Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Brianna Broitzman entered an Alford Plea on Monday, August 16, 2010, on three gross misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct by a caregiver toward a vulnerable adult in the criminal case of abusing defenseless residents of Albert Lea Good Samaritan nursing home in Albert Lea, Minnesota. An Alford Plea means that the defendant in a case maintains innocence but acknowledges that existing evidence could result in a "guilty" jury verdict.

Broitzman's sentencing is set for October 22, 2010. The gross misdemeanors each carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison, a $3,000 fine, or both. The case against Broitzman's accomplice in the abuse case, Ashton Larson, remains pending and the Freeborn County Attorney does not envision a similar plea in that case.

We had discussed the abuse these residents suffered in a previous blog.

A fifth Minnesota nursing home resident has been burned by a portable heater. In all five instances, the nursing home facility was found to be negligent by the State of Minnesota.

In January 2010, a hospice resident at Benedictine Health Center in Duluth, Minnesota suffered second degree burns after the calf of her leg rested on the heating element of a portable heater. The resident died that day, but her death was not attributed to her wounds.

Also in January 2010, a resident at Redeemer Health and Rehab, a nursing home facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was burned after physically contacting a radiator. He was taken to the hospital with second and third degree burns and died approximately four weeks later.

In December 2009, a Gracepointe Cross Gables West nursing home resident burned three fingers on a heat register located one inch from his bed,

In January 2009, a Alzheimer's resident at Golden Living Center - Meadow Lane suffered first and second degree burns after lying on top of a radiator at the facility. She died nine days later, but her death was not attributed to her injuries.

In November 2009, a dementia resident at Emmanuel Nursing Home in Litchfield, Minnesota was discovered with her leg hanging over the edge of her bed. The leg had contacted electric heat register and the blisters on her left foot "nearly doubled the height of the foot".

After a thorough investigation, the Minnesota Department of Health determined that a Minnesota nursing home facility contributed to the hypothermia death of one of its residents.

According to the recent report, staff at the Jones-Harrison assisted living residence "lost" the female resident in the evening on November 21, 2009, believing that she could be at home with a family member. A family member had signed the resident out of the facility on November 20 but had returned her to the facility, forgetting to sign her back in. The family member told investigators that when she arrived at the facility on the morning of November 22, the resident had not been seen inside the facility for approximately 16 hours and the police had not been called.

Due to the confusion, staff members did not know if the woman had returned to the facility or remained at home with her family. Staff members found the woman on November 22 around 10:30 a.m. near a parking garage, frozen with no pulse. Her cause of death was listed as hypothermia from cold exposure.

The ensuing investigation determined that the woman was able to elope from the facility due to a cyclone fence gate that was left open. The woman, who suffered from dementia, walked through the gate into a wooded area. A maintenance worker, who had left around 4:00 p.m. on November 21, admitted to leaving it unlocked so he could quickly get to his car in the cold weather. The maintenance worker, who had been suspended previously, was fired for misconduct and dishonesty due to the lies he reportedly told initially when he explained how he left the facility that day.

The report concluded that the employee and the facility were guilty of negligence in the woman's death due to the facility's failure to manage its resident register and failing to initiate a missing persons protocol timely.

According to a recently released state health department report, a female nursing home resident fell to her death in May 2009 and a Minnesota nursing home is at fault. On the day of the fall, the resident was found on a concrete stairwell landing, face-down, and strapped into her wheelchair. She was unable to be resuscitated.

According to a report released by the Minnesota Health Department, the deceased resident had a history of wandering around the facility and trying to open doors. Merely weeks before her fatal fall, the resident had been found in a stairwell and brought back in to safety by a facility employee. The employee reported the incident to a registered nurse.

The facility, Providence Place, failed to change the woman's care plan after she twice previously attempted to open the door to the same stairwell. The second attempt came only thirty minutes before she died. Her previous care plan, dated December 2008, indicated that the resident "needed assistance of staff to avoid potentially dangerous situations".

According to a Minnesota State Health Department report, a registered nurse at Woodbury Health Care Center, a nursing home located in Woodbury, Minnesota improperly ordered a halt to CPR on a resident, which resulted in the resident's death.

