New York Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Uihelm Nursing Home in Lake Placid, New York was recently fined over $75,000 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services following a New York State Department of Health survey. The surveyors found nine violations that constituted immediate jeopardy to residents' health and safety, one violation that caused actual harm to residents and three that had the potential for more than minimal harm.

The vast majority of the violations stemmed from the death of an 81-year-old male resident due to a medication error. The man was reportedly admitted to the nursing home facility from a nearby hospital in Saranac Lake. Upon discharge from the hospital, 0.125 milligrams of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, every two hours was mistakenly transcribed as 1.25 mg every two hours by an Uihelm staff member.

The resident was given two 1.25 mg doses of Xanax and fell into a coma. Five hours then passed before the situation was reported to a physician.

Website Resource:

Uihlein draws major fine, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Jessica Collier, June 17, 2009.

Elant at Brandywine, a Westchester County nursing home in Briarcliff, New York was recently fined $38,150 by the U.S. Federal Government based on findings of substandard care made by surveyors during a September 2, 2009 investigation. According to the inspection report, surveyors cited the facility for failing have systems in place to adequately monitor and prevent residents with cognitive impairment and/or unsafe wandering or elopement behaviors from exiting the facility undetected.

The surveyors uncovered that a cognitively impaired resident who had eloped from the facility 2 days prior, eloped again during the night, and was found approximately 3 ½ hours later more than 3 miles from the facility by a staff member on her way to work. The staff had not placed a Wanderguard, a monitoring device, on the resident as would have been appropriate given her medical history. Elant at Brandywine received an immediate jeopardy citation, the most serious classification, as a result of this incident.

Elopement occurs when a nursing home resident, usually a resident with Alzheimer's or dementia, is allowed to exit the facility without supervision. Elopement of cognitively impaired nursing home residents can result in falls, fractures, brain injuries, hypothermia or heat stroke.

Website Resources:

New York State Dept. of Health, Elant at Brandywine, September 2, 2009 Survey.
Long-Term-Care Community Coalition, 9/09-12/09 NY Enforcement Action Report.

Stemming from an elder abuse investigation conducted by the New York State Attorney General, a Certified Nursing Aide at Utica Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation was recently placed on three years probation and was forced to surrender her C.N.A. certificate. The NYSAG investigation revealed that while assisting another CNA help an 80 year-old resident in the shower, C.N.A. Rhonda Woodson flicked the resident's ear and nose, sprayed water up the resident's nose, and slapped the resident's head.

Website Resource:

Long-Term-Care Community Coalition Quarterly Report, Winter 2009.

A Sacramento Superior Court jury recently awarded $28 million in punitive damages to the family of an elder abuse victim. Earlier this week, the jury returned a $1.1 million dollar verdict for the decedent's conscious pain and suffering and found the facility, Colonial Healthcare of Auburn, to have acted with "malice" as defined under the CA Elder Abuse statute. Frances Tanner was 79 when she died. Plaintiffs claim that the cause of her death was an infected bedsore.

The jury on Wednesday found Colonial Healthcare of Auburn and its parent company, Horizon West of Rocklin, guilty of elder abuse in the death of Frances Tanner, 79, a Stockton native and lifelong civil servant. They heard testimony about the corporation's finances today before deciding punitive damages.

Sacramento lawyer Ed Dudensing, who represented Tanner's daughter Elizabeth Pao in the case, urged jurors to make sure that Horizon paid dearly for the lapses that he argued led to Tanner's death. Plaintiffs contended that the nursing home corporation made profits their priority as opposed to quality patient care. The nursing home claimed that appropriate care was provided to Ms. Tanner. Representatives of Colonial Healthcare have vowed to appeal the verdicts.

Website Resources:

Jury hits Auburn nursing home with $28 million in punitive damages, Modesto Bee, Cynthia Hubert, May 13, 2010.

Based on a New York State Department of Health inspection report dated June 23, 2009, Jewish Home and Hospital, a nursing home in the Bronx, received several citations for failing to ensure that residents received the necessary care and services to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical and mental well-being in accordance with the comprehensive assessment and plans of care. The surveyors found that the facility and its staff failed to 1) have residents assessed by a registered nurse after falls/injuries, 2) monitor residents after falls/change in condition, 3) provide services (Radiology, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy screens) in a timely manner, 4) inform physicians of the residents' injuries/changes in condition sustained after falls, and 5) ensure that interventions were consistently developed and implemented to prevent falls/injury.

More generally, the facility was also cited for failing to ensure that all alleged violations involving mistreatment, neglect, or abuse, including injuries of unknown source are thoroughly investigated, and reported to the New York State Department of Health.

As a result of these and other violations of nursing home regulations and statutes, the Bronx nursing home was fined $50,175.00 according to the Long-Term-Care Community Coalition report of 9/1/2009 - 11/30/2009.