Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

Helen T. Van Dale was a patient at Wingate’s Silver Lake Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Residence in Kingston in 2007 when she hit her head during a fall accident. The 92-year-old nursing home resident died within 24 hours. Now, in an attempt to hold the assisted living facility liable for her mother’s wrongful death, Van Dale’s 74-year-old daughter, Dottie Hammond, has filed a complaint alleging Massachusetts nursing home neglect.

Hammond contends that during the five weeks her mother stayed at the Kingston long-term care facility, her health declined because the nursing home staff failed to diagnose that she was suffering from a UTI. The infection caused Van Dale to feel disoriented, which is why she fell off her wheelchair.

Last July, a Massachusetts superior court medical tribunal determined that there was enough evidence for Hammond’s Massachusetts medical malpractice complaint to go forward. Hammond is determined to hold the South Shore nursing home liable for nursing neglect so that other patients won’t “suffer.”

With Discovery Rule, you have three years to file your Boston nursing home negligence lawsuit. While this cannot make up for the pain and suffering experienced by your loved one, obtaining Massachusetts injury compensation allows you to hold the negligent parties responsible.

This is one reason why you should make sure that a nursing home resident doesn’t sign away his/her right to sue for Boston personal injury in the event of medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, neglect, or negligence. Considering that, per the Boston Sunday Herald, almost 40% of Massachusetts nursing homes performed below the average during their yearly inspections, a prospective resident will want to retain the right to file a lawsuit rather than be forced to resolve the dispute via arbitration.

According to studies, resolving a nursing home abuse case through arbitration significantly lowers payouts even when serious abuse or neglect was involved. Unfortunately, most patients and their families don’t even realize that included in the thick packet of forms to sign during admission is an arbitration agreement.

Woman sues after mom’s death, Boston Herald, March 7, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes, Health and Human Services

Older Adults and Falls, CDC

According to WCVBTV 5, there are level 3 sex offenders living and working in Massachusetts nursing homes. This category of sex offender is considered the most dangerous. They can be at risk of reoffending.

The idea that sexual offenders who are likely to strike again are living with other nursing home patients or providing them with nursing care is very disturbing to our Boston nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers. Their presence is a danger to the other residents, who risk becoming the victims of sexual assault, rape, molestation, uninvited fondling, harassment, and other sexually inappropriate behavior.

According to Team 5, there are two level 3 sex offenders living at the Old Soldier’s Home, a Chelsea nursing home. While the two men reportedly have not reoffended, A Perfect Cause, an organization committed to protecting nursing home residents throughout the US, says it has documented over 60 incidents of sexual and physical assault committed by molesters against nursing home residents.

In 2005, John Enos, a 69-year-old level 3 sex offender and nursing home patient in a wheelchair, allegedly raped his 90-year-old roommate. Prior to the incident, Enos had sexually assaulted his 9-year-old daughter. He died before he could be tried over the nursing home sexual assault.

Although it is illegal in Massachusetts for level 3 sex offenders to “knowingly and willingly” reside in nursing homes, the statute provides a loophole. Also, nursing homes don’t’ have to notify anyone that there is a level 3 sex offender working or living at the assisted living facility.

Boston, Massachusetts Nursing Home Negligence
Not only is it the responsibility for Boston nursing homes to provide the proper nursing and medical care to residents, but they must also protect their residents from becoming the victims of any type of crime. This means ensuring that prospective nursing home workers and patients do not have histories that could make them likely to abuse or neglect other residents. Also, any nursing home patients with violent physical or sexual histories must be kept away from other residents.

Sex Predators Live, Work Inside Local Nursing Homes, WCVB TV, February 18, 2010

Information for Sex Offenders, Mass.gov

Related Web Resources:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

A Perfect Cause

Continue reading "Massachusetts Nursing Home Negligence?: Level 3 Sex Offenders are Working and Living in Assisted Living Facilities " »

According to two new studies, many nursing home patient in the US are still being given antipsychotic drugs to regulate their problem behavior. These findings come even after the US government has attempted to curb this practice and the Food and Drug Administration issued in 2005 its “black box” warning notifying patients that may increase their risk of death when they take these powerful medications.

