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.

We discussed Nu'uanu Hale nursing home in Hawaii in a previous blog. The facility reportedly "dumped" eighty-one year old resident Florence Ko at Straub Clinic & Hospital's Emergency Room, just days before Christmas. She had with no idea what was going on and only $3 to her name.

Ko's daughter had stopped assisting with her mother's monthly payments to the facility a few months earlier and Ko's bill had climbed to more than $30,000. The facility decided to discharge Ko and dumped her at the hospital with no knowledge of whether the hospital would admit her and no other arrangements made to care for her at another facility. Ko was wearing only a hospital gown when she was dropped off and had her cell phone but no charger.

Ko's doctor had ordered her to be sent to the emergency room for acute anxiety, but the hospital determined that Ko did not need to be admitted for treatment. When the hospital contacted the nursing home about retrieving her, the facility had already given Ko's bed away.

Ko ended up staying at the hospital for over 12 hours before the hospital located an available spot at another facility.

A report by federal inspectors stated "the resident was abandoned at the hospital emergency room, she had no place to live or knowledge of what would happen to her". The facility also failed to follow its own policy of checking whether a resident taken to a hospital would be admitted before making that person's bed available to someone else. The report also states that the facility's Administrator said that Ko's inability to pay her bill at the facility was a factor in her discharge.

The facility has been assessed a $3,000 fine as a result of the inappropriate discharge.

The Terry Law Firm is experiened in handling cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. Please contact us at (888) 317-2525 or visit us on our website at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

We discussed this matter in a previous blog. Twenty-four year old Mark Genetiano was arrested after allegedly fondling an elderly woman's breasts while working as a CNA at Kahala Nui retirement community.

Now, Genetiano has been indicted on six counts of sexual assault involving four victims. The victims range between 89 and 92 years old and were unable to fight back due to various stages of dementia. Genetiano's co-workers allegedly witnessed the acts.

Once a firm date is set, Genetiano faces Circuit Court arraignment and will enter a plea. If convicted of one count of third-degree assault, Genetiano faces up to five years in prison. Due to the multiple count indictment, prosecutors could seek an extended prison term of up to ten years in prison.

The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases of nursing home sexual abuse. Please contact us at (888) 317-2525 or visit us on our website at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

A certified nursing assistant (CNA) at Kahala Nui nursing home facility in Hawaii was arrested on June 17, 2009 in connection with the sexual assaults of three elderly female residents at the facility.

The man was arrested at the facility on suspicion of five counts of third degree sexual assault. The assaults allegedly occurred between May 1 and June 1, 2009. Two of the assault victims are 89 and 92 years old and are residents of Hiolani Care, which is a skilled nursing facility at Kahala Nui.

The CNA was fired on the day he was arrested.

The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases of nursing home sexual assault. Please contact us at 1 (888) 317-2525 or visit us at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

Florence Ko and Maria Tseu

Florence Ko had no idea she was being evicted from Nu'uanu Hale, a Honolulu nursing home, or why. On Decemer 17, 2008 - only one week before Christmas, she returned from physical therapy and found her personal belongings piled on a gurney and people cleaning her room. Ko, who is 81 years old and confined to a wheelchair due to polio-related ailments, had nowhere to go. The nursing home apparently did not care - they dropped Ms. Ko off at Straub Clinic & Hospital's Emergency Room wearing only a hospital gown and left. She had less than $3 in her purse and had only a cell phone - without a charger. Her belongings were placed under a tarp outside the facility, where members of Ms. Ko's church retrieved them later.

Ms. Ko, who had been a resident of the facility since July 2007, was caught in the middle of a financial tug-of-war between the facility and Medicaid. While she received a regular income from Social Security and an annuity, the amount was not enough to cover her nursing home costs. Family members tried to get Medicaid to cover her long-term bills, but her application had been rejected twice. Her application for Medicaid was affected by her former home, which had been demolished in 2007. The property, valued at more than $1 million, remains in a family trust, but is deeded to Ms. Ko's daughter. Ms. Ko thought her financial situation was going to be resolved, but the caseworker assigned to her recently was laid off and apparently she fell through the bureaucratic cracks.

The facility alleges that Ms. Ko's family stopped paying the bill. The facility Administrator, Gayle Lau, said the facility was cooperating with investigators, but cautioned the Honolulu Advertiser about writing a story about the incident stating "It is one-sided at this point."

The Department of Human Services called the drop-off inappropriate and was referring the matter to the Department of Health, which is the licensing agency for Hawaiian nursing homes. Nu'uanu Hale received one out of five stars on the new rating system instituted by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which is the poorest rating available.