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.

A Golden Living spokesperson announced on Wednesday, March 9 that the company headquarters is moving to Dallas, Texas.

Operating a conglomerate of healthcare companies, which include Aegis Therapies, Asera CareHospice, AseraCare Home Health, Golden LivingCenters, Golden Living Communities, 360 Healthcare Staffing, and Ceres Purchasing Solutions, Golden Living is currently based in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The company announced that lower level administrative jobs will remain in Fort Smith, while high level executive jobs will be moving to a 26,000 square foot building in Dallas. More information on this move is expected to be released shortly.

Golden Living operates seventeen nursing homes in Missouri, three of which have an overall rating of one-star, based on the Medicare.gov star-rating system. A one-star rating indicates that Medicare has deemed the facility to be "much below average". Our Missouri Nursing Home Abuse Attorney at the Terry Law Firm has recently reviewed the available information on the one-star Golden Living facilities and blogged on them. For more information about these facilities, click on the name of the facility below:

Golden LivingCenter - Dexter

Golden LivingCenter - Dexter is located in Dexter, Missouri and is a 73 bed facility. It is a for-profit facility and most recently received a one-star rating for staffing, a two-star rating for health inspections, and a three-star rating for quality measures. It's overall rating is one-star.

Golden LivingCenter - Branson

Golden LivingCenter - Branson is located in Branson, Missouri. It has 100 certified beds, is a for-profit facility, and is deemed a "much below average" facility by Medicare.gov.

Golden LivingCenter - New Madrid

Golden LivingCenter - New Madrid is located in New Madrid, Missouri on Interstate 55. While it received a four-star rating for Quality Measures, its one-star rating for staffing and two-star ratingn for Health Inspections contributed heavilty to its overall one-star rating.

The Terry Law Firm has handled numerous cases against Golden Living facilities. If you have a loved one in a Golden Living nursing home and are concerned about the care they are receiving, call us toll-free at 1-888-317-2525.

A twenty-five year old Texas nursing home employee has been charged with the attempted sexual assault of a ninety-one year old female resident.

On November 24, 2010, Telesforo Vasquez, III , an employee of Castle Pines nursing home, reportedly exposed his genitals to the woman and ordered her to touch him. When she refused, he forced her down, injuring her hip and buttock area. He was arrested on December 1, 2010 on charges of injury to the elderly and attempted sexual assault. Each charge carries a maximum ten year sentence.

Vasquez remains in jail.

While not involved in this case, Missouri and Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect attorney David Terry has represented several nursing home residents who have been raped and sexually assaulted while in a nursing home. In his experience, when a nursing home employee rapes a resident, you can almost always find a lack of supervision by the nursing home Administrator, Director of Nursing, and other supervisors. A lack of funding for sufficient staff by the corporate parent is usually present as well.

To learn more about how to protect your loved ones who are in nursing homes, order a free copy of David's book "5 Things You Must Know About Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in Illinois" by calling our office at 1-888-317-2525.

Twenty-three year old Evan Fleming waited seven minutes before staff at DFW Nursing & Rehab began chest compressions after he stopped breathing. The delay cost Fleming his life.

Evan Fleming was severely injured in an August motor vehicle accident, when the car he was driving slammed into a metal pole. Fleming suffered broken bones and traumatic head injuries. After treatment at a local hospital, Fleming was moved to DFW Nursing & Rehab for rehabilitation. He had not yet awoken after his accident.

On the day of his death, a nurse aide found Fleming not breathing around 9:25 a.m. She summoned a nurse to the room. Records show that CPR was not commenced until 9:32 a.m.

During the seven minute delay, facility staff tried to frantically paged through Fleming's medical records to try to figure out whether or not Fleming was to be resuscitated. Reportedly, a licensed vocational nurse called down the halll to a nurse and told her that Fleming was to be revived. Paramedics arrived and began CPR at 9:41 a.m. Fleming was pronounced dead at 10:03 a.m. He had been at the nursing home facility just one week.

According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner, the official cause of death was trauma due to Fleming's auto accident. Fleming's father said he was told that the autopsy revealed that some brain swelling may have cut off impulses to breathe.

According to state officials, seven nurses at the facility did not have current CPR certification. Six resident rooms were labeled whether the resident should be provided with life-saving measures. Of those six rooms, four were labeled incorrectly. The facility's emergency police indicated that a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope be placed on the crash cart in the event of an emergency. The cart did not have the necessary cuff and stethoscope and did not have functioning batteries for a flashlight.