Although one study reports that since the warning went out there has been a 19% drop in the use of atypical antipsychotics to treat elderly dementia patients, researchers say that antipsychotics still comprised 9% of all prescription meds given to these nursing home patients in 2008. Not only are antipsychotics used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, they are also used for “off label” purposes, such as controlling problem patients' conduct.

Dr. E. Ray Dorsey, the lead author of one of the studies and an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, believes that most of the use that he documented was for “off label" purposes.The co-author of the second study, University of Massachusetts Medical School associate professor of medicine Becky A. Briesacher, notes that there is a disconnect between the prescribing patterns and the evidence.

Her study found that one-third of nursing home patients who are treated with antipsychotics are not suffering from psychosis or dementia. Also, elderly persons admitted to assisted living facilities with high antipsychotic prescription rates were more likely to also receive prescriptions for these meds.

While some nursing home patients benefit do benefit antipsychotic drug treatment, treating a patient with antipsychotics without proper cause can be harmful to the resident and may be grounds for the victim to file a Boston nursing home abuse lawsuit. Antipsychotics drug use can lead to serious side effects, such as seizures, severe lethargy, permanent involuntary muscle movements, and sudden death.

It is illegal for nursing home to administer antipsychotics to a resident unless the doctor has prescribed it and the patient has consented to the treatment. You can read more about these two studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine's January 11 issue.

Antipsychotics Still Widely Used in U.S. Nursing Homes, Business Week, January 11, 2010

Compromised Care: Psychotropic drugs given to nursing home patients without cause, Chicago Tribune, October 27, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Archives of Internal Medicine

US National Institute of Mental Health

Continue reading "Preventing Boston Nursing Home Abuse: Many Assisted Living Facilities Still Use Antipsychotics to Control Behavioral Problems, Say New Studies " »

In Massachusetts, a 98-year-old nursing home patient is charged with killing a 100-year-old woman. Laura B. Lundquist is accused of strangling Elizabeth W. Barrow. The two of them were roommates at Brandon Woods of Dartmouth. Lundquist has suffered from dementia.

Barrow’s body was discovered in her bed last September. She had a plastic bag over her head. While suicide was explored as a possible cause of death, autopsy results say she was murdered by manual strangulation.

The victim’s son says he asked nursing home workers at the Dartmouth, Massachusetts nursing home to separate the two women, who did not appear to get along. Scott Barrow claims that Lundquist accused Barrow of stealing from her and complained about her visitors. The Massachusetts nursing home says that they asked the two women if either of them wanted to move to a different room but they both refused.

Last week, New Bedford Superior Court Judge Lloyd MacDonald sent Lundquist to a state hospital where she will undergo a lengthy competency evaluation prior to her arraignment. She is charged with second-degree murder.

Massachusetts Nursing Home Negligence
Nursing homes are supposed to make sure that patients with violent tendencies are closely monitored and/or are kept separate from the other patients. They are also supposed to determine whether patients suffering from mental illness pose a danger to themselves or others and if so, nursing home employees must take the proper steps to prevent that patient from hurting others. Failure to provide this protection can give an assisted living facility patient and/or family members cause for filing a Boston nursing home negligence lawsuit.

Examples of nursing home patient violence:

• Molestation
• Physical assault
• Sexual assault
• Murder
• Rape

Woman, 98, charged in slay, Boston Herald, December 12, 2009

Roomate, 98, indicted for murder in 100-year-old woman's nursing home death, SouthCoastToday, December 11, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Aggression between nursing-home residents more common than widely believed, studies find, Cornell University, May 29, 2008

Nursing Homes, Mass.gov

Continue reading "Massachusetts Nursing Home Violence: 98-Year-Old Dartmouth Nursing Resident Indicted for 100-Year-Old Roommate’s Homicide " »

In Bristol County, Massachusetts, District Attorney Sam Sutter announced that the 100-year-old woman who was found dead in her bed at a Dartmouth nursing home on September 24 was strangled. Elizabeth Barrows was a resident at the Brandon Woods nursing home. Now, the medical examiner’s office is ruling her death a homicide.

