Massachusetts Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Police have charged several Teenage caregivers from a Minnesota Nursing Home of abusing, humiliating and sexually abusing elderly residents. Criminal complaints were filed alleging cruel behavior at the Good Samaritan Society Nursing Home in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Nursing home residents were allegedly spat upon, spanked, sexually touched, and tormented by the young nurse aides earlier this year. The elder residents were described as vulnerable.

These incidents are unfortunately not uncommon. Our office is currently handling a Quincy Massachusetts case for a victim of similar degrading criminal elder abuse at the Quincy Atrium caused by a female nurse aid.

We successfully also represented several victims of abuse committed by Bernadette Stackpole at a Kindred Nursing Home committed in 2007 upon numerous elders. Stackpole was originally charged with sexual assault on some victims and plead guilty to assault and abuse of Elders, a distinct criminal offense in Massachusetts. Witnesses testified that Stackpole squeezed male residents testicles and verbally abused them during changing, bathing and dressing.

Six employees of a Ukiah CA nursing home face charges for criminal acts of cruelty against helpless Alzheimer's residents. The Nursing Home Abuse involved dementia patients who were covered with ointment to make them slippery for workers on the next shift.
The state attorney general's office said a total of seven elderly residents at the Valley View Skilled Nursing Facility were covered "head to foot" by ointment. A spokesman for Horizon year and all six employees were fired.
All are being charged with a criminal count of injury to an elder or dependent adult, battery committed on an elder or dependent adult, and battery committed while on hospital property. The case was investigated by the District Attorney's Office.

North Carolina Officials regulators have recommended $20,000 in penalties against Britthaven Nursing Home of Chapel Hill, where a former nurse is accused of criminal acts and wrongful death and patient abuse relating to overdoses of morphine. Investigators said the incidents occurred over two days in February, 2010.
According to a State DPH report, Britthaven also failed to ensure that 14 of 29 patients in its Alzheimer's unit were free from abuse. The nursing home allegedly failed to insure the patients' were free from unnecessary drugs.
All violations relate to the alleged actions of a former registered nurse who has been charged with second-degree murder and patient abuse relating to the death of Rachel Holliday an 84-year-old Alzheimer's resident. The Nurse was also charged with morphine-induced injuries to six other patients.
Article: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/12/625174/nursing-home-may-be-fined.html#ixzz0wbpk1jXf

A "perfect storm" of aging elders, understaffed facilities and people with Dementia have left Millions of Elders at risk for abuse and Neglect. This problem has been ignored for the most part while press accounts have emphasized prevention of abuse of women and children. There is room for protection of all and all forms of Elder abuse are now illegal.
Estimates indicate two million Elder Americans are victims of abuse every year. Some reports indicate as many as 10% of the nation's older adult population have experienced abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation.
The effects are not benign: studies show that bruises from physical abuse can even be remembered by seniors with memory disorders. The incidence of elder abuse increases significantly with age: those over 85 are 6 times more likely to suffer from abuse than those between the ages 65 to 69.

In Grammer v. John J. Kane Regional Centers, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (Fed) created a new action for victims of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse. In that case the victim, Melviteen Daniels, was a resident of the John J. Kane Regional Center at Glen Hazel, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. who developed decubitus ulcers, became malnourished, developed sepsis, and died.
Daniel's daughter, Grammar, brought suit for wrongful death under OBRA Federal Law claiming that the Defendants negligence violated her civil rights. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is a vehicle for imposing liability against anyone who deprives a person of "rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws."
The Court found that 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and its subsequent amendments are replete with rights-creating language. They found that "residents" were a class designed to be protected under the statutes. The plain purpose of these laws and revisions was to protect rights afforded to individuals.
The Court found that Congress intended to create individual rights in drafting and adopting § 1396r, and that Grammar's mother fell within the zone of interest these provisions were meant to protect

Grammar v Kane

Two Nursing Home Nurses were criminally charged with criminal elder abuse after evidence came forward of systematic abuse of an 85 year old Dementia nursing home resident.
The elder abuse took place over a three month period by the two nurses at the Victoria Nursing Home in Rainford.
The abuse consisted of elder verbal abuse, humiliation, taunts and physical abuse of the woman who has since died. The criminal defendants were sentenced to six months and three months respectively. Many states including Massachusetts have strict laws now imposing criminal sanctions upon caregivers who abuse helpless elders in the nursing home setting.

