surgical screws in his back and neck and a pin in his upper leg and needs to take the pain medication, Percocet. One weekend his pain reared up severely and he was taken to a pain clinic where his doctor ordered his dosage of Percocet to be increased. Unfortunately, it took two days for him to receive the medication. Nurses were unable to have the medication filled by phone as was their usual practice, and the doctor who prescribed the medication was unavailable. According to nursing home staff, their own doctor on-call would not prescribe the medication to Mr. Lorenz without examining him first. Mr. Lorenz suffered through the weekend in excruciating pain until he was finally given the medication that Monday. According to The New York Times, the D.E.A. is "investigating pharmacies in 'about five states' for dispensing the drugs to nursing homes without direct written orders from a doctor". The D.E.A. asserts that they are trying to protect patients from nurses who call in prescriptions without a doctor's order and from pharmacists who dispense narcotics without a prescription, who both then try to get a doctor to sign the prescription after the fact even though he or she has never seen the patient. Medical experts agree that residents in rural areas and those arriving at nursing homes from a hospital usually suffer the most. In rural areas, doctors may not have immediate access to a fax machine or any way to send a prescription from their phone. Residents arriving from the hospital may have trouble getting their prescriptions faxed due to communication problems between the nursing home and the hospital doctors. Some nursing home critics argue that these problems would not occur if all nursing homes had on-site physicians and adequate medical care for their residents. According to the medical directors association and The New York Times, a doctor at a nursing home "writes an average of 169 prescriptions for controlled substances each month — which means ample opportunities for delays". Many times, nurses have a doctor's order and a resident in horrible pain, but is unable to dispense any medication. In extreme cases, nurses have been forced to illegally dispense medication from their homes' emergency kit in order to ease their patients' suffering. While I support the fact that the D.E.A. is trying to minimize narcotic drug abuse, nursing home residents are clearly suffering from their efforts. I think that pharmacies, nursing home staff, and doctors must work together in a concerted effort to minimize the time that residents must wait to receive their prescriptions. These residents should not have to suffer due to the unavailability of a physician, communication problems between nursing home staff and hospital doctors, or the illegal actions of a handful of pharmacists. I think that if the D.E.A. is serious in changing how nursing homes receive their prescriptions for their residents, they should first come up with a workable policy for how residents in need of narcotics can have them dispensed without having to wait for hours or days. Obviously, the current system is not working, and the D.E.A. should first come up with a plan on how to prevent nursing home residents from becoming casualties of their war on drugs.
- More Details Emerge In Local Nursing Home Abuse Case
Description: New details now continue to emerge concerning how the investigation of Northwoods Rehabilitations and Extended Care Facility first began.
- Indictment Charges Local Nursing Home Staff With Abuse!
Description: Nine nurses, nurses aides and a physicians' assistant at the Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility, a nursing home near Troy, New York have been named in an indicment charging them with endangering the welfare of elderly residents and felony falsification of nursing home records.
- Will $677 Million Dollar Verdict Against California Nursing Home Bring Change to the Industry?
Description: Both the defendant and the plaintiffs in a recent California class action suit were brought to tears, albeit for different reasons, after the jury handed down a $677 million dollar verdict against the defendant for nursing home abuse and negligence. The verdict is easily the largest in the country this year and the largest verdict ever brought against a nursing home. Although the plaintiffs have now agreed to a settlement of only $50 million dollars, the case has still sent shock waves of fear throughout the nursing home industry.
- Click to Learn About a Scam Nursing Home Residents Must Watch Out For!
Description: The majority of nursing home residents are vulnerable to abuse due to either their weakened physical or mental health. The abuse can manifest itself in various forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and now...financial abuse.
- Sexual Abuse Not Uncommon Within Nursing Homes
Description: A rash of sexual abuse within nursing homes has been sweeping the country. One only has to read the extensive blogs, news articles, and first hand accounts to see that the number of cases is rising. According to expert research, sexual abuse accounts for about 2% of nursing home abuse cases. Unfortunately, only about half of all instances of sexual abuse within a nursing home come to light; in many cases, nursing home officials either brush aside allegations of abuse or try to cover-up evidence of the abuse to avoid legal sanctions.
- State and Federal Legal Action Taken Against Western New York Nursing Homes
Description: Four Western New York nursing homes, Fairport Baptist Homes, The Brightonian, Park Ridge Nursing Home and Wayne Health Care, have been punished with Federal and State civil and/or criminal sanctions in the past 6 months.
- Nursing Homes Using Tax Dollars to Restrain Residents
Description: "Chemical restraint" is when a person is force-fed powerful psychotropic drugs to control their behavior. They are only legal for a nursing home to use if they are needed to keep a resident from harming himself or others. Overdosage of these drugs can result in death or severe neurological damage. Research has shown that up to 15,000 nursing home patients die each year from the improper use of these drugs. Tax-payers foot the bill for these drugs in most cases.