According to Fleming's family, "They (the facility) should have at least offered an apology of some sort. An e-mail, a phone call or a letter. It's like they swept it under the rug."

Seventy-six year old Emilio Gonzalez was first admitted to Southwest General Hospital in July 2007 suffering from severe dehydration. Gonzalez's health was failing as he had decreased mobility due to a stroke and suffered from Parkinson's disease and terminal lung cancer.

His attorneys concede that he may have developed a small bedsore while in the hospital, but they contend that after his return to Retama Manor Nursing Center, his home of six years, and prior to his re-admittance to the hospital on August 20, 2007, his wounds became life-threatening. He died in November 2007.

Gonzalez's daughter, Mary Koenig, testified at trial last week that his bedsores went to the bone prior to his death. Former facility employees testified that the facility was understaffed that that charts reportedly had been falsified. According to Babe Wilson, a nursing assistant, residents were lucky if they were turned once during an eight hour shift, rather than every two hours as was mandated. Nurse David Smith recalled Mr. Gonzalez's painful moans and the "dead-animal" smell emanating from his wounds. Plaintiff's nursing care expert believed federal and state laws were violated due to the inadequate care Gonzalez reportedly received.

Medical experts for nursing home counsel contend that bedsores, dehydration, and lack of nourishment all can be part of the dying process and Dr. Louis Lux found that the biggest oversight was that Mr. Gonzalez did not receive hospice care immediately upon his lung cancer diagnosis. According to Dr. Lux, "He did exactly what a cancer patient would do. There's a slow unraveling of the body here. It affects your skin health. The cancer is robbing his body of nutrition and not allowing him to heal."

The trial continues.

Sherree James

On September 15, 2010, a Texas CNA was arrested for alleged abuse of an elderly resident and is being held without bond.
Sherree James was arrested for an August 21, 2010 incident at Grace Care Center Nursing Home involving an 83 year-old defenseless resident.

According to an arrest affidavit, James and the 83 year old resident were in the shower room when two other CNAs heard the resident crying and telling James to "quit hitting her". The CNAs reported that they heard five slaps and when they went in to see what was happening, the woman's face was "extremely red and James was pulling her hair very hard causing pain". The woman had a knot on her head and James as seen twisting her ear. According to the report, James told her co-workers "the way you control this resident is to bend her thumb back to her wrist if she gets out of control".

The resident is doing fine.

Olivia Moore has been a nurse since 1975 - and addicted to painkillers since 1977. Moore admitted this and more to a Sheriff's Deputy in 2001.

"I have used pain medication such as Tylenol 3, Percocet and Leritine but progressed to Demerol. I have always obtained pain medication from my various nursing jobs. It has always been detected and I have always been terminated, except for Charter Hospital in Corpus Christi", she admitted. Moore also admitted that she would inject herself while on duty and then return to care for her patients while high. She attempted to cover her addiction by replacing stolen narcotics with other medications. On this, she blatantly admitted, "I also took several Hydrocodone tablets from packages and would take two at a time as needed during my shifts. I replaced the Hydrocodone with Robaxit. I had to cut some of the Robaxit down to make them fit back in the package."

Moore was finally convicted on three counts of possessing and using prescription drugs after working at Corpus Christi Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Texas. She was sentenced to ten years in prison. During her trial, prosecutors also alleged that Moore pulled on resident tubes, causing injury and death of one elderly resident, but she was not convicted of that charge.

Reportedly, verbal abuse, headlocks and chokeholds are used to restrain residents at a Texas adult daycare center in Spring, Texas.

Westridge Pinnacle Care is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General after the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services found a "threat to the health and safety of the residents" at the facility.

According to the investigator's report:

- A staff member was arguing with one of the disabled residents, who wanted to call his mother to go home because he didn't feel well and reportedly came to blows. The staff member allegedly put the resident in a headlock and shouted, "You're not going to be violent! I'm the only one that is going to be violent! If you do it again, I'll bite your face off!"

- The facility was operating without a valid license. Reportedly, the facility's request for licensure was denied on March 16, 2010 but there are no indications as to why.

A judge issued a temporary restraining order against the facility and ordered the state to place residents in a safe facility.

