Posted on June 25th, 2010
Charges have been filed after a nursing home fire in 2008 killed several nursing home residents.
The fire began after a resident began smoking and suddenly became unconscious. The resident was unsupervised during the incident and the cigarette then began a fire that spread throughout the entire facility and killed three of the 120 residents.
Five of the employees at the nursing home are charged with elder abuse. Investigators found that the fire was not caught early because the fire alarms had been turned off and that this was negligence of people who do the upkeep of the building. This error gave the residents no warning of the fire that was spreading around them.
Elder abuse can have devastating effects on everyone involved, our thoughts are with the elderly victims in the accident.
Posted on May 28th, 2010
The Illinois Attorney General’s office conducted a sweep this week at the Golden Moments Senior Care Center in Jacksonville, Illinois. This is the 11th sweep of a nursing home in the state in the last few months, in an effort to clean up the state’s less than stellar nursing home record.
The nursing home was one wherein both elderly patients and convicted felons are housed, a sadly common state of affairs. Five former sex offenders are housed in the Golden Moments Senior Care center, and the nursing home was targeted for failing to provide risk assessments to the state for three of those five offenders.
Earlier this year, the nursing home was fined $50,000 in connection with the death of a 74-year-old resident who choked on food despite staffers’ knowledge of that possibility given the patient’s history. In 2009, the home was fined $20,000 for failing to keep residents from being mentally, verbally, and physically abused. Staff members were found to be slapping and bullying residents.
Nursing homes with a history of abuse need to be held accountable for their inaction if they do not fix their problems. If you or someone you love has been the victim of elderly abuse, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 as soon as possible.
Posted on April 30th, 2010
A 45-year-old Cincinnati caregiver appeared in court this morning to face allegations that she abused patients at a Roselawn nursing home.
According to court documents, the caregiver abused at least two elderly patients at Harmony Court on Glen Meadow Lane in January.
Evidence shows that the woman became angry and grabbed a resident by the hair before throwing the patient to the ground. In another incident, the caregiver punched an elderly man in the chest.
She is currently released on her recognizance and is due back in court soon.
This kind of abuse is completely unacceptable and the caregiver as well as the nursing home that failed to monitor her behavior need to be punished. If you or someone you love has been the victim of elderly abuse, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 as soon as possible.
Posted on April 30th, 2010
The Florida Legislature this week unanimously passed a new bill that would require potential caregivers for children, seniors, and the disabled pass background checks before being hired.
Governer Charlie Crist is expected to sign the bill into law early next week following a statement issued today in support of it.
“Thoroughly screening the backgrounds of those who work with children, elders, persons with disabilities — and then verifying those screening results before employees are authorized to go to work — will no doubt improve overall public safety in the Sunshine State,” Crist said.
Prior to this bill, felons with prior convictions for rape, child abuse, and even murder were allowed to work in nursing homes and daycares as long as they made what amounts to a promise to not offend again. The state cleared more than 8,500 people with criminal records for work through this exemption system. Twenty percent of these people were re-arrested at some point after being exempted.
The new law bans sex offenders and career criminals from ever becoming caregivers as well as requires state officials to sign off on all exemptions for other felons who wish to enter the field.
Loose regulations and poor safety measures can lead to tragic consequences, especially in nursing homes and other caregiving institutions. Contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 as soon as possible if you suspect someone you love has been a victim of their caregiver.
Posted on April 21st, 2010
The owners of Somerset Place, a Chicago nursing home, have paid fines amounting to over $20,000 and agreed to surrender the facility’s license.
Until last month, when the facility was closed by the city, it housed over 300 mentally ill patients. The nursing home had been repeatedly cited by authorities for verbal abuse, lack of supervision, and fights. The federal government had already terminated their funding before the nursing home was forced to shut down.
The settlement with the state has allowed the owners to avoid a license-revocation hearing. This means that the group of investors who owned Somerset Place could potentially renew the home’s license.
The owners have refused to admit any wrongdoing.
This is a bitter victory for advocates against nursing home abuse. While the home was shut down, the irresponsible and unrepentant owners could potentially open a new nursing home. If you or someone you love has been the victim of nursing home abuse and neglect, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 as soon as possible to discuss your legal options.
Posted on April 15th, 2010
Cesar Ulloa, a 21-year-old former employee of an upscale elderly care facility in Calabasas, California, was convicted last Thursday on eight counts of torture and elder abuse. He could receive up to life in prison when he is sentenced in May.