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Elder Abuse at a New York Nursing Facility has resulted in charges against a nurse staff member who threw a helpless nursing home patient to the ground.

Criminal charges have been brought against the nurse stemming from the March 20, 2010 assault. The victim was wheelchair bound and suffered a broken hip in the assault.

The victim was 85 years old and suffered from dementia. Worse, the attacker apparently waited for several minutes before coming to the aid of the fallen elder. The appearance of another nurse aide on the scene may be the only thing that prompted medical help for the elder abuse victim.

There is no word as to whether a bodily injury or emotional distress claim will be filed for the victim.

Abuse like this often occurs when a nurse is not supervised. A large percentage of these assaults happen to hapless Alzheimer's patients who cannot report the crime.

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.

A CNA at Quincy's Hancock Park Rehabilitation & Nursing Center was charged this month with sexually assaulting an Elder victim the shower. This is the second Nursing Home aide charged criminally with abuse in Quincy in recent months.

In another criminal proceeding, Kara Murphy, an aid at Quincy's Atrium at Faxon Woods was charged with criminal abuse. Murphy's victims included a client represented by Quincy Attorney Bernard J. Hamill, whose office handles Nursing Home assault and abuse cases.

These cases present unique challenges of proof. In most cases the victim is blamed. The family may not want the crime details to become public. The Nursing Home often engages in a conspiracy of silence. Proof is tough: virtually all of the witnesses work for the Nursing Home and are extremely reluctant to testify against their employer for fear of retaliation.

Two recent cases handled by Attorney Hamill illustrate the process: Last year we handled the cases of two elder victims verbally and physically abused by an Aide, Bernadette Stackpole, in a Kindred Massachusetts facility. To say that getting evidence from the CNA's was difficult would be an understatement. Our office had to subpoena to hearing more than 30 witnesses...most extremely adverse to the 2 victims.

Persistence prevailed: after 7 days of testimony we received a record verdict of $750,000 for the two victims. It was noteworthy because we went to trial knowing there were NO physical injuries, no treatment, and no emotional recognition by the 2 victims according to Kindred's defense Dr. The two victims had dementia. The Judge rejected that argument and the two victims were awarded just damages for emotional distress.

Nursing Home Abuse can be avoided according to a series recently run in the Boston Herald on the rights of elders in Massachusetts Nursing Homes. Do your research advises Jessica Fargen, the series author. Quoting Quincy MA. Attorney Bernard J. Hamill she advises a personal visit to the nursing facility.

Are the elders all crammed by the nurses station in their night clothes? If so that would indicate a staff shortage or a pattern of care that places the convenience of staff over the needs of the residents. Short staffing is the #1 predictor of Nursing Home abuse. Many large Nursing Homes scrimp on the bottom line and sacrifice patient care for more profits.

Common sense applies literally here: If your sense of smell is offended, run for the hills. There is a direct correlation between what you see and what you get: Are the residents clean, dressed and out of their rooms by lunchtime? Are most of the elders in the lunch room rather than in their rooms? Does the facility smell like dirty diapers?

Do your "due diligence". Every state has statistics on the level of care for each nursing home. And the Federal government offers ratings for nursing facilities at their website: www.medicare.gov/nhcompare

Nursing Home abuse can be prevented. The first step is to pick the right facility for your loved one.

State and Federal Nursing Home Regulations prohibit unauthorised use of Drugs to sedate nursing home residents unless their particular medical condition requires a Doctor prescription for their use. Too often, against Nursing Home Regulations and in violation of Patients Rights, Massachusetts residents are given unnecessary doses of antipsychotic drugs by nursing staff.

Why? Because they make the resident easier to care for if they are over drugged. They sit in their beds and wheelchairs asleep or in a passive stupor for long periods of time and the staff, often insufficent, can ignore the resident's needs. It is illegal to focus care according to the convenience of staff instead of the needs and individual care plan of each resident.

According to the Center for Medicare Advocacy, drug misuse in Nursing Homes is pervasive. A Federal report found that more than 25% of Nursing Home residents were given antipsychotic drugs and that more than half of those "took doses exceeding maximum levels"

A Massachusetts Law has been introduced to regulate this wdespread abuse by Nursing Homes.