Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

A Connecticut nursing home resident was killed on Saturday, August 21, 2010, after he tumbled from his wheelchair.

Eighty-eight year old Percy Sumner, a resident of Bishops Corner Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation, a nursing home facility located in West Hartford, Connecticut, had been a resident of the facility since 2004. Suffering from dementia, Sumner was seen earlier in the morning near the front door of the facility and was redirected. According to Jeanne Moore, a spokeswoman for Genesis HealthCare, the nursing home's owner, "This patient was put on a 15-minute check right away and those observations are documented by our nursing staff. He was last observed in the hallway of his unit at 9:15 a.m. Unfortunately, just minutes later, the patient went out the front door, unwitnessed and unaccompanied by Bishops Corner staff."

When Sumner eloped from facility through the front door, the front door alarm reportedly sounded, as did a personal alarm Sumner wore for safety. It is unknown how much time elapsed between the time the alarms sounded and the time staff responded to those alarms. Sumner rolled 44 feet down a grassy embankment, through a vinyl picket fence, and over a three foot rock wall before falling from his wheelchair and hitting his head on the sidewalk. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, where he died.

This is not the first time the facility has been in the eye of inspection officials. Approximately four months ago, nursing home inspectors found that the facility failed ensure that the facility was free of dangers that cause accidents and failed to have a program in place to prevent inspection from spreading. According to the new rating system instituted by Medicare.gov, the facility was rated two out of five stars, or "much below average".

While the Terry Law Firm is not involved in this case, we have handled several cases involving elopement and wrongful death. Elopement as a result of lack of supervision by the nursing staff can often be linked directly to budgeting issues and insufficient staffing.

A Connecticut nursing home facility is closing its doors after being cited in April 2010 with numerous health and safety violations.

West Rock Health Care Center, nursing home facility owned by New Haven Health Care, Inc., will close within the next few months. New Haven Health Care filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. The trustee in the bankruptcy case has requested that the facility be closed because it operates at a loss and is unable to come into compliance with health department regulations.

In inspections in March and April 2010, health inspectors encountered a variety of problems. A health inspector found a staff member using a fecal-smeared washcloth on a incontinent resident's face. In another instance, a resident with a open thigh wound did not receive wound treatment for six of the fourteen days of ordered treatment. Another resident, who suffered from diabetes, did not receive breakfast because the resident's name had been left off the meal list.

The facility was also cited for failing to properly handle an incident involving a resident who may have swallowed shampoo. The resident was seen with the shampoo bottle in his/her mouth and staff members could not determine whether the resident had ingested shampoo. The facility failed to investigate or file a report on the incident and there were no records showing that the resident had been assessed immediately following the incident.

Did the owner and president of a Connecticut nursing home facility currently in bankruptcy loot the facility?

Stan Rodowicz, the owner and president of Village Manor was removed from the facility through a court order, according to the attorney general's office. The court order appointed a new CEO, Timothy Colburn, for the facility. The Court also appointed a trustee to audit the facility's books to investigate the allegation that approximately $329,000 was diverted from the bankrupt facility.

According to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Stan Rodowicz told the facility's attorney that he had diverted the funds by charging excessive rents. The facility, like many nursing home facilities, pays a separate company to rent the building that the nursing home is in. Rodowicz and his mother own that company as well.

The investigation continues and there are no plans to close the facility at this time.

Two Connecticut Haven Health facilities face wrongful death lawsuits after two residents die from injuries suffered while at the facilties.

Robert Wininger

Robert Wininger was a Marine. He served in the Korean War and retired from a submarine base as a dispatcher. He was tough and not known to complain. When Robert fell in January 2005, he did not suffer any fractures, however he had suffered a heart attack a year prior, had surgery on his neck, and was weaker than usual. His doctors felt that physical therapy would be beneficial, so his family decided to admit him to Haven Health of Jewett City to rehab.

Robert wasn't getting the physical therapy he needed and was kept restrained in bed most of the time with a bed alarm. The family wanted him closer, so in March 2007, an opening became available at Haven Health of Norwich and he moved closer to home.

Sometime after the move, Robert began complaining to his wife and daughter, "My hip is killing me. My leg is killing me." Neither woman pulled down the sheet to inspect his legs because they didn't want to embarrass him.