- Nursing Home Fails to Seek Emergency Care For Resident
Description: A lawsuit was recently filed against the Sunrise Assisted Living Facility, a nursing home in Rochester, New York for the 2007 death of resident, Donald R. Salli. The suit alleges that the nursing home was negligent in both failing to adequately supervise its residents, and for failing to provide Mr. Salli with necessary medical treatment after he was attacked.
- Dumping and Transfer Trauma: Wrongful Discharge Abuse on the Rise
Description: The number of nursing home complaints for wrongfully discharging patients in these ways has doubled over the past ten years. Dumping and Transfer Trauma are two types of nursing home abuse that, although often overlooked, are quickly becoming an epidemic. Dumping and Transfer Trauma are similar in that they are two types of abuse that stem from wrongfully discharging a nursing home resident that is in desperate need of care.
- New Report Confirms Inadequate Staffing Leads to Nursing Home Abuse
Description: Understaffing may be the number one cause of negligence within nursing homes
- Nursing Home Abuse Caught on Camera in North Troy!
Description: Fourteen workers at Troy nursing home charged with endangering the welfare of elderly residents and felony falsification of nursing home records
Library for Nursing Home Negligence:
- Pressure sores occur far more often in African-Americans than any other racial or ethnic group in nursing homes in Kingston, New York
Description: Discover why African-Americans are far more prone to pressure sores in American nursing homes. - Top 3 steps you can take to avoid pressure sores in a nursing home or hospital in Kingston, New York
Description: Discover how you can avoid pressure sores in a nursing home. Get your FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims. - Beware of the dangers of bed rails in your Kingston, New York nursing home
Description: Discover why bed rails can put your loved one in danger in a nursing home - What you can do to prevent your loved one from having an unintended weight loss in a nursing home
Description: Discover the causes of unintended weight loss in a nursing home. - What you need to know today to protect the rights of your family member in a nursing home in Kingston, New York
Description: Get your FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, to protect your rights as a nursing home resident - This is what you do if you are not getting answers to your complaints in nursing home
Description: Discover how you can get answers that no one wants to give you in a nursing home - Discover how you can find out who is caring for your loved one in a Kingston, New York nursing home: unlicensed workers, LPN's, certified nurses aides or registered nurses.
Description: Discover how you can find out if the nursing home is understaffing the unit where your loved one is living - Physical restraints do not prevent injury and often represent a safety hazard for the resident of a Kingston, New York nursing home.
Description: Discover why physical restraints should be used only as a last resort for nursing home residents - Discover how you can prevent medication errors in your Kingston, New York nursing home.
Description: Discover what you can do to prevent medication errors in a nursing home. - How understaffing at nursing homes leads to medical neglect and a huge $19 million verdict against a nursing home in Queens, New York
Description: Discover how you can prevent pressure sores by making sure that your nursing home is adequately staffed. - Simple steps that you need to take today to prevent your loved one from falling in a nursing home in your Kingston, New York nursing home
Description: Discover how to prevent falls in a nursing home. Get the FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at www.protectingpaientrights.com. - Discover how you can prevent a pressure sore from developing in your Kingston, New York nursing home
Description: Discover how turning and repositioning are the keys to preventing pressure sores. Get your FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims. - Make sure you do your research before choosing a nursing home for your loved one.
Description: Don't wait for an accident to happen--get the facts about your nursing home. - Simple steps to protect against pressures sores (bedsores) in a nursing home.
Description: It's as simple as turning and repositioning immobile residents every two hours. - Make sure the nursing home takes these steps to prevent your loved one from falling at a nursing home.
Description: For nursing home residents at risk of falling, there are clearcut interventions that must be taken to prevent a fall. - New law in New York requires nursing homes to disclose the nurse-to-patient ratio.
Description: You now have the right to learn how nursing homes are staffing their units. - How you can tell a good nursing home from a bad one.
Description: Simple steps that you can take to weed out bad nursing homes in your search for a safe environmetn for a family member. - Find the Best Nursing Home For You or A Loved One!
Description: The best way to tell the good nursing homes from the bad
Frequent Questions for Nursing Home Negligence:
- What is the difference between a Stage 1 pressure sore and a Stage 4 pressure sore?
- What data is available to you in your search for the best nursing home for your family member?
- Who do you turn to for answers at a nursing home?
- How do I file a complaint against a nursing home in New York?
- What are my rights in a nursing home?
- What are the three most important records in a nursing home?
- How do I tell a good nursing home from a bad one?
Case Results for Nursing Home Negligence:
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John H. Fisher
303 Clinton Avenue
Kingston, New York 12402-3058
Phone: 518.265.9131
Toll Free: 866.889.6882
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John H. Fisher
303 Clinton Avenue
Kingston, New York 12402-3058
Phone: 518.265.9131
Toll Free: 866.889.6882