Massachusetts Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

94-year-old Sophie Schwartz who was sexually assaulted at an elder-care facility, has been awarded s awarded $6 million in compensatory damages and $6.5 million in punitive damages for the 2007 attack.

The defendants are apparently still in denial. They apparantly felt that these were only elder emotional distress' damages and I guess in his opinion inconsequential. The Jury strongly rejected that notion. The Jury did not discount damages just because the victim had Alzheimer's either.

Allegation were made that the Oakdale Heights facility in Santa Clarita, CA was guilty of short staffing and improper supervision of employees, a common denominator in elder abuse cases.

Nursing Home Defendants apparently don't recognize the emotional damage that can be wreaked upon helpless elders just like in the Stackpole case, a Kindred employee who plead guilty of assaulting 4 elders who had Alzheimer's. An arbitrator's verdict in that case also upheld purely emotional distress damages.

news:http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-jury-trial/14195385-1.html

Widerspread Sex Abuse claims against helpless Nursing Home Elders have resulted in too few criminal prosecutions for Elder abuse according to the statistics released by the Ohio Attorney General's Office. These cases involved criminal assaults, rape, and battery.

Since 2006, only 2 of the over 300 reported Nursing Home cases resulted in a conviction. Problems of proof can make a prosecution difficult if the victim has Alzheimer's but far too often a conspiracy of silence by staff stalls a criminal prosecution or the Nursing Home exerts pressure on Nursing Home staff NOT to come forward and testify against their co workers. This, despite the fact that in all states it is illegal NOT to report abuse when witnessed by any caregiver!

News Article

The La Salle County Nursing Home has been slapped with an Elderly abuse lawsuit on behalf of an elderly dementia patient who was allegedly sexually abused. Multiple female residents, may have been assaulted and more Nursing Home Lawsuits are expected.

These Nursing Home Abuse allegations are not just filed against men. In 2007 Bernadette Stacckpole, a CNA at a Kindred Nursing Home in Massachusetts was convicted of Assault and Battery after a plea bargain in Massachusetts Superior Court. Kindred lost at least two abuse lawsuits after the resulting elder abuse claims were filed against them.

Elder sexual abuse unfortunately are not uncommon complaints. Recently in Florida, nursing home employee Robert Gundersen was convicted of sexual abuse at Ridgecrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Deland, Florida according to news sources.

The Wrongful Death of an 84 year old Nursing Home Patient in North Carolina has caused officials there to start an investigation into the Woman's Death especially since she had NOT been prescribed any opiates. She was found to have lethal levels of Morphine in her system according to the State Medical Examiner's Office. The Nursing Home, Britthaven of Chapel Hill, also had positive test results for several other residents.

This is not an isolated Nursing Home Problem. Our Office routinely receives calls from distraught family members of Patients who die from Drugs. Some deaths are caused by giving the wrong medicines; Some Nursing Home Deaths are caused by giving improper dosages. Unintentional overdose can be corrected by The Nursing Home Compliance with State and Federal Regulations on proper record keeping for the administration of Drugs.

Then there are instances of so called "mercy deaths" and intentional overdoses given to critically ill Nursing Elders. Rarer but not without alarming frequency. Several high profile criminal cases have resulted from these Nursing Home crimes.

The new Federal Health Care Bill, signed into Law by President Obama, includes protections for the Elderly in Massachusetts Nursing Homes. The act requires some level of Disclosure by Nursing Homes. This is important because of the lack of transparency by the large chains who hide assets and bury cost reports and bottom line data from consumers. The Number 1 cause of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect is understaffing caused by insufficient budgets. Nursing Home assets are stripped away from the actual operation of the facility to hide from creditors, allowing the large chains to shortchange the elderly residents on legally mandated care. The result is a total lack of accountability.

The new Act will require disclosures in Massachusetts about expenditures for nurse staffing and criminal violations by employees. It purports to set up programs to increase Nursing Home Patient Safety.