Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

A lawsuit was filed against Rosewood Care Center in Edwardsville, Illinois on December 14, 2009 by Ron Matikitis, on behalf of his mother, Ann Matikitis, after a medication error caused Ms. Matikitis severe and permanent damage.

The suit alleges that Ann Matikitis was given 4 milligrams of Coumadin on September 24, 2008 by facility nurses despite a physician's order that the drug not be administered due to an elevated lab result. Ms. Matikitis suffered massive rectal bleeding and was hospitalized.

The suit alleges that facility employees failed to consult with Ms. Matikitis' physician concerning her deteriorating physical condition, failed to timely report or record the medication error, failed to provide appropriate care, and failed to follow physician's orders. Additionally, the care that was provided to Ms. Matikitis was not properly documented nor was her reaction to the medication.

The Matikitis family is seeking in excess of $50,000 for Ms. Matikitis' severe and permanent disability, substantial medical bills, and pain and anguish.

Golden Moments Senior Care Center, a nursing home facility located in Jacksonville, Illinois, faces a $6,500 fine in connection with alleged abuse at the facility.

According to a report by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the facility failed to protect six residents from mental, verbal, or physical abuse and was fined $20,000. A CNA, Jessie Ross, was fired in May 2009 in connection with the abuse claims. Reportedly, one resident was denied food, another resident was threatened with having their throat cut, and a resident was teased by an employee while the actions were captured on video.

As of November 23, 2009, the facility had been fined in excess of $40,000 for failure to comply with federal regulations. After an October 22, 2009 inspection, the facility faced a $3,050 fine for an eleven day span. The facility was fined after the October inspection revealed deficiencies that were "rated at a higher scope and severity" than what was found in a September 23, 2009 inspection. The October inspection found the facility deficient in following its own policy and procedures for residents requiring assistance with feeding and failing to implement a policy for assisting residents who were at risk for choking. Reportedly, resident Adam Waeltz died on October 3, 2009 after choking on food after nursing home staff failed to follow orders and watch Mr. Waeltz to ensure he didn't put too much food in his mouth.

Fifty-seven year old Randall Moons was found on top of his 55 year old roommate, unconscious and in cardiac arrest after an altercation at Fox River Pavilion nursing home in Aurora, Illinois.

Moons, who suffered from schizophrenia and paranoid delusions, had surface bruising but no internal injuries from the altercation. His roommate was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The Kane County coroner is investigating whether Moons suffered a heart attack during the altercation. The case is an open criminal investigation.

Moons, who was six feet tall and weighed approximately 240 pounds had a history of mental illness and had been arrested for threats against family members.

According to a recent report from Minnesota's Office of Health Facility Complaints, a recent nursing home death has been tied to medication error.

According to the report, a patient was admitted to Faribault Commons Nursing and Rehabilitation following a hospital stay for spinal surgery on June 2, 2009. The resident was to receive rehabilitation therapy and had orders for a daily Lovenox injection, a medication prescribed to help prevent blood clots.

The resident received the injection as ordered for three days, but facility staff reportedly failed to give the injection over the weekend. The resident was given the injection for four more days before treatment was abruptly halted due to an apparent transcription error. According to the report, a nurse wrote that the Lovenox treatment was to cease on June 11, instead of July 11 as ordered.

Sadly, the resident suffered a massive stroke on June 17 and was hospitalized. The resident died on June 24, 2009. The facility was cited for neglect and the nurse who made the error was terminated.

In an October 16, 2009 ruling, the Nebraska Supreme Court invalidated an arbitration agreement signed by a nursing home resident's son because he did not have the authority to enter into such an agreement on her behalf.

Manda Baker was admitted to the Beverly Hallmark nursing home in Omaha, Nebraska due to a decline in her health. Her son, Frank Koricic, signed an optional "Resident and Facility Arbitration Agreement" on her behalf, which was presented to him during the admission process.