Reportedly, a facility staff member began CPR on the resident, who was in her 80s and suffered from breathing problems and breast cancer. The nurse, who was not identified, said, "She is dead." The individual administering CPR kept up resuscitation efforts until the nurse "raised her voice and repeated her command". The resident was dead before emergency responders could take over.

The nurse, who has a history of disciplinary actions, was fired. According to her personnel file, she had been cited for needing to improve her job knowledge, professionalism, and relationships with subordinates, residents, and families. In 2007, a doctor filed a formal complaint against her for improper conduct and in 2009, she failed to follow wound-management protocol and was disciplined.

Reportedly, abuse has been uncovered at another Good Samaritan facility, Good Samaritan Bethany, located in Brainerd, Minnesota. You will recall that the Good Samaritan facility located in Albert Lea was in the public eye after several teenage CNAs reportedly sexually, emotionally, and physically abused elderly defenseless residents.

The facility was recently cited for four rule violations surrounding the maltreatment of residents, failing to protect them, and a violation for neglect of supervision and faces a $5,000 fine.

State investigators entered the facility on December 11, 2008 and were told by administrators that one aide might have mistreated several dementia residents. Instead, investigators were shocked to uncover a "pattern of resident abuse" by as many as 20 nursing assistants. The abuse included belittling elderly residents, removing a call-light from a confused resident, and telling a male resident to urinate in his incontinence briefs. Investigators also found that aides swore at residents or punished the residents by refusing them coffee. The alleged mistreatment had been going on for more than three months and as many as 40 employees knew of the abuse, including supervisors.

The facility was slapped with an "immediate jeopardy" citation and was forced to retrain staff immediately or lose federal funding.

Eighty-five year old Paul Reuter, Jr. began showing significant changes in respiration early in the morning on September 30, 2009. Reuter, a resident of Littlefork Medical Center, a Minnesota nursing home facility, died around 5:00 a.m. that day.

A licensed practical nurse at the facility, who remains unnamed and is still employed at the facility, discovered Reuter's low oxygen levels around 12:40 a.m. She failed to consult a registered nurse before connecting him to supplemental oxygen, which appeared to be helping Mr. Reuter's oxygen levels to rise. She checked him twice more, at one hour intervals, before finding him dead at 5:00 a.m.

According to the investigative report, although trained on the proper procedures to follow, the LPN failed to follow established facility procedure when the resident's condition began to deteriorate. When questioned why she did not follow procedure, the LPN said she thought the RN would tell her to put oxygen on the resident and monitor him. She did not believe she neglected the resident.

The LPN was suspended for five days without pay and was disciplined. She was also required to re-train on appropriate reporting and watch a video on critical thinking.

A Minnesota nursing home faces blame in the death of a resident after a medication error. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, a resident at Fair Oaks Lodge in Wadena, Minnesota died after she received the wrong medication.

The resident, who suffered from Alzheimer's, was taken to the hospital on June 1, 2009 after being administered the incorrect medication. The medication caused her blood pressure to drop and she contracted pneumonia. She was taken off life support three days later and died shortly thereafter.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, two other residents at the facility were also administered incorrect medications. They were sent to the emergency room for treatment.

Four staff members at the facility were blamed for the errors and the ensuing investigation "indicated a systems failure on the part of the facility". The facility was found responsible for neglect.

Redeemer Health and Rehab has been blamed for recent injuries a resident suffered that resulted in his death.

The facility, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was found negligent by state investigators because the resident, who suffered from a traumatic brain injury and dementia, was known to wedge his feet between his bed and the radiator and because the radiator cover had become loose. The resident suffered second and third degree burns on his legs and feet from a radiator heater that was uncovered and located directly below his bed. In fact, one of the resident's feet "appeared to be burned down to the bone" by the heater. The resident was rushed to a hospital, where he died approximately four weeks later. Facility employees reported that the resident had placed his feet in the same location on previous occasions and that the heater cover would regularly come off and have to be repaired by maintenance staff.

