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.

An Oregon assisted living aide is going to spend the next 18 months behind bars for her role in deceiving an elderly resident and stealing nearly $30,000 from him. Fifty-eight year old Patsy Murphy worked at the Heritage Place Assisted Living facility in Bandon, Oregon from May to December 2009. While employed there, she reportedly took advantage of three men at the facility.

Murphy is said to have received a negligee from one gentleman and married another. The worst incident involved an 89 year-old elderly resident. Murphy was the man's caregiver; she reportedly attempted to start a romantic relationship with the man. Then, she talked the man into giving her money to purchase an automobile. The victim reportedly gave her $28,250 to purchase a 2010 Toyota Camry. The car was to be titled in the man's name, but Murphy was going to use the vehicle to transport him. Instead, Murphy bought the car, titled it in her own name, and hid the car. When questioned, she told people that her son bought it for her. Later, Murphy sold the car and kept the proceeds. The man never saw Murphy again after he gave her the money.

Murphy pleaded guilty to first degree criminal mistreatment of an elderly person and first degree aggravated theft.

Robert Price

An Oregon nursing home resident reportedly was sexually assaulted by an employee of the facility. The resident, who is mentally incapacitated, was allegedly sexually assaulted at Valley West Health Care Center in Eugene, Oregon on December 22, 2010. Employees of Valley West Health Care Center notified local police, who arrested Robert Price, a facility employee. Price has pleaded not guilty to first degree sex abuse. He is schedule to appear in court on January 27, 2011.

Whether Mr. Price is guilty of sexually assaulting a resident or not, we don't yet know. What we do know is that far too many nursing home residents are victims of rape and sexual assault. Why? Because sexual predators recognize the elderly as easy targets due to physical and mental infirmities. Nursing home companies are often culpable by failing to adequately check the employee's background or failing to supervise employees. By reducing staffing levels so low they enable those who are prone to assault.

If your loved one has been sexually assaulted, call the police, call the state, and call an attorney.

Seventy-four year old Ruby Larson disappeared without a trace in 2007 after she eloped from Pheasant Pointe Retirement and Assisted Living Residence. Her fully clothed remains were found in May 2010 in some blackberry bushes by a four year old child searching for his lost cat in a field - a mere quarter mile from the facility where she lived.

Larson's family sued Pheasant Pointe Retirement and Assisted Living Residence and its parent companies, Spectrum Retirement Communities of Oregon and SRC of Oregon, alleging failure to provide adequate care for Ms. Larson and preventing her from wandering off. Sadly, Larson had a history of elopement, or wandering. One year earlier, she walked away from her son's house and walked 11 miles to a hospital. In the month before she disappeared, she eloped from the facility three times. When her family addressed the increased wandering and asked if she needed higher supervision due to her elopement issues, facility employees told them not to worry.

A Multnomah County jury awarded the family $821,000 in damages on Monday, October 4, 2010, after a five day trial. The jury returned a 11-1 verdict for negligence.

According to defense attorneys, "It is our strong position that no one did anything wrong here. Ruby Larson lived the life she wanted to live."

Ruby Larson

Seventy-five year old Ruby Larson suffered from Alzheimer's, short-term memory loss, and disorientation and had no knowledge of her own physical limitations, health needs, or medications. When her family admitted her to Pheasant Point Retirement and Assisted Living Residence in May 2007, facility staff were fully aware of her condition, as well as her tendency to wander. By July 2007, she allegedly had wandered off on three separate occasions. On July 23, 2007, Ruby wandered off again, this time forever. Despite desperate searches by multiple search teams, Ruby was never seen again. She was declared legally dead by a judge's order in 2008.

David Buoy, one of Ruby Larson's three sons, filed a $2 million wrongful death lawsuit against Pheasant Point Retirement and Assisted Living Residence and its parent company, Spectrum Retirement Communities of Oregon. The suit alleges facility negligence in failing to ensure that Ruby did not wander off and also alleges facility staff failed to tailor care specific to Ruby's needs. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the facility should have had Ruby in an Alzheimer's care unit to keep her from wandering away and that the facility was slow to report her disappearance to local authorities.

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

Seventy-three year old Margaret Patton suffered from dementia and was dying from cancer that had spread to her brain. At times, she was heavily sedated with morphine for her own comfort. Her three granddaughters, whom she had raised, visited her regularly. Strangely, these three women who were so close to their grandmother had never met Eric Joe Penn, her alleged "nephew" and their grandmother had never mentioned him.