In 2007, Manda Baker reportedly sustained injuries while a resident of the facility and later died. Her son sued Beverly Enterprises alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. Beverly Enterprises filed a motion to dismiss the case and compel arbitration citing the document that Frank Koricic signed upon her admission to the facility. The district court ruled that the arbitration agreement was valid and enforceable, but the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the decision citing that while Frank Koricic had the authority to make medical decisions for his mother, he did not have the authority to sign the arbitration agreement. The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the trial court's order to dismiss Frank Koricic's complaint and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The case involving Manda Baker will continue through the litigation process towards trial and will eventually be presented to a jury.

Citing that the power to make medical decision is different from the ability to settle disputes via private system, the Colorado Supreme Court invalidated nursing home arbitration agreements signed by healthcare proxies. The decision was handed down in Lujan v. Life Care Centers of America.

In this case, Estella Lujan was admitted to a Life Care Center in Colorado after her son signed admission paperwork and the arbitration agreement. Three days later, Ms. Lujan died. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility alleging that her death was due to negligence. Life Care Center filed a motion to dismiss stating that the lawsuit should be dismissed due to the signed arbitration agreement.

Since the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against nursing home arbitration agreements signed by healthcare proxies, the Lujan case will continue its procession through the court process and will eventually proceed to trial.

We discussed Shonda Rodriguez and her alleged abuse of an elderly nursing home resident at Castle Pines Nursing Home in previous blogs. Rodriguez, who formerly was employed as a licensed practical nurse at the Lufkin, Texas facility, reportedly slapped the hand of a facility resident and woman was found with bruises on the backs of both hands and a skin tear on her upper arm. Rodriguez pleaded no contest on December 15, 2009 to charges of abusing an elderly patient and was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to pay restitution, and fined $500. She was also ordered not to work with the elderly or small children in her profession as an LPN.

Ninety-five year old Helen Jensen was found dead outside Wesley Homes Health Care Center in Des Moines, Washington.

Ms. Jensen was last seen by facility staff around 11:30 p.m. on Monday, December 7, 2009. Three hours later, police were summoned after facility staff could not locate Ms. Jensen. Security camera footage revealed the elderly woman left the facility by its main door around 11:45 p.m. Four hours after she disappeared, Ms. Jensen was found lying on her back approximately 100 yards away in the garden of Wesley Terrace, a neighboring facility. Her wheelchair was just a few feet away, one of the wheels off of the main path.

Ms. Jensen did not have a history of wandering, yet earlier that evening she had been found in a different wing of the facility and escorted back to her room.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet officially determined the cause of death.

We discussed the tragic death of Andres Cardona at the hands of his roommate, Ardyce Nauden, in a previous blog.

Seventy-two year old Andres Cardona entered Ardyce Nauden's room and began eating his food. Nauden, who has a history of drug convictions and aggressive behavior, reportedly admitted to authorities that he repeatedly punched Cardona in his head because he was eating Nauden's lunch. Cardona was transported to the hospital and died on September 18, 2009 from his injuries.

On December 3, 2009, Cardona's death was ruled a homicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office and now, Nauden faces first-degree murder charges.

After this incident, The Chicago Tribune asked the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) for all records relating to assault allegations at the nursing home facility for the past three months. Initially, health department officials said they had none. After pressure, the IDPH managed to locate three reports, including the one involving Cardona, despite Chicago police reporting 11 alleged batteries in the 90 day period. A health department spokesperson, Melaney Arnold, said that the department is overwhelmed with incident reports and "unfortunately with the staffing we have, we're not always about to connect the dots."

Robbinsdale Rehab and Care Center, a nursing home facility located in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, has lost Medicare and Medicaid funding for new residents after inspectors found "critical treatment errors", some of which contributed to the deaths of two residents.

The facility has been in the spotlight of inspectors since July 2009, when a facility inspection survey found 29 deficiencies, which included failure to respond to signs of distress in two residents who later died. The facility was fined $3,000 and lost Medicare and Medicaid funding for new residents on October 7, 2009. The facility faces $24,300 in additional fines for six days that residents were in immediate jeopardy due to medication errors.