An inspection of the facility two weeks after the incident found ten beds within 20 inches of the radiators. Approximately six residents in those beds were considered fall and potential burn risks. The radiator surface registered temperatures ranging between 85 and 119 degrees.

Sadly, this is the second Minnesota nursing home cited for resident neglect involving radiators. In January 2010, a Golden Living Center - Meadow Lane resident was found sprawled over a radiator next to her bed. She suffered first and second degree burns on her left arm, hand, and leg and died approximately nine days later.

According to a Minnesota State Health Department investigation, the Foley Nursing Center, a nursing home located in Foley, Minnesota, was cited recently for failing to have "an adequate system in place whereby nurses notified the physician of the resident's deteriorating health status.

On March 3, 2009, a facility resident complained to a nurse that his chest was tight and his cough had "slight crackles". The nurse noted that the resident's oxygen saturation level had dropped to approximately 80%. The resident was administered oxygen and his saturation level climbed to 92%.

The following day, the resident attended a previously scheduled physician's appointment, where the physician detected shortness of breath. The man was taken to the hospital and admitted. The man died on March 8 from pneumonia.

The hospital physician doctor told state investigators that when the man's oxygen saturation level dropped to 80%, a nurse should have called a doctor. The state report found that one nurse failed to notify a physician of the "crackles" in the resident's lungs, a second nurse failed to act on that first nurse's concerns, and yet a third nurse didn't notify a doctor about the drop in oxygen saturation.

On October 7, 2009, a nursing assistant was caring for a female resident at St. Anthony Health Center when another resident's sensor alarm sounded. The employee immediately left to check on the other resident, leaving the female resident, who was a known fall risk, unattended and without her Care Plan safety precautions in place. The resident's Care Plan called for her bed to be lowered, a sensor alarm set, and a floor mat placed next to the bed. A facility nurse later found the woman on the floor of her room.

The woman's fall caused a hematoma on her forehead, according to a Department of Health report. Shortly thereafter, the woman became "very drowsy" and had weakness in her legs. She then became unresponsive and had difficulty breathing.

According to the report, with "significant physical status changes", the resident was admitted to hospice care on October 9, 2009 and she died on October 11, 2009.

The nursing assistant was suspended after the incident and was fired after the resident's death.

Minnesota authorities have issued a warrant and are actively searching for Quantel Morris after other facility employees watched as the CNA reportedly stuffed a sock into the mouth of a ninety-eight year old female resident at Sunnyside Care Center in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. When confronted, Morris told investigators that the woman would not quit yelling while he was changing her, so he placed the sock in her mouth. Reportedly, the woman was scared for days after the incident.

Reportedly, this is not the first time Morris' care has come into question. In November 2009, resident Nina Johnson was dying. Morris refused to put her oxygen back into her nose, was caught cursing in her room, and refused to reposition Ms. Johnson so that she could face her family.

Morris also faces an outstanding warrant in Chicago in connection with theft, drug possession, and child support cases.

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.

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.

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.

Ninety-one year old Gladys Gall and her husband were residents of Presbyterian Homes of Arden Hills in Minnesota in April 2008, when she suffered a mysterious injury that led to her death.

Gladys Gall suffered what is known as a "hangman's fracture", which according to a neurosurgeon, could only be caused by severe trauma. She died two weeks after her injury.

The Minnesota Office of Health Facility Complaints (OHFC) investigated and determined that Mrs. Gall was the victim of maltreatment. Yet, in May 2009, the OHFC revised its finding after the nursing home facility appealed the initial decision, stating that while the evidence did show severe trauma, there was no evidence that the trauma was the result of maltreatment.

The nursing home hired a nurse to investigate Mrs. Gall's death. The nurse found that Mrs. Gall had fallen on her own, injured her neck, and put herself back in bed. Her son, Kenneth Gall, rejects the nurse's conclusion saying, "She couldn't get up on her own, couldn't stand on her own. It took all that she had to sit up in bed." One nursing home employee even told the OHFC investigator that Mrs. Gall could not put herself back into bed if she had fallen and her husband could not have assisted her either. Mrs. Gall suffered from dementia and could not tell anyone what had happened.