On June 5, 2007, Robert's wife arrived at Haven Health and heard screaming as she walked down the hall toward Robert's room. She had him rushed to The William W. Backus Hospital. Doctors found gangrene in both of his legs. His legs were purple to the waist. To save him, doctors would have to amputate both of his legs at the hip. His wife refused to allow them to cut off his legs and Robert died less than 48 hours later at the age of 76.

The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility, the former medical director of the facility, Cornelio Hong, doctors Joselito Endaya and Eudardo Siccion. and Norwich Internal Medicine & Multispecialty Care, L.L.C., the facility the doctors worked for, Haven CEO Raymond Termini, and the Public Health Commissioner.

Nilda Simonds

Nilda Simonds was admitted to Haven of Waterford in April 2007 for strengthening therapy. Her doctor believed she would be out of the facility in two or three weeks.

In June 2007, her son, Richard Simonds, received a telephone call. His mother had fallen at the facility and hit her head, possibly on a trip to the bathroom. She had a bump on her head, but told her son she felt okay. In mid-July, Richard noticed his mother was acting strangely - confused and quiet. He looked at her head and a black and blue area from the bump going down her neck.

She was taken to the hospital, where doctors found a subdural hematoma, which is a traumatic injury where blood collects in the protective covering of the brain. She was rushed to another hospital, where surgeons drilled holes in her skull to try to relieve the pressure on her brain. Later, part of Nilda's skull was removed to try to reduce swelling. She died on July 25, 2007. She was only 69.

Nilda's family sued Harold Phillips, former medical director of Haven of Waterford, Sound Senior Geriatrics, L.L.C., the practice Phillips worked for, Haven's CEO Raymond Termini, and the State Health Commissioner.

Emily Townsend, a resident of Kettle Brook Care Center in Connecticut, fell from her bed in January 2008 and was hospitalized. Over the next two months, Ms. Townsend, 80, fell at least one more time. Her final fall occurred on March 29, 2008 and resulted in a broken left hip. Sadly, Ms. Townsend died three days after falling and breaking her hip. Her death certificate listed the broken hip as the underlying cause of death due to partial intestinal failure from a cut off blood supply and removal of part of her colon.

During that time period, Kettle Brook Care Center was operating under an unpublicized consent order from the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH). The facility had been fined $25,000 and its license had been put on probation for two years after "findings which seriously jeopardized the health, safety, and welfare of patients and which have resulted in serious negative patient outcomes". Under the consent order, the facility would be allowed to accept new residents after hiring an independent physician as a medical consultant. In turn, the physician was to hire a independent nurse consultant. The consent order also set minimum staffing ratios for the facility and required the facility to comply with quality measures, such as "necessary supervision and assistance devices to prevent accidents".

Robert Townsend, Ms. Townsend's son, had repeatedly complained to the state health department about his mother's care. In fact, he alleged that facility staff removed her bed alarm, a personal alarm, and a walker from her room - all against her physician's orders. His complaint lodged the day after her death prompted an investigation that revealed eleven violations, including failures to "provide interventions to prevent falls after the removal of an alarm" and to "utilize an alarm mechanism in accordance with the physician's order and/or to provide an environment free from accidents".

Kettle Brook's Administrator, Jennifer Carnovale, stated, "We have no reason to believe there is a valid claim against Kettle Brook". She justified the consent order entered into with the Department of Public Health by stating, "In 2006, Kettle Brook was one of 29 nursing homes in Connecticut that entered into a consent order with DPH."

To his credit, Robert Townsend has not given up his fight to be heard. He has repeatedly complained to senators, the attorney general, the governor, a state representative, and a variety of state health department officials. He alleges that state health officials are "more concerned about the well-being of nursing homes than the residents they should be protecting". Although Ms. Townsend's death certificate states that her death was ultimately caused by her fall, DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin stated, "Although we did have findings related to care planning in the area of falls, we were not able to validate Mr. Townsend's allegation that his mother's death was due to her last fall."

Mr. Townsend intends to seek damages in connection with his mother's "wrongful death".

The Terry Law Firm has experience in handling cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. Please contact us at 1 (888) 317-2525 or visit us at www.nursinghomejustice.com.