A Texas nursing home CNA faces charges that he sexually assaulted a nursing home resident.

Richard Sanchez was arrested and is being held on $120,000 bond on three charges. The Sheriff's Office received a telephone call from Community Care Center of Clarendon on April 27, 2010, reporting that one of its residents had possibly been sexually assaulted. Authorities investigated the charge and subsequently obtained an arrest warrant.

The investigation found one victim of sexual abuse that had occurred during the last two months.

For more information about sexual abuse in nursing homes, go to the Terry Law Firm website.

Beverly Rasberry Stone, the operator of Stonecrest Senior Care in Sweetwater, Texas, was indicted on May 11, 2010 on two counts of injury to an elderly person after a resident under her care developed severe bedsores.

The abuse allegations arose after Stone's facility "failed to seek appropriate attention, and (the bedsores) became untreatable". The resident eventually died of unrelated causes and the death is not at issue in the injury charges lodged against the nursing home operator.

According to Stone's attorney, her facility was not permitted to handle more than three residents at one time and that rule was violated for a period of time.

After her recent arrest, Stone was released after posting bonds in the amount of $30,000. Her arraignment hearing has been waived.

We discussed Shonda Rodriguez and her alleged abuse of an elderly nursing home resident at Castle Pines Nursing Home in previous blogs. Rodriguez, who formerly was employed as a licensed practical nurse at the Lufkin, Texas facility, reportedly slapped the hand of a facility resident and woman was found with bruises on the backs of both hands and a skin tear on her upper arm. Rodriguez pleaded no contest on December 15, 2009 to charges of abusing an elderly patient and was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to pay restitution, and fined $500. She was also ordered not to work with the elderly or small children in her profession as an LPN.

Isidro Olvera

Isidro Olvera, a former housekeeper at St. Elizabeth's Place in Waco, Texas, will spend the next two years behind bars after pleading guilty to three felony forgery counts.

Olvera admitted that he stole four checks from elderly residents at the facility (ages 92, 88, and 85), filled in amounts between $450 and $650, forged the residents' signatures, and cashed the checks. In fact, he reportedly cashed some of those checks after he had been caught and termined from his position at the nursing home.

In addition to jail time, Olvera will face restitution in the amount of $2,100 - the amount of the forged checks.

We discussed Johnetta Phillips and her alleged abuse of an elderly resident at Castle Pines Nursing Home in Texas in a previous blog.

The reported abuse of the 77 year-old resident was caught on a video camera that the victim's husband set up in her room. The victim told her husband that she was being abused but, due to her mental state, she could not identify her abuser.

Phillips was caught on tape on two separate occasions abusing the female resident. According to the arrest warrant, Phillips grabbed the woman's right arm and twisted it and then struck her arm three times. In another incident, Phillips was seen putting the resident to bed roughly, causing her to hit her head on the headboard.

Phillips pleaded guilty to the abuse and was sentenced to twenty months in jail.

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

He was "mad at his life" and looking for a "a lady to choke" when he broke into Clare Ridge, a Brookdale Senior Living Facility in San Antonio, Texas.

Daniel Villarreal, 25, broke into the nursing home facility through a side door early on the morning of October 11, 2009. Randomly selecting a room, he punched and kicked 77 year-old resident Janice Maier in the face as she slept, severely injuring her. Covered in blood, he wandered out of Ms. Maier's room and was stopped by facility employee.

Ms. Maier was admitted to University Hospital with head trauma and cuts. Villarreal was charged with injury to an elderly person, a felony.

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.

According to Clark McLaurin, the Administrator of Keller Oaks Healthcare Center, "we don't really know" why the facility was deemed a special focus facility and was put onto the federal watch list for nursing home facilities.

Among the deficiencies that Keller Oaks, a North Richland Hills, Texas nursing home facility, was cited for were deficiencies for failing to feed residents properly and failure to administer needed medications and failure to keep the nursing home free of dangers to residents.

Participation in the federal program is designed to help nursing homes showing a pattern of serious deficiencies to turn their program around. Failure to correct existing problems can result in penalties from fines to termination of participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

 

"If I said there was no danger, I would be lying." Counselor Ezio Leite on sex offenders on civil committment.