In February 2009, a female resident exhibited signs of a possible heart attack, which included low blood pressure and oxygen, clammy skin, and back pain. Staff members failed to notify her physician quickly, despite the resident exhibiting the four "red flags" of distress. She was found dead in her bed on February 2, 2009.

On July 2, 2009, a male resident was found "shaking" and unresponsive in his wheelchair. Staff members reported the incident to facility nurses, but no ambulance was called for five hours. The man died in route to the hospital.

In October 2009, the facility was cited for failing to discharge a patient who was being held against her wishes. Fifty-six year old Isabelle Jessich spent more than one year at the facility after being hospitalized for treatment for chronic alcoholism. Even after Jessich's doctor found that she was able to be discharged, her court-appointed guardian refused to allow her to leave.

Despite repeated warnings, facility administrators have been unable to correct problems at the facility. In fact, ten deficiencies noted in a July 2009 inspection still had not been addressed in October 2009 and another critical violation related to the mishandling of narcotic painkillers was discovered in October 2009. A resident was mistakenly given high doses of painkillers and was taken to the hospital on September 22, 2009. The resident was exhibiting obvious signs of distress, such as feeding an imaginary dog from his plate, seeing bugs crawl up walls, and wondering where he was. The ensuing investigation revealed that 120 Oxycodone tablets were missing from the allotment designated for the resident.

Robbinsdale Rehab is no stranger to deficiencies discovered during facility inspections. While the average deficiency rate is 10, the facility track record is as follows:

- 19 in 2007
- 25 in 2008
- 37 in 2009 to date.

If Robbinsdale Rehab and Care Center fails to rectify its deficiency violations by January 7, 2010, the federal funding ban will be extended to all residents, which could force the nursing home out of business.

We discussed Elizabeth Barrow's tragic death in a previous blog. Sadly, Ms. Barrow's 98 year-old roommate was indicted on December 11, 2009 for second-degree murder for allegedly strangling her 100 year-old roommate at Brandon Woods Nursing Home in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Elizabeth Barrow was found dead in her bed with a plastic bag tied around her head on September 24, 2009. The medical examiner determined her death was a homicide after an autopsy revealed that Ms. Barrow had been strangled.

Elizabeth Barrow had recently complained that Lundquist was making her life "a living hell" because Lundquist thought Barrow was "taking over the room". In fact, the night before Barrow's death, Lundquist had blocked her path to the bathroom with a table at the foot of her bed. A nurse's aide removed the table and Lundquist punched her. The table was found next to the bed when Barrow was discovered dead.

Barrow and Lundquist had been roommates for approximately one year. Lundquist, who had a long-standing diagnosis of dementia and cognitive impairment, had complained to nursing home staff about the number of visitors that Barrow received and had made threatening comments to Barrow. According to the District Attorney, Lundquist suffered from paranoia and "harbored hostility toward the victim". Scott Barrow, Elizabeth Barrow's son, had requested that the roommates be separated, but nursing home staff assured him that they were getting along. Reportedly, Barrow did not want to leave the room where she had lived with her husband before his death and declined a room change in July and August 2009.

The nursing home issued a statement alleging that the roommates acted like sisters, walked and ate lunch together daily, and said "Goodnight, I love you" to each other at night. The facility is establishing a scholarship in Barrow's name, which her son will chair.

In 2006, Maria Arellano was a resident of Fillmore Convalescent Center in Fillmore, California. The seventy-one year old woman was the victim of a stroke and was nonverbal. During a routine visit, family members noticed that Ms. Arellano was bruised. They reported the bruising to facility management, but allegedly the facility failed to investigate the incident. The family took action and placed a hidden video camera at the side of Ms. Arellano's bed. The camera caught an employee, Monica Garcia, slapping Ms. Arellano, pulling her around by her hair, bending her neck, fingers, and wrists, and treating her violently when she was in a shower chair.

