Nursing Home Law Blog : Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Stark & Stark Law Firm : Elder Care, Senior Care

Although psychotropic drugs are often used to control behavioral symptoms in nursing-home residents, recent data points out that these drugs are given to close to 2/3 of the dementia patients currently residing in nursing homes across the country and have devastating effects. The data states that prolonged use of these drugs leads to a greater risk of adverse effects and even death.
 
Patients who are treated with conventional antipsychotics increased the risk of death by 47% and increased the risk of suffering from a femur fracture by more than 61%. Additionally, other drugs, such as benzodiazepines, were associated with a 54% increase in the risk of heart failure, and patients who regularly took antidepressants had a 20%-30% increase in the risk of death.

You can find additional information on this study online here.

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Six Connecticut nursing homes, which are owned by two New Jersey companies, were sued in Federal Court with allegations relating to improper treatment of employees and unions. The National Labor Relations Board announced last week that the New England Health Care Employees Union filed a complaint on March 21st citing that the Jersey-based companies, HealthBridge Management and CareOne LLC, compelled a subcontractor to fire unionized laundry and housekeeping workers at three of the nursing homes, and forced them to reapply for their jobs at lower pay, with no seniority rights.

You can read more on this story online here.

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Earlier this month, Daniel R. Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, reported that more than 90% of nursing homes employ one or more people who have been convicted of a crime. In addition, the report states that 5% of all nursing home employees have at least one criminal conviction.

Levinson cross referenced the names of more than 35,000 nursing home employees with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to see if they had criminal records. Mr. Levinson states, “Nearly half of nursing facilities employed five or more individuals with at least one conviction. For example, a nursing facility with a total of 164 employees had 34 employees with at least one conviction each.”

Currently, there is no federal law or regulation specifically requiring nursing homes to check federal or state criminal history records for prospective employees. Ten states require a check of F.B.I. and state records, while 33 require a check of only state records, and the remainder do not have a standard set of requirements.

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Currently pending in congress is bill HR5 sponsored by Representative Phil Gingrey. If HR5 passes, it would protect some of the worst nursing homes from even the most egregious abuses by severely limiting damages. 

If this law passes, even a nursing home where a resident was admittedly beaten to death or raped by a known dangerous employee, damages are capped despite what a jury believes is the right thing to do. 

Interestingly, when it comes to his own lawsuits, Representative Gingrey seems to have a different point of view. 

A recent article by Public Citizen writes that after a 2004 rear-end car accident, Representative Gingrey sued the other driver and sought damages for “mental pain” and punitive damages to be determined by “the enlightened conscience of fair and impartial jurors.” He claimed he “was injured grievously, has experienced conscious physical and mental pain, suffering, fright and distress in the past, and will continue to suffer the same in the future, for which he is entitled to recover general damages … in amounts to be determined by a jury.”

A Gingrey constituent, who had both her arms amputated as a result of medical errors after her car accident, wrote him a letter asking him to reconsider his bill. 

It seems hypocritical that for his car accident, Mr. Gingrey should have the right to a full and fair jury award, but a person who is seriously injured or killed in a nursing home is restricted.

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By now, most of us have heard of the tearful testimony of the great Mickey Rooney in Congress, on abuse and victimization of the elderly.  Here is yet another story on how abuse of nursing home residents is not only physical, but often financial. In this case, Tanya Fredrick, the business office manager at Golden Living Center, was fired after police revealed that she had been stealing thousands of dollars from the center and residents.

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With painfully shocking testimony, American Icon, Mickey Rooney, told a gripping story about how even he was the victim of elder abuse. It has become quite clear that the degree of this form of elder abuse is much more widespread than previously thought. We all need to be on the lookout for this abuse in our loved ones.
 
We have blogged before on the dangers of proposed HR 5 legislation, which in large part is designed to eliminate elder abuse claims.  Should this bill pass, our ability to prosecute such cases, uncover these horrors and protect the elderly will be severely limited.
 
Here is a link to the video of Mr. Rooney's testimony.  It is worth watching.
 

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A disturbing recent story was released and ultimately televised involving an over-stressed nursing home employee who was caught on tape assaulting an innocent resident.  No matter how difficult the job, harming an innocent senior is vicious and wholly worthy of the prosecution that this employee faces.  It is imperative that nursing home owners carefully screen and supervise employees to prevent the needless harms that inevitably will ensue.
 

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The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) promulgate guidelines for nursing homes that must be met in order to receive federal money.  An annual inspection is done at every nursing home receiving federal money to be sure the facility is in compliance with these regulations. 

State workers, whom typically carry out these surveys, also enforce state laws and regulations during these inspections.  Troubled facilities that are not in substantial compliance with regulations are re-visited - sometimes numerous times in a year. 

To handle the worst offenders, CMS has developed the Special Focus Facilities program.  Nursing homes that have more problems than other nursing homes, more serious problems than other nursing homes, or a pattern of serious problems that persists over a long period of time, now appear on a nationwide list of Special Focus Facilities.  These facilities get more government attention, enforcement actions and penalties.

You can get the list of Special Focus Facilities online here.

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