Several weeks ago, sixty year old Boyd Mullens was moved from a halfway house in Dallas to the Lake Worth Nursing Home in Lake Worth, Texas. Mullins is considered a sexually violent predator after being convicted of molesting several teenage boys.

Officials allegedly moved Boyd due to illness but refuse to elaborate. Nursing home staff members say that Mullins is able to ambulate but speaks using a computer device. He lives in a room with several other nursing home residents.

Facility social worker Laura Holbrook allegedly was not aware that Mullins was considered such a dangerous sex offender. While residents in the surrounding Lake Worth neighborhood were advised of Boyd's residency, as were nursing home employees, residents of the facility and their families were not notified. According to Holbrook, "No, we don't divulge that to family members." The nursing home Director refused to comment on the failure to notify and refused to discuss if any extra security precautions were taken to protect the residents.

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.

Edna May Sides, an 85 year-old Alzheimer's patient, lived at Hillside Plaza Nursing Home in Wells, Texas. Staff members found Ms. Sides dead outside the nursing home facility around 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

By the time her family was notified, Ms. Sides' body had been moved and a post-mortem clean up had been performed. While the nursing home treated Ms. Sides' death like a normal passing away, her family was suspicious and contacted the Wells Police Department, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, and the state Attorney General's Office with concerns. While officials do not think Ms. Sides suffered foul play, they do believe there was possible negligence and are trying to determine who was responsible for ensuring Ms. Sides' safety.

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.

Today, everyone is aware of the seriousness of exposing children to sexual predators and most parents are diligent about checking state sexual offender websites for the locations of sex offenders living near their homes or schools. Has anyone ever thought to cross-check the addresses in the registries to see if any are living in local nursing homes? CBS4 I-Team in Florida did.

After performing an address cross-check and finding approximately 80 sex offenders living in Florida nursing homes (some of whom were court-ordered), CBS4 I-Team Investigator Michele Gillen visited nursing homes and group homes to verify these invidiuals were actually residents at the facilities. One 35 year old offender living at an adult home acknowledged his status and explained that his fellow residents were unaware of his status. He is one of two sex offenders living at that facility.

I-Team also visited The Pines nursing home in South Florida. There, the facility houses two sex offenders. I-Team met with the owner, Jules Ast, and Assistant Administrator Alyce Sica and they discussed the state of the art surveillance system the facility has in place. Both emphasized they are very careful about the type of offender allowed into the facility, as they are located within one block of an elementary school. The offender cannot have the ability to self-propel - they must have total assistance with movement. The sex offender residents are also not allowed to wander off on their own. Facililty staff are advised on the sexual offender status of the residents, but other residents are not informed. Assistant Administrator Alyce Sica actually went to the state ten years ago to encourage the state to create special housing for aging felons. "They need people who know how to deal with people who are dangerous," she said.

Wes Bledsoe, founder of A Perfect Cause, is aware of the problem. A Perfect Cause tracks sexual offenders and their crimes, some of whom can be seen on their website. Bledsoe says, "We are warehousing these offenders with disabled elderly people who can't protect themselves and can't tell what happened to them."

Florida residents can check Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators and Missouri residents can check Missouri Sex Offender Registry. For information on sexual predators in Illinois, click here. Like most states, sexual predator information for Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania can also be located online.

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

We discussed abuse at a Texas Nursing Home in a recent blog. On March 23, 2009, a director at Castle Pines Health & Rehabilitation told police they had seen someone slapping the hand of a resident the previous day. The elderly resident had bruising to the backs of both hands and a skin tear on her upper arm.

Certified nurse aide Shondra Rodriguez, 21, has been arrested in the abuse case. According to an arrest affidavit, Rodriguez abused an 80 year old woman on March 22, 2009. A member of the nursing staff noticed the resident's door was closed and her help light activated. The employee went to check on the resident and saw Rodriguez striking the resident on her left hand. The employee also witnessed blood on the bed and reported it. Other staff members saw bruising developing on the victim's hands and arms.

Rodriguez admits to "popping the victim" and holding her hands down and trying to fight with her. Her bail was set at $5,000 and she has posted bond and been released.

An employee at Castle Pines Nursing Home in Lufkin, Texas has been accused of injuring a resident over the weekend of March 21-22, 2009. The nursing home director stated that the employee was seen slapping the hand of a resident. Investigators found bruising on the backs of both hands and a skin tear on her upper arm. The investigation continues.

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