Pressure Sores

February 16, 2019

CMS Starts Fining Nursing Home Staff for Failing to Report Elder Abuse

CMS is preparing to fine nursing home staff and volunteers for refusing to report elder abuse, the agency announced. While the federal agency has been able to fine nursing homes for failing to report abuse, a recent government report showed that crimes against the elderly are still commonplace in nursing homes across the country. The report chided CMS, or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, for failing to protect America’s senior citizens and recommended aggressive action.

A federal law enacted in 2011 gives CMS the authority to fine individual staff and volunteers at nursing homes across the country, according to Modern Healthcare. The government agency said it will begin seeking civil monetary penalties (or CMPs) of up to $200,000 for staff and volunteers who fail to “report reasonable suspicion of crimes.” The proposed regulation would also protect “whistleblowers” by withdrawing all federal funds from any nursing homes who retaliate against them.

February 8, 2019

New York Lawmakers Move to Establish Minimum Staff Requirements at Nursing Homes

by Gallivan & Gallivan

In response to the increase in for-profit nursing homes and recent data on nursing staff levels across the state, New York lawmakers plan to introduce a bill establishing minimum levels of nursing staff at long-term care facilities across the state. According to state legislators, under-staffing remains a serious problem at New York nursing homes and directly contributes to a lower quality of care for their elderly residents. Originally drafted two years ago, Republicans in the state legislature blocked the measure. However, with Democrats set to control all branches of government next year, the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act will likely become law.

The proposed legislation will establish a minimum ratio of nursing staff to patients, which will vary by the level of care required for the patient. For patients undergoing active rehabilitation at a nursing home, there cannot be less than one nurse or nursing assistant for each patient. Further, the bill would require a nurse to spend an average of 291 minutes with each patient every day. According to The Buffalo News, this would be a significant change for most nursing homes. According to the newspaper’s analysis, only 8 percent of New York nursing homes currently satisfy these requirements.

January 15, 2019

New York Jury Awards $1.2 Million for Nursing Home Abuse, Bedsores

by Gallivan & Gallivan

A jury in upstate New York awarded a victim of nursing home abuse $1.2 million for its wanton neglect of an elderly resident. The jury found that 72-year-old Shirley Burrows was horrifically neglected by Newfane Rehab & Health Care Center, a long-term care facility in Niagara County. According to The Buffalo News, Burrow’s damages include $775,000 for pain and suffering and $475,000 for violating state public health laws meant to protect nursing home residents. Lawyers for the profit-making nursing home said that insurance will fully cover the settlement.

The mistreatment of Burrows began in May 2015 when she was discharged from the hospital with several “superficial” bedsores. Bedsores, also called pressure injuries or pressure ulcers in the medical community, develop when a person is pressed against a surface for an extended period of time. Due to decreased mobility and a higher rate of hospitalizations, the elderly are highly susceptible to bedsores. When bedsores are minor, they can heal quickly. However, minor bedsores can quickly turn into deep and painful sores when left untreated. Bedsores, especially serious ones, are usually preventable.

January 1, 2019

Over a Decade Later, New York City’s Nursing Homes Still “Age-Old Horror” For Many

by Gallivan & Gallivan

Over a decade after a scathing article in the New York Post about the low-quality of care provided in many New York City nursing homes, the problem continues unabated at many nursing facilities. In 2006, the New York Department of Health fined 48 nursing homes in the five boroughs – including eight with violations so severe that nursing home residents were in “immediate jeopardy.” These nursing homes included:

United Odd Fellow and Rebekah Home. According to the Department of Health, a resident choked to death because the facility lacked adequate staffing. An inspection report from that year concluded that more than half of the staff at United Odd Fellow and Rebekah Home did not know how to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
Split Rock Rehab and Health Care. During 2006, this Bronx nursing home allowed a resident to die from lack of oxygen.

December 21, 2018

After “Horrifying” Report, Veterans Demand Improved Care at VA Nursing Homes

by Gallivan & Gallivan

Following several scathing investigations and reports, veterans’ groups are demanding better care at the nursing homes run by the beleaguered Department of Veteran Affairs. While public condemnation has mounted for the past few years over the VA’s ability to care for the country’s 20.4 million veterans, criticism of the nursing homes run by the government agency began last summer when a report found that 70 percent of the VA’s nursing homes received failing grades. Perhaps even worse, more than half of these nursing homes received the lowest grade possible. According to news organizations, the government has collected quality reports and grades for each nursing home run by the federal agency each year. Until the rankings leaked this year, the government had chosen not to publish the results.

In a follow-up investigation reported by The Boston Globe this week, news reporters found a VA nursing home filled with sleeping staffers and a closed cafeteria. Other examples the substandard level of care found at VA nursing homes include a veteran with undiagnosed scabies, a veteran who had sat in soiled sheets for hours, and a veteran writhing in pain because he had not received his scheduled medication, according to USA Today. The national newspaper also reported that a nursing home in Alabama declared a Navy Veteran dead after he simply walked out of a supposedly secure nursing home one night and did not return. Rege Riley, national commander of American Veterans, told USA Today that the “stories being reported about the treatment of some individual veterans at these facilities are nothing short of horrifying.”