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

According to a November 9, 2009 report from the Minnesota Department of Health, on May 26, 2009, a resident of Homeward Bound Maple Grove, a nursing home facility located in Maple Grove, Minnesota, was forced to eat her dinner by a facility employee. The resident, who suffers from cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and swallowing problems, was not hungry at dinner. While she is able to feed herself, facility staff will assist her with her meals when she tires and she is able to communicate whether or not she wants to eat.

On the day of the incident, the male employee took the resident outside in a t-shirt, when it was cold. She did not want to eat, but the employee forced her to eat and used a larger spoon than what the resident would normally use. She also had problems breathing when she was being fed.

Reportedly, another employee witnessed the event and tried to stop the employee from force-feeding the resident. When she attempted to intervene, she was told that the resident was losing weight and he had to force her to eat if she did not want to. The resident was resisting the feeding and trying to push the man's arm away. The reporting employee had previously voiced concerns about how he cared for the residents that were consistently denied by the man, so she videotaped the incident on her cell phone.

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

Grand Village nursing home in Grand Rapids, Michigan is the focus of a wrongful death lawsuit involving resident Rudella Reiners.

In 2006, Ms. Reiners was a known fall risk. Suffering from dementia and advanced osteoporosis and with a history of falling, the nursing home took many precautions for her safety, using a bed alarm, motion sensor, sound monitor, and a perimeter mattress. Staff kept a light on at night for her and even moved her to a room where she could be observed more easily. Somehow, she still managed to get up and walk. In fact, alarms were going off and no one heard when Ms. Reiners moved her trash can into the hall and fell, breaking her right hip.

Reportedly, the night of Ms. Reiners fall, the facility only had two nurse aides and one nurse to care for 48 residents in that unit. One of the aides had been sent to another part of the building to cover staff breaks and the other two employees were helping a resident in a different wing. No one was around to hear Ms. Reiners screams and the alarms sounding.

Steven Reiners, Rudella Reiners' son, went to the nursing home facility that night to talk to facility staff about what happened. It took more than ten minutes for him to find anyone.

Meanwhile, surgeons tried to repair the 89 year-old woman's hip, but she never recovered. She stopped responding and eating and died five days after her fall. The ensuing state investigation found that Grand Village was neglectful. An investigator determined that two alarms could not be heard at the nurse's station or other wings of the unit.

Steven Reiners has filed a lawsuit against the facility and wants nursing homes to be held accountable for their actions. "Someday I'll probably be in that same rest home," he said.

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

A case of nursing home sexual abuse has been discovered at Texas Terrace Care Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

The Minnesota Health Department alleges that residents at the facility reported the abuse. Reportedly, the male employee entered a female resident's room and started "kissing her several times" on the cheek and mouth. She also alleges that the man tickled her diaper, touched her sexually, and assaulted her. She stated that she was surprised and thought "this can't be happening". Despite the woman's dementia, she clearly remembered the incident.

Two more residents alleged that the same employee had kissed them.

The facility fired the employee, who denied the allegations. The police have referred the case for possible criminal sexual assault charges.

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

Glenwood Village Care Center, a nursing home facility located in Glenwood, Minnesota, has terminated a teenage employee who allegedly abused at least two elderly residents. The aide has denied the allegations.

The aide, who was approximately 18, was hired January 30, 2009 and was fully trained in residents' rights, care of vulnerable adults, and how to prevent and report abuse. On June 22, 2009, another facility employee reported that the aide had been struck by a resident and the aide threatened to hit the resident back. The aide reportedly told the co-worker, "I wouldn't really hit her, but believe me, I want to. I just want to smash her." Another employee later told investigators that the aide told the resident, "If you hit me, you are going to go to jail and do you know what happens to people in jail? They get raped."

Later that evening, the same aide began lifting a resident's leg and continued to move it when the resident expressed pain with movement and told her, "Cry if you want to cry."

Reportedly, this same aide also made a resident cry by telling her she could soon see her dead husband.

Investigators concluded that the home had acted appropriately concerning the incidents and reported the aide to the nurse aide registry, which may bar her from future employment in a nursing home setting.

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