According to witnesses, Ulloa would often laugh as he terrorized his victims. Many of the patients that he tortured were too feeble or dementia-ridden to call for help.
A fellow caregiver testified that she once saw Ulloa jump off of a dresser and land knees-first on an elderly man’s abdomen. Another time, he grabbed an elderly patient’s arm and used it to hit another patient, attempting to provoke a fight.
Ulloa was caught after an anonymous phone-call was made to a grieving widow the day after the funeral of her husband, suggesting that she look into his cause of death.
When her husbands body was exhumed and an autopsy performed, multiple broken bones and severe blunt force trauma were found. A radiologist at the trial compared the man’s broken ribs to injuries that would be sustained if one were hit by a train.
Nursing homes are responsible for the employees that they hire and for keeping track of their behavior. If someone you love has been a victim of nursing home abuse, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 as soon as possible to discuss your legal options.
Posted on April 14th, 2010
A State Health Department report released yesterday, April 13, has found a registered nurse (RN) partially responsible in the December 2009 death of an 80-year-old resident at Woodbury Health Care Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The RN has a history of disciplinary actions and incorrectly ordered a halt to CPR on the woman, who suffered from breathing abnormalities and breast cancer.
The nurse told a fellow staffer who was engaged in resuscitation efforts that the woman was dead, and when the staffer continued to apply CPR the nurse raised her voice and repeated that the woman was dead until the staffer stopped.
In a statement in response to the Health Department’s report, the nursing home says that they have fired the nurse.
“Woodbury concluded that the nurse’s actions were not authorized,” the statement read. “This isolated incident does not represent the typical level of quality [care] by our devoted staff.”
The RN’s file showed a number of previous red flags. She had been cited for a lack of professionalism, inability to maintain relationships with subordinates, families, and residents, and a lack of job knowledge. In 2007 a doctor filed a formal complaint against her for “improper conduct.” She was also disciplined in 2009 for incorrectly following wound-management protocol.
It is vitally important that the staff members who will be caring for your loved ones are competent and well-trained. If someone you love has been the victim of an incompetent nursing home, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 today to discuss your legal options.
Posted on April 9th, 2010
Nursing homes are increasingly housing mentally ill criminals, but sometimes their safety barriers are not sufficient in keeping these dangerous individuals from the elderly residents.
This was the case in that of a 22-year-old convicted felon with a history of violent crimes who pleaded guilty this morning to the rape of a 69-year-old woman in his Elgin nursing home. He will serve at least 12 years for his crime.
Nursing homes are more often housing younger, mentally ill felons without appropriate supervision or safety precautions. In this case, the 22-year-old man was housed on the second floor psychiatric wing of the nursing home, separated from the elder residents by only a few doors and a flight of stairs.
A State Department of Public Health investigation found that the nursing home administrators did not properly check the young man’s criminal background. In addition, the facility initially claimed that the young man and elderly woman had engaged in consensual sex in an attempt to cover up their negligence.
Nursing homes that do not adequately protect the safety of their residents should be held responsible in a court of law. If someone you love has been the victim of nursing home negligence or abuse, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 today to discuss your legal options.
Posted on March 19th, 2010
A former nursing home worker in New York has been charged with sexually abusing an elderly woman who resided at a nursing home where the man once worked.
The 54-year-old man was charged with fondling a 78-year-old woman when he worked at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center and Extended Care Facility in 2007 and 2008. The man was sentenced to a decade of probation after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree sexual abuse in January. The man still faces another a charge of third-degree sexual abuse against a resident Eddy Ford Nursing Home in Cohoes in late 2008.
If you or a loved one has been a victim of nursing home abuse, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse lawyers of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 to learn how you can fight back.
Posted on March 5th, 2010
The 94-year-old woman who was assaulted at a convalescent home in Santa Clarita, Calif., received $12.5 million in damages by a jury today. The man who assaulted her was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was an illegal immigrant who worked as a dietary aid for the facility, authorities said, and he admitted to drinking on the job.
The facility’s corporation was also sued for falsifying employment documents and providing the man with unauthorized access to people’s rooms.
If you or someone you love has been the victim of nursing home abuse, contact the New Jersey nursing home abuse lawyers of Levinson Axelrod by calling 800-346-5529.
