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

The nursing home industry and nursing home owners are once again poised to make tremendous profits in 2011.  To the extent that corporate owners claim that there are insufficient funds to provide care to innocent and vulnerable nursing home residents, they are certainly able to create great wealth for themselves.   Sadly, these profits often seem to take priority over compassionate and responsible care.

According to a recent report, in 2005 the nursing home industry was valued at $186 billion. That number has almost doubled in the past five years, and in 2010 was estimated $258 billion. Experts project a steady growth will continue at annual rates of over 6%, resulting in a market with revenues of $353.5 billion in 2015.
 

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It has been reported in Forbes Magazine that Johnson & Johnson has set funds aside for potential litigation relating to a probe which addresses whether or not the drug company engaged in illegal practices to promote this drug in nursing homes. Sadly, its use or over-use can be lethal for the elderly and vulnerable residents in nursing homes.


 
 

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After an analysis of FDA records, the non-profit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen sent a petition to the FDA requesting that they recall two models of bed rails produced by Bed Handles, Inc.  Public Citizen claims that evidence shows that if a weak or frail elderly person – assumingly those whom would purchase the bed rails in the first place – falls in-between the bed rails and the mattress, they can suffocate to death. 

“Contrary to the manufacturer’s claim that the Bedside Assistant bed handles make any bed a safer bed, data previously provided to the FDA demonstrate that these devices can turn a bed into a death trap for patients who are physically weak or have physical or mental impairments,” said Dr. Michael Carome, deputy director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.

Public Citizen says documents show that this has happened, and believes that it has happened more than the document report because people don’t know to the bed rails are governed by the FDA and should be reported when there is a death.

The Public Citizen petition requested the ban on Bedside Assistant model numbers BA10W and BA10W-6.  The rails are not designed for hospital use, but

You can read the full Public Citizen’s findings and petition online here.

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