Barrow was found in her bed with a plastic bag over her head. Investigators at first thought that she committed suicide, but autopsy findings indicate that she died from asphyxiation caused by manual strangulation.

The Dartmouth, Massachusetts nursing home is working with the authorities on this case. Barrow’s relatives say that because of an error in communication, a press release was issued announcing that her death was a homicide before the family was notified.

Depending on the circumstances surrounding an injury or death at a Massachusetts assisted living facility, a nursing home can be held liable for nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect, wrongful death, or nursing home negligence. Massachusetts nursing homes are obligated to make sure that residents are not physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, robbed, or murdered. Failure to provide adequate security, perform criminal background checks on nursing home workers and patients, failure to closely monitor potentially dangerous residents (or keep them separate from other patients), and failure to monitor who enters and exits the facility can be grounds for a Massachusetts nursing home negligence lawsuit if someone gets hurt or dies.

Recently, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid recently gave Brandon Woods a 4 out of 5 star rating and the assisted living facility satisfied 122 of 132 of the Massachusetts Department of Health’s key nursing home criteria. It’s total score, however, was 116, which is lower than the state’s 121 average.

Our Boston nursing home negligence lawyers represent clients and their families throughout the state of Massachusetts.

DA: Never Had A Case Like 100-Year-Old's Slaying, WCVB, October 8, 2009

Justice sought in strangulation of 100-year-old, Boston.com, October 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Nursing Homes

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

A 23-year-old Quincy nursing assistant is under house arrest for allegedly beating four Alzheimer’s patients. On Friday, Kara A. Murphy pleaded not guilty to seven counts of assault and battery on a person over 60.

The alleged Quincy nursing home abuse incident reportedly occurred at the Atrium at Faxon Woods where Murphy worked. On August 8, she allegedly abused four elderly women and the nursing home facility has since fired her. A background check was reportedly conducted on Murphy prior to her hiring.

In one Quincy nursing home abuse incident, Murphy is accused of throwing a 92-year-old woman onto a wheelchair and slapping her on the forehead. In another alleged nursing home abuse attack, Murphy is accused of grabbing an 89-year-old woman by the jaw while she was having a bowel movement and making her sit on a toilet. Murphy is also accused of sitting on the lap of a 96-year-old woman and bouncing around on her lap. She also allegedly hit a 79-year-old resident on the shoulder after the patient struck her first.

A co-worker reported Murphy to police who apprehended her. The co-worker says that Murphy often yells swear words at the nursing home residents.

If convicted, Murphy could serve up to to 21 years in prison.

Alzheimer’s patients can be vulnerable to abuse. They may not be aware of what is happening and they may even forget that the abuse happened. This means that unless someone witnessed the abuse or neglect, the incidents may continue, causing injury, the deterioration of the resident’s health, or death.

Another Massachusetts nursing aide also recently pleaded not guilty to elder abuse charges involving another Alzheimer’s patient. 54-year-old Marie Michael from Medford allegedly assaulted, kicked, and punched an 83-year-old Alzheimer’s patient. According to witnesses, the victim’s roommate saw the attack.

Aide charged in Medford elder abuse, Boston Herald, August 15, 2009

Nursing assistant charged with elder abuse, UPI, August 15, 2009

Aide charged in Medford elder abuse, Boston Herald, August 15, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Alzheimer's Association

Elder Abuse, Medline Plus

A Boston woman wants Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a new law that would require local nursing homes to provide nursing home residents and their families with a copy of their rights. Rachel Geller began pushing for the law after her aunt was dismissed from a Jamaica Plain nursing home without warning.

According to Geller, she checked Sally Miller, her aunt, into the Sherrill House Nursing and Rehab Center after paying the Massachusetts assisted living center a $12,000 check. Miller,77, suffered from Alzheimer’s. She died this year.

Miller hadn’t even been at the facility for a full day when she suffered a seizure. The Jamaica Plain assisted living facility sent her to the hospital. After Miller was discharged from the hospital, the Sherrill House Nursing and Rehab Center refused to take her back. Geller had to send her aunt, who cannot speak, to the hospital psychiatric ward for a few weeks.