Randy Ray Richardson, a former prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office, and Eric Joe Penn were convicted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 of first degree aggravated theft. Richardson was also found guilty of deceiving the woman to get her to sign documents deeding her home to Penn, her alleged nephew.

This is not Richardson's first scrape with the law. Richardson resigned in 2000 from the District Attorney's Office while he was being investigated for participating in a pyramid scheme, for which he was never charged. Other accusations of wrongdoing include bribing a witness in 2006 and burglarizing a former girlfriend's home. In 2002, he was accused of holding a woman by her throat. In 2005, he was seen on surveillance tape hitting a woman so hard that she was knocked to the floor of a parking garage. He was never convicted on any of these wrongdoings.

Allegedly, Penn contacted Richardson to help him get his "aunt" to sign over her house. When the men went to the nursing home, Margaret Patton was heavily sedated on morphine. A nurse from the nursing home facility testified that she told Penn that his aunt was in no condition to sign legal documents; Penn told her to leave the room.

Several days after Patton was tricked into signing over her home, she made an audio recording saying that she had been tricked into signing over her home. She was given the impression that if she signed the documents Penn provided that she would be allowed to go home to die, not deed the house to him. Penn did take Margaret Patton home but returned her to the facility the next day because "she refused to take her painkillers". Allegedly, Richardson told Margaret Patton not to trust her grandchildren, who visited her daily.

Margaret Patton's house was won back by court order.

The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. Please contact us with any questions or concerns at 1 (888) 317-2525 or visit us on our website.

Theresa Smith

Theresa Smith, a former nursing assistant, pled guilty to stealing medication from nursing homes on Thursday, February 26, 2009, after initially denying all allegations. She was sentenced to six months in jail, three years' probation, and must undergo drug counseling.

Smith was arrested in the fall of 2008 after posing as an employee of Marysville Nursing Home and stealing Fentanyl pain patches from patients. Surveillance footage proved she was present at the facility. She has also been identified as a person of interest in a similar case at Laurelhurst Village Nursing Home in Portland, Oregon.

Peg Marino, former owner of St. Rita's Senior Care Community in Salem, Oregon, pled guilty to two counts of criminal mistreatment in connection to the theft of more than $58,000 belonging to four residents. She was sentenced January 22, 2009 to twelve months in prison and ordered to repay $50,000.

The Oregon Department of Human Services took control of the facility in 2007 and appointed a trustee to run the day-to-day operations. The facility's 48 residents were eventually moved to other facilities after substandard care and abuse allegations were uncovered.

Healthcare at Foster Creek, a nursing home located in Portland, Oregon, faces a $2 million lawsuit for a sexual assault that allegedly occurred between its residents. Marko Chandler, 68, was charged with sexual abuse and unlawful sexual penetration for his role in the alleged abuse of a female resident in April 2008. He has been found unfit to stand trial and has been committed to a hospital's mental health unit. Both residents suffered from dementia, although Chandler's dementia was of a lesser degree than his victim's.

This situation is one that could have been prevented. Staff members had seen the female resident standing in a room half-naked with Chandler approximately five days before a worker caught him molesting the woman. Facility staff failed to take any action other than to put her pants back on.

The lawsuit alleges that the facility was the recipient of 38 substantiated complaints of abuse or neglect during the course of the victim's residency at Healthcare at Foster Creek. Healthcare at Foster Creek is rated at two out of five stars, or well below average, in the new rating system instituted by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. For more information, call us directly at 1 (888) 317-2525 or visit our website at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

Alexander Hughes, a private caregiver as well as activities assistant at Encore Senior Living Village in Gresham, Oregon, faces a 49 count criminal indictment, which includes aggravated identity theft, first-degree criminal mistreatment, and fraudulent use of a credit card after being accused of using the ATM card of the disabled woman for whom he cared. Hughes is accused of withdrawing over $600 from the account of the brain injured woman during a two day drug binge.

On September 28, he left the woman's home, telling her he was going to pick up medications at Walgreens. The woman never received her medication. Between September 30 and October 1, there were twelve withdrawals totaling $666. Hughes told investigators he was buying and smoking crack during the two day binge.

He has pled not guilty to the charges.