November 5, 2018

Citing Low Staff, Medicare Lowers Ratings for 1,400 Nursing Homes

by Gallivan & Gallivan

Medicare recently lowered the overall ratings of almost one-fourth of the country’s nursing homes due to insufficient staff levels. The move comes after Medicare adopted a new, objective measurement for staffing nursing homes. Previously, Medicare relied on unverifiable data submitted by the nursing homes. Medicare ratings, which can range between one and five stars, are provided for several categories of nursing home care, such as its rating of pressure ulcers or slip-and-falls, along with an overall rating for the nursing home. Medicare now gives the lowest rating, a single star, to 1,387 nursing homes across the country, according to The New York Times.

Medicare requires all nursing homes to have a licensed nurse working at all times and a registered nurse working at least eight hours every day. The payroll data submitted to Medicare by the nursing homes show that the registered nurse requirement produced the majority of compliance problems. Registered nurses, who have the highest level of training and education requirements, are typically able to provide medical services, such as diagnosing illnesses or prescribing medicine.

November 2, 2018

An Avoidable and Fatal Infection, Sepsis is Still a Problem in Nursing Homes

by Gallivan & Gallivan

A deadly bloodstream infection, sepsis continues to plague nursing homes in New York and throughout the country. Despite strict federal standards meant to prevent infections and harm to patients, the number of sepsis infections originating in nursing homes continues to increase each year. In a study conducted by Definitive Healthcare, at least 25,000 senior citizens die from sepsis infections received at nursing homes across the country each year. Give the enormous and unnecessary loss of life, nursing home advocates and government regulators are pushing for stricter standards and greater accountability for nursing homes.

An article by Legal Reader recounts the sad and unfortunately common story of one nursing home resident who passed away from sepsis. According to the article, the elderly man’s daughter, Shana Dorsey, found a “purple wound” on her father only a few weeks before he passed away in 2014. Medical staff at the nursing home told Dorsey the wound was a pressure ulcer or bed sore and not serious. Unfortunately, the pressure ulcer was severe and eventually led to the sepsis infection that killed her father. Dorsey then joined the thousands of other families across the country by filing suit against the nursing home because their loved one died of a preventable sepsis infection.

October 13, 2018

At New York Nursing Home, Residents Describe a House of Horrors

by Gallivan & Gallivan

The reporting at one nursing home in New York is intensifying as more allegations of neglect and abuse continue to surface. A steady drumbeat of news reports has thrust Sodus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in the Buffalo area and its mistreated residents into the spotlight over the last year. As the dangerous and unhygienic conditions have come to light, outrage in the community has grown and families of the residents say they are scared for their loved ones.

The nursing home, previously named Blossom View, first received attention from the local news last year when one man came to visit his father and found him dead. Admitted only two weeks earlier, the nursing home resident had fallen several times, suffered multiple bruises, head injuries, and even several broken bones during his short stay. The staff told the son they already knew and simply forgot to notify the family or remove the body.

September 29, 2018

Sepsis Resulting from Pressure Ulcers a Widespread and Deadly Problem in Nursing Homes

by Gallivan & Gallivan

Sepsis, a deadly bloodstream infection, is a common and largely unreported consequence of pressure inuries/ulcers. According to a recent article by The Chicago Tribune, sepsis was the most common reason that elderly residents are transferred from their nursing home to hospitals. Despite the massive financial and human implications, the newspaper states the problem is largely unreported because lawsuits against nursing homes are frequently settled out-of-court and include confidentiality clauses.

While the number of pressure ulcers leading to sepsis infections is not measured by federal regulators, the number of patients sent from nursing homes to hospitals and then die of the infection is at least 25,000, according to The Chicago-Tribune. This preventable cause of death leads to thousands of lawsuits filed all over the country against nursing homes and hospitals that allow their loved ones to become infected. In addition to the massive human toll, sepsis infections are an expensive burden on the healthcare system. Medicare pays more than $2 billion annually for sepsis treatment.

September 25, 2018

Elderly Man Passes Away from Preventable Pressure Ulcer

by Gallivan & Gallivan

An Australian man passed away from a preventable pressure injury/ulcer he received while at an Australian hospital. According to ABC North and West, the pressure ulcer, or bed sore, developed and became so severe that the Australian’s organs shut down. Now, the family of Peter James McBride is demanding answers from the hospital and its staff.

After falling twice on February 7, 2015, McBride’s wife admitted him to the hospital where he spent the next eight weeks on bed rest before transferring to an elder care facility. McBride died only days after arriving at the elder care facility. According to the coroner, the Australian man’s death was entirely preventable and pointed towards several lapses that paint a picture of an incompetent hospital staff and a severe lack of appropriate procedures necessary to prevent pressure injuries/ulcers.