Garcia was charged for abusing Ms. Arellano and pleaded no contest in February 2009. She received ten days work release as punishment for her crime.

The attorney for the Arellano family tried to settle the case in July 2009 for $500,000 but "they never offered me one dime. They never offered to go to mediation, nothing. There was a lot of arrogance." After a twenty-two day trial, a Ventura County jury deliberated just two days before awarding $7.75 million to Ms. Arellano's family: $2.75 million in actual damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Liability was split among three defendants: 40% to the facility, 40% to owner Eduardo Gonzalez, and 20% to Monica Garcia.

The facility faces yet another lawsuit for abuse of a resident. During the Arellao family ordeal, they Arellanos met resident Daniel Sanchez, who lived across the hall from Ms. Arellano. His family had found bruising and hair-pulling and also suspected abuse. Their case goes to trial in January 2010.

Isidro Olvera

Isidro Olvera, a former housekeeper at St. Elizabeth's Place in Waco, Texas, will spend the next two years behind bars after pleading guilty to three felony forgery counts.

Olvera admitted that he stole four checks from elderly residents at the facility (ages 92, 88, and 85), filled in amounts between $450 and $650, forged the residents' signatures, and cashed the checks. In fact, he reportedly cashed some of those checks after he had been caught and termined from his position at the nursing home.

In addition to jail time, Olvera will face restitution in the amount of $2,100 - the amount of the forged checks.

A Muscatine, Iowa woman faces two counts of unlawful procurement of a prescription drug, a Class C felony, after she reportedly stole prescription drugs from residents at a nursing home facility where she worked. She also faces three misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance, identity theft, and fifth-degree theft.

Kristine Renee Maher, a registered nurse who formerly worked at Carrington Place of Muscatine in Muscatine, Iowa, allegedly stole prescription drugs from the residents she cared for and falsified prescriptions for her own use while employed at the nursing home facility.

If convicted, Maher faces up to 20 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

Todd Gribbens and Earl Pelphrey pleaded guilty to Class D felonies of wantonly abusing an adult, wanton endangement first degree, and unlawful imprisonment relating to abuse of a 25 year-old disabled resident. Charges were brought against Gribbens and Pelphrey as well as Bob Thompson and Michael Yates for their alleged abuse of Michael Price, the resident involved.

On October 14, 2007, Michael Price, a resident of Community Presence, Inc. facilities for seven years, died after caregivers placed him in a prone restraint, which is prohibited by Kentucky Law. Price, who was mentally disabled and suffered from cerebral palsy, stopped breathing and died after caregiver Matthew Bortles laid on his back for more than 30 minutes. Caregiver Brandon Starotska failed to intervene and stop the abuse and watched television instead. After discovering Price's death, both Bortles and Starotska cleaned up Price's blood, hid a bloody pillow, and washed a blood-stained washcloth in an attempt to conceal evidence. Both Bortles and Starotska were sentenced to prison earlier this year.

A nurse and two nursing assistants were indicted recently after an investigation by the Attorney General's Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control found that abuse charges were warranted.

In violation of a resident's established Care Plan, Melissa Lyon, a nurse assistant, was trying to transfer a resident into her bed alone at Creekwood Place Nursing Home in Russellville, Kentucky. During the transfer, the resident suffered a fractured leg. After the injury, Lyon and another nursing assistant, Destiny Duncan, "concealed the true facts of the incident". Nurse Barbara Moore "did not call a physician or family member or check on the victim, all of which caused the victim prolonged suffering and pain".

Each of the employees were indicted on a Class C felony of knowing abuse or neglect of an adult. If convicted, they face between five and ten years in prison.

The Terry Law Firm, a Missouri-based law firm, is experienced in handling cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. Please contact us with any questions or concerns about nursing home abuse or neglect at (888) 317-2525 or visit us on our website at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

Mount Loretto Nursing Home, a nursing home facility located in Amsterdam, New York, was hit with a $77,610 fine after a January Department of Health Investigation found several deficiencies that could have placed residents in immediate jeopardy.