Geller is accusing the Jamaica Plain nursing home of making up a bogus law that give a Massachusetts nursing home 24-hours to kick out a new patient. It turns, out, however, that there are 10 requirements that must be met before this can happen. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has determined that the Sherrill House Nursing and Rehab Center did not provide Miler’s family with a safe discharge plan.

Sally’s Law
Sally’s Law, also called Bill 3416, or an Act to Protect Nursing Home Residents, requires that all Massachusetts nursing homes give the family/health care proxy a copy of the laws whenever a new resident is admitted to the facility. Documentation that this action was taken must be provided.

All Boston nursing home resident and other Massachusetts nursing home patients are entitled to certain legal rights. There are also laws in the state that exist that protect these patients’ rights.

Failure to provide Massachusetts nursing home residents with the due care that they are owed can be grounds for a Boston nursing home neglect lawsuit. A long-term care facility can also be sued for Massachusetts nursing home abuse if a patient becomes a victim of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or verbal abuse while staying at the nursing home.

Woman Fights For Nursing Home Law, WCVB Boston, June 19, 2009

Sally's Law

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Nursing Home Ombudsman Program, Caregiverlist.com

Welcome to MassLongTermCare.org

Continue reading "Boston Nursing Home Negligence: Sally’s Law Would Require Massachusetts Nursing Homes to Provide Copy of Patients’ Rights" »

Around the globe on June 15, organizations will hold events to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The day supports the United Nations International Plan of Action that recognizes elder abuse as a public health and human rights problem.

Unfortunately, many people around the world still fail to recognize and/or stop elder neglect or abuse when these incidents happen. The more people are made aware that elder abuse and neglect exists, the easier it will be for them to identify such incidents and take steps to protect their loved ones. Otherwise, elder abuse and neglect incidents will continue to occur in private residents and in nursing homes throughout the world.

Elder Abuse
Elder abuse involves intentional acts that cause injury or poses a serious risk of harm to an elderly person. The person that commits elder abuse is usually someone who has a relationship of trust with the vulnerable elderly person, such as a nursing home worker, a professional caregiver, someone placed in charge of the elderly person’s financial affairs, or a family member thrust into the role of caring for an elderly relative. Elder abuse can consist of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial exploitation, neglect, or abandonment.

OWL, The Voice of Midlife and Older Woman, says that in the United States 1-2 million elderly Americans are the victims of elder abuse. People suffering from dementia are at greater risk of becoming abuse victims. In 2007, The Long Term Care Ombudsmen received some 14,000 allegations of nursing home neglect or abuse.

Not only do our elderly deserve to be treated with respect and have their civil rights upheld—which cannot happen if they are being abused or neglected—but mistreating an elderly person increases their fatality risk by 300%.

Signs that your elderly loved one is a victim of abuse or neglect:

• Unexplained bruises, cuts, or broken bones
• Injuries or deaths that occurred after an elderly person was not supervised properly
• Sudden weight gain or loss
• Mood swings or depression
• The elderly person appears fearful or withdrawn or upset for "no good reason"

World Elder Abuse Day, International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse

Elder Abuse: A Women's Issue, OWL

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes, Mass.gov

Nursing Homes in Massachusetts, NursingHomeInfo.com

Continue reading "Stop Boston Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect: World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15, 2009" »

In Massachusetts, a man who used to work at the Sudbury Pines Extended Care nursing home has been charged with sexually molesting a 62-year-old stroke patient while another resident was sleeping in the room. Following the alleged incident, the former nursing home worker, Kofi Agana, was fired from his job.

The alleged Massachusetts sexual assault incident was discovered after another nursing home aide noticed that the victim would act strangely when she was around the 46-year-old worker. Because of her stroke, the victim’s ability to communicate is impaired, but she is capable of saying yes and no and was able to point to different parts of her body to indicate what happened to her.

According to reports, Agana entered the woman’s bedroom in Early February and started rubbing her breast. He is also accused of holding down her arms while he touched her private parts.

