Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

My personal experience as a Missouri Nursing Home Lawyer is that far too many nursing home residents are overmedicated by those responsible for providing quality care. In my job I often meet with residents and their families in nursing homes. On some of those occasions, the residents simply could not wake up. Their eyes fluttered as though they were struggling to wake up and participate in the conversation happening around them. Sadly, the government has determined that my experience is not unique.

The U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services recently prepared a report entitled Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims For Elderly Nursing Home Residents that found that too many nursing home institutions failed to comply with regulations designed to prevent overmedication. It is well known that prescribing antipsychotic medication to elderly residents with dementia is potentially lethal, yet 88% of these individuals receive such prescriptions.

Family members must make certain that they know what medications their loved one is receiving. They must educate themselves on the medications and the proper dosages. They must regularly ask questions of the caregivers and insist upon answers. Family members must know what the possible side effects are and should closely monitor their loved one for any signs of side effects.

Why would a nursing home overmedicate a resident? First, to be fair to the nursing home industry, many times the overmedication is completely unintentional. Elderly residents are more much more susceptible to overmedication than are younger people. The second reason is an indictment of the nursing home industry. Overmedicated residents do complain and are, therefore, easier to care for with a reduced staff. Residents who ask to be taken to the restroom, or who need more water or need help walking down the hallway often require assistance from staff members. When a nursing home operates on reduced staff (as most nursing homes do) drugged residents are easier to manage than those who are alert and active.

If you are concerned about the care your loved one is receiving in a nursing home, call our St. Louis personal injury lawyer David Terry for a free consultation at 1-888-317-2525.

The State of Alabama revoked the nursing home license for ConsultAmerica, a nursing home facility located in Birmingham, Alabama, after a "string of really bad incidents".

Among things the facility was cited for was neglect, abuse, and unsupervised residents, including a female resident who tried to elope forty times in twelve days and succeeded twice.

Witnesses told state investigators that a CNA at the facility cursed at the residents, jerked at a resident using a walker, and pinned a female resident's arms down on a table after the resident struck her. A facility investigation into the "pinning" incident, found that the CNA was "disrespectful and discourteous to residents, not abusive" and only terminated her after the state became involved through an investigation.

Investigators also found a male resident with a sore on his wrist that exposed the bone. When it was discovered, a new sore was already developing on his other wrist.

The female elopement resident managed to successfully leave the facility twice and was found once on a parking lot near a busy alley and once several blocks away and had to be chased by facility staff members. The resident, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, apparently realized that if she ducked low enough she could exit the facility without triggering the alarms. According to a state report, after the administrator learned about the resident's second escape, she said, "Oh God, we are screwed."

In October 2000, a male nurse was charged with the sexual abuse of an Elmore County, Alabama nursing home resident suffering from dementia. The case ended in a mistrial a year later when the victim was unable to identify her attacker. In fact, she identified the judge presiding over the trial as the man that attacked her.

The same nurse was again indicted in August 2005 for abuse of an aged adult in Autagua County, Alabama. That trial ended in acquittal on December 12, 2006.

In both cases, abuse occurred, but the victims could not identify their attacker. This male nurse deliberately preyed on the defenseless knowing that they could not identify him.

A bill is pending in the Alabama legislature that would let families request surveillance cameras in their loved ones' rooms. The state nursing home association alleges that the bill would violate patients' privacy, but proponents of the bill state that there would be no privacy concerns because family members would have to make the request. It would protect both the patient and nursing home staff.

Representative Mac Gipson (R) is sponsoring the legislation and acknowledges that it will face stiff opposition. He is trying to get both bill advocates and the state nursing home association to hammer out a compromise.

South Haven Nursing Home employee, Anne Marie Jones, stole $97,036 from residents of this Montgomery, Alabama nursing home. As an accounts payable clerk, Ms. Jones wrote checks on the nursing home patient trust fund and stated that resident personal needs were the reason for the expenditures, all the while depositing those funds into her personal bank account. She was also cashing checks that were sent to the nursing home for resident needs and depositing the funds into her personal bank account.

South Haven Nursing Home discovered the thefts after finding problems with the facility's patient trust fund. They turned over the information to the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. On April 30, 2008, Ms. Jones pled guilty to two counts of first degree theft and one count of second degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and has been sentenced to ten years in prison. She will serve three years actual time in state prison and five years of supervised probation. She also must pay restitution to her victims.