The fine was levied following an investigation that revealed the following:

- An employee who saw two other employees deliberately shaking and stuttering while caring for a resident suffering from Parkinson's Disease;
- Incontinent residents reported not being cared for promptly;
- Residents reported medications not being provided on time; and
- A resident reported that an employee threatened to strangle her.

Facility staff reported that inadequate staffing levels attributed to care delay due to large turnover from "burn-out" and employees calling in sick. Staff members also complained that "Chicago" controlled staffing levels, without being aware of what was needed. One staff member allegedly "stated that often there were only three [certified nursing assistants] on a unit and that she realized it was very difficult to provide quality care to the residents."

Seventy-seven year-old Gene Cable was admitted to Scottsdale Manor nursing home in November 2008 and died six days later. His daughter, Rita Wilson, requested copies of his medical records and was shocked at what she found.

After reviewing the records, Wilson found a Medicaid reimbursement form that purported to have her signature on it. Wilson did not sign the document. According to Wilson, also found nurse's notes that showed that her father got up to use the restroom "when he was dead. And he was continent. That means he physically got up and went to the bathroom when he was dead."

After she took her complaints to the facility administrator, Brian Bazylak, the facility investigated and took disciplinary action against the employee who forged Wilson's name and against the employee who entered inaccurate nursing notes.

A Columbia Heights nursing home facility was cited by the Minnesota Department of Health after an investigation into a July 31, 2009 resident death determined that neglect on the part of the facility attributed to the resident's death.

According to a state report just released, a male admitted to Crest View Lutheran Home on July 30, 2009 for rehab was found not breathing at 5:30 a.m. on July 31, 2009. The man's body was warm, but he was not breathing and had no pulse. An LPN and her nurse supervisor were not aware of resuscitation orders for the resident, so no one tried to revive him. The resident was "full code" and resuscitation efforts should have begun immediately.

At 7:00 a.m., the man's wife and family had gathered at Crest View. The family heard sirens and suddenly the fire department rescue squad entered the man's room - two hours after he died. A day-shift supervisor called for help when she came in and discovered the situation.

The facility was cited for neglect by the state in failing to promptly try to revive and three rule violations were assessed against the facility in connection with the confusion, failure to take action, and lack of emergency training for workers.

Crest View has been one of four Minnesota nursing home facilities on the federal Special Focus Facilities list, which is a list of approximately 156 facilities nationally that have repeated or multiple serious rule violations. Crest View was placed on the list on March 2 and has been cited for 58 violations since January 2008 (the state average is nine per inspection). It will take two good inspection cycles for the facility to be removed from the list.

We discussed Johnetta Phillips and her alleged abuse of an elderly resident at Castle Pines Nursing Home in Texas in a previous blog.

The reported abuse of the 77 year-old resident was caught on a video camera that the victim's husband set up in her room. The victim told her husband that she was being abused but, due to her mental state, she could not identify her abuser.

Phillips was caught on tape on two separate occasions abusing the female resident. According to the arrest warrant, Phillips grabbed the woman's right arm and twisted it and then struck her arm three times. In another incident, Phillips was seen putting the resident to bed roughly, causing her to hit her head on the headboard.

Phillips pleaded guilty to the abuse and was sentenced to twenty months in jail.

The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases involving nursing home abuse and neglect. Please contact us with any questions or concerns at (888) 317-2525 or visit our website at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

Seventy-four year old Jesse Brown had been a resident of Alden Meadow Park Health Care Center in Clinton, Wisconsin since March 2006. On February 21, 2007, Mr. Brown complained of severe abdominal pain and was taken to Beloit Memorial Hospital and died there on February 22, 2007 from a severely impacted bowel.

According to court documents, Printess Pritchard, Mr. Brown's son, is suing the nursing home for failing to hire qualified staff and negligence. The lawsuit also alleges that the nursing home facility failed to adhere to the regulations of the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987.