Charges against the Massachusetts nursing home worker include one count of assault and battery on a disabled person older than 60 and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a disabled person older than 60. Judge Robert Greco, who set Agana’s bail at $10,000, said allegations have also been made that Agana may have fondled another patient while transferring her to a wheelchair from her bed. No charges have been filed related to that incident.

Sexual Abuse in Nursing Homes
Sexual abuse in US nursing homes is a problem. Patients who may be too sick or frail to fight back or report the incident can be easy prey for nursing home workers and other patients.

US nursing homes are supposed to conduct background checks of nursing workers before hiring them to find out if they have a criminal record or were let go or disciplined at another long-term care facility for misconduct.

Nursing home workers are frequently in close physical contact with patients—especially the residents that need help bathing or getting dressed. Turning a patient to prevent bedsores or entering a patient’s room to check on them or provide them with the medical care they need are examples of other scenarios that involve a nursing home worker having easy, physical access to residents.

Sexual abuse, molestation, assault, or rape of a patient by a nursing home worker is nursing home abuse.

Sudbury nursing home aide charged with patient assault, Boston Herald, February 13, 2009

Nursing home employee charged with sexual assault on patient, Wicked Local, February 12, 2009

Continue reading "Former Sudbury, Massachusetts Nursing Home Worker Charged With Sexually Molesting Patient" »

In Brockton Superior Court, Judge Carroll Ball sentenced former Massachusetts nursing home assistant Steven Laroche to a two-year suspended jail sentence for sexually assaulting an elderly person. Laroche had pleaded guilty to the charges of assault and battery.

He was indicted nearly a year ago after another St. Joseph’s Manor Nursing Home assistant reported witnessing him sexually assault a 93-year-old male resident. The patient, who had been diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s, is now deceased.

As part of Laroche’s sentencing, he is required to register as a Massachusetts sexual offender and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. He is not allowed to work as a caregiver for the duration of his probation.

Six months after the assault incident occurred at the nursing home, the victim’s family filed a Massachusetts nursing home abuse lawsuit, which is still pending.

St. Joseph’s Manor Nursing Home, however, claims that it did not break procedures and protocol when performing a background check before hiring Laroche. The state fined the Massachusetts nursing home for failing to report the assault incident to a social worker, the doctor, or the elderly resident’s family. A CNA at the nursing home who reported the attack to the state was fired.

The nursing home administrator says new processes were implemented to address the problems.

Examples of physical abuse by US nursing home workers:

• Rape
• Molestation
• Hitting, pushing, slapping, shaking, or pinching a patient
• Inflicting burn injuries
• Physically forcing a patient to eat

Nursing homes are supposed to make sure that they take the necessary steps to prevent any kind of abuse from happening. Failure or negligence to do so can be grounds for a Massachusetts nursing home abuse lawsuit.

Brockton nurse convicted of sexually assaulting patient, Boston Herald, February 2, 2009

Civil case still pending in Brockton nursing home assault, Wicked Local, February 4, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes in Massachusetts

Nursing Homes, Medicare.gov

An Associated Press review of the new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ranking system found that Massachusetts nursing homes located in the state’s more affluent areas tended to receive higher ratings for quality than their counterparts in poorer counties.The ranking system rates some 16,000 nursing homes in the United States for quality of care, staffing levels, and health inspection results.

A number of factors were examined when arriving at each home’s rating, including how many patients acquired bedsores during their first three months at a nursing home, the number of injuries sustained in fall accidents, and the number of hours of care each patient received on a daily basis. Nursing homes that provided the best level of care and services received a five star rating, while homes considered to provide well below average care received one star.

17% of the 433 Massachusetts nursing homes that were assessed received 5 stars, while 14% of the state’s nursing homes received 1 star. A closer examination of the data reveals that nursing homes located in poorer parts of the state tended to receive less stars:

• Almost 60% of Massachusetts nursing homes in Middlesex County, considered one of the state’s most affluent areas, received 5 star ratings.

• In Massachusetts's poorest area, Hampden County, almost 6 out of every 10 US nursing homes received 1 or 2 stars.

• Plymouth County, also a wealthy Massachusetts area, was number 3 among counties with the highest number of 4 or 5 star nursing homes.

• Among the exceptions was Suffolk County, which includes the city of Boston. Massachusetts’s third poorest county had the highest percentage of 5 star nursing homes and the lowest percentage of 1 star ones.

The Medicare and Medicaid ranking system is designed to give prospective residents and their families another way of assessing the quality of care provided at each home. While researching and visiting a nursing home are great ways to make sure that you are choosing to admit your loved one into a long-term care facility where they will receive the best care possible, nursing home abuse and neglect incidents do occur.

Nursing home quality varies by region in Mass., MSNBC.com, January 1, 2009

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes, Mass.gov

Nursing Homes in Massachusetts

Continue reading "More Higher Quality Massachusetts Nursing Homes Are Located in More Affluent Areas, Says the Associated Press" »

In Norfolk Superior Court, Joel K. Logan and Todd Logan, have pleaded guilty to neglecting patients and stealing funds at five nursing homes they used to own. The two men had been charged with medical assistance fraud, larceny, embezzlement, conspiracy, and patient neglect, and they have been ordered to serve five years probation and pay $150,000 in restitution.

The Logans say that not only did they used state Medicaid funds for personal use from January 2001 to June 2003, but they neglected to provide patients with medicine, food, sanitary conditions, and bed linens. They also stole funds from the Pond Meadow Health Care Facility, Logan Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, and the Elihu White Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, took $55,000 in employee wages that had been withheld for 401K retirement funds, and did not pay money they owed for short-term disability and life insurance policies.

The two brothers can never work in healthcare again.

Nursing Home Neglect
It is illegal to abuse or neglect a nursing home patient. Not only are nursing home neglect and abuse punishable by criminal law, but the patient and/or his or her family can sue for damages with the help of an experienced Boston personal injury lawyer.

Nursing home neglect can seriously harm a patient’s already precarious health condition and lead to:
• Bedsores
• Fall injuries
• Malnutrition
• Illnesses
• Weight loss
• Death

Examples of nursing home neglect:
• Failure to regularly check on a patient.
• Failure to monitor a patient’s health and treatment.
• Failure to give a nursing home resident his or her medication.
• Failure to feed a resident.
• Not bathing resident.
• Allowing a resident to live in unsanitary health conditions.

Ex-nursing home owners admit fraud, neglect, Boston.com, July 24, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Resource Center

Elder Abuse, Helpguide.org

Throughout Massachusetts, please contact our Boston nursing home abuse lawyers for your free consultation.

Continue reading "Two Former Nursing Home Owners Say They Neglected Patients" »

Piety Corner Nursing Home, a Waltham, Massachusetts nursing home, has been placed on a federal government list of facilities that have serious issues with patient care. The 34-bed facility must now undergo government reviews more often.

In 2006, Piety Corner was cited for over two dozen violations—eight of which were considered actions that placed patients in immediate danger or harm, including:

• Failing to prevent neglect.
• Failing to prevent abuse.
• Failing to maintain maintenance and housekeeping services.
• Failing to promote and enhance quality of life.

Piety Corner also reportedly has failed to properly notify residents and their family members and physicians of changes in patient care and of any accidents that occurred. In one incident, Piety Corner reportedly failed to quickly notify the doctor of a resident of medical test results.

In 2005, a complaint was filed against the facility for its unnecessary use of physical restraints during medical care. Another complaint was filed because residents were not given sufficient liquids to stay properly hydrated.

Piety Corner must pass garner satisfactory results on three surveys in a row.

Nursing home abuse and neglect is an unfortunate problem that occurs in Massachusetts and the rest of the United States. Residents at nursing homes and other resident care facilities are entitled to a certain quality of medical and personal care. When failure to receive this care leads to abuse or neglect, a nursing home resident may be entitled to personal injury compensation.

Common kinds of abuse and neglect include:

• Medical neglect, including failure to provide proper and timely medical care
• Physical neglect, including failure to assist in personal hygiene, create a clean living space, or properly freed or hydrate
• Physical assault
• Sexual Assault
• Overmedication
• Unnecessary physical restraints
• Unnecessary medical restraints

Patient care in question at nursing home, DailyNewsTribune.com, February 14, 2008

Waltham nursing home added to list of problem facilities, Boston.com, February 12, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

1987 Nursing Home Reform Act

Piety Corner Nursing Home, Hospital-Data.com

Continue reading "Waltham Nursing Home Under Investigation for Problems with Patient Care" »

In Massachusetts, the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center fired seven staff members for administering dozens of electrical shocks to two emotionally disturbed teenagers because a caller pretending to be a supervisor told them to do so.

Six of the fired staff members worked the graveyard shift at the center’s Stoughton group home. A seventh worker worked in video surveillance at the center’s Canton main office. It was his job to monitor activity at the group home through remote surveillance.

According to a state report, the six staff members followed the caller’s orders to awaken teenagers in the middle of the night and shock them, sometimes with their legs and arms tied.

The caller wanted the teenagers punished for their bad behavior that had supposedly been observed through surveillance cameras. Even though the six staff members did not notice this supposed bad behavior, they administered the shock treatments.

Over a nearly three hour time period, starting at 2am, one teenager was shocked 29 times. The other teenager was shocked 77 times.

Other residents at the home woke up to the screaming teenagers and tried to convince the staffers that the victims didn’t do anything wrong. One resident suggested that the caller was a prankster. One of the staff members finally called the main office and was told that no punishments were ordered.

The Rotenberg center is known for its controversial electrical shock treatments. Students at the center are mentally retarded, autistic, or have behavior problems.

Care facilities and their staff are supposed to provide proper care to patients—not abuse or neglect or assault them. All residents of care facilities have legal rights that protect them. If these rights are violated and a patient is injured or killed, a personal injury claim or wrongful death lawsuit may be brought.

Group home fires 7 on staff, Boston.com, December 21, 2007

Prank led school to treat two with shock, Boston.com, December 18, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Judge Rotenberg Educational Center

Continue reading "Massachusetts Group Home Fires Staff Members for Administering Electrical Shocks to Teenagers" »

Maria Cruz, a former Certified Nursing Assistant, pled guilty to assault and battery of an elderly person that she had been taking care of at a nursing home. As part of Cruz’s probation, Lawrence District Court Judge Barbara Pearson has ordered her to stay away from the victim, the two witnesses, and the Sutton Hill Center Nursing Home.

Cruz is also forbidden from taking care of any elderly person in any way or from ever working in a senior nursing home setting. She also has to undergo an anger management evaluation and 100 hours of community service.

Authorities say that in 2006, Cruz stepped on an 86-year-old patient’s face and swore at her. Two Certified Nursing Assistants witnessed the incident and they reported Cruz, 46, to the DPH (Department of Public Health) and the Attorney General’s Office. She was fired after an investigation and suspension.

A recent Congressional Report says that 1/3rd of the 17,000 nursing homes in the U.S. have been cited for some form of nursing home abuse.

Elder abuse at a nursing home can consist of physical violence, verbal violence, sexual abuse, and emotional violence. Nursing home neglect, where caretakers at a nursing home neglect to take proper care of an elderly patient, is another form of abuse. Staff inattention, overlooking signs of illnesses, not giving a patient timely and proper medical care (medical neglect), and unsanitary or dangerous living conditions, are all forms of nursing home negligence.

Sings of nursing home abuse can consist of severe dehydration, unexplained cuts or bruises, bedsores, and sudden weight loss.

The Nursing Home and Abuse and Neglect Center says that a person may be a victim of emotional or verbal abuse at a nursing home if he or she seems:

• Emotionally upset or agitated
• Extremely withdrawn and non-communicative
• Exhibits unusual behavior (sucking, biting, rocking)
• Exhibits humiliating, insulting, frightening, or threatening behavior towards family and friends
• Wants to be isolated from other people
• Ignores family and friends

North Andover Nursing Assistant Pleads Guilty to Assaulting an Elderly Nursing Home Patient, The Office of Massachusetts Attorney General, August 8, 2007

Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect News

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Resource Center

Related Web Resource:

Information Sources for Elder Law

Continue reading "Former Certified Nursing Assistant Pleads Guilty To Assaulting Senior Patient at Nursing Home" »