Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Lynn Gomez was a registered nurse and Director of Wellness at Broadmore Estates, a nursing home facility in West Virginia. She filed a lawsuit against Broadmore and the facility director, Delores Miles, for reportedly overlooking employee substance abuse and ignoring state regulations for drug distribution after she reported it.

Gomez was hired in February 2009 and, when she began working, alleges that patient charts and records were in disarray, the facility was understaffed, and staff members ignored state regulations for drug distribution.

A pharmaceutical representative approached Gomez within the first few weeks of her employment at the facility about nurse who was allegedly drunk at work or smelled of alcohol. Reportedly, the nurse told Gomez that "Lortabs do nothing for her and that she already had four Percocet that day."

Gomez followed procedure and approached the facility director with her concerns. Allegedly, she was told the nurse "had been on drugs for a long period of time and could practice while on medications." Gomez alleges that the nurse falsified records reporting that she had administered medications when, in fact, she had not and that all drugs were properly accounted for. That nurse was only terminated after an outside source discovered that the nurse had falsified records.

Gomez lost her job in May 2009, after her position was eliminated.

We discussed Pamela J. Morris in a previous blog. While Morris was employed at a local nursing home, she stole the identity of a resident at the facility and used the resident's personal information to obtain a credit card. She charged more than $2,000 to the account. She plead guilty on February 2, 2009 in U.S. District Court. She was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $2,491 in restitution to the nursing home victim.

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 our website at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

Ohio Valley Health Care, a nursing home facility in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and its Administrator, Michael A. Miller, have been sued for the wrongful death of a resident.

Linda Holstine, the daughter of the Eva Davis and the personal representative of her estate, alleges that Ms. Davis "suffered serious injuries from a pattern of poor care, neglect, and abuse rendered by Ohio Valley Health Care and its staff." The alleged injuries include "infections, weight loss, and pain" which "caused the significant destruction of her physical and mental condition during her residency at the facility." Ms. Holstine alleges that Ms. Davis suffered from numerous urinary tract infections and weight loss and that facility staff "failed to timely report these changes to the physician, resulting in delays in treatment". Ms. Davis, a four year resident of the facility, died on April 3, 2008.

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

Police are investigating an alleged sexual assault at Valley Haven Geriatric Center in Wellsburg, West Virginia. The alleged assault occurred around 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 19, 2009 after facility employees discovered an 81 year old visitor fondling a resident with Alzheimer's disease. The 86 year old resident is unaware of her surroundings and the alleged abuser is a distant relative of the victim.

The man faces a charge of abuse of an incapacitated person.

David Terry at the Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases of sexual abuse to successful conclusion. Please contact us at 1 (888) 317-2525 or visit us at www.nursinghomejustice.com.

Pamela Jo Morris pled guilty to mail fraud on February 2, 2009 in U.S. District Court. Morris, a former nursing home employee, stole personal information from a patient and applied for a credit card. Once the card was received, Morris charged approximately $2,700 to the account. She faces a maximum of twenty years in prison and a $250,000 fine at her May 2009 sentencing.

George King, Sr. was a resident of Heartland of Charleston Nursing Home in Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. King, 73, as an Alzheimer's patient suffering from dementia and required assistance daily. He was reported missing on October 25, 2008. Police found his body on October 26, 2008 near train tracks. He had been hit and killed by a CSX train.

His family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that Heartland of Charleston failed to properly monitor Mr. King. The suit alleges that "George King Sr. could not care for himself or be allowed to walk outside the facility and the staff of the facility at Heartland of Charleston was aware of this fact". The suit also alleges that facility workers failed to follow protocols for missing residents, failed to adequately supervise Mr. King, searched for him in the wrong area (because he was confused with another resident who had left the facility on a prior date), and and failed to utilize all available resources to locate him.

Roy Reed Shelton was sentenced to one to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 57 year old female resident of the Dora Allietta Memorial Home in Moundsville, West Virginia last year. He pled guilty to third-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual abuse, and indecent exposure. Sheldon said the sexual relationship was consensual, but authorities contend that the woman has the mental capacity of a two year old.

Shelton lived at the facility with his wife, who worked there, but the facility has since been shut down after authorities determined that the residents were not properly cared for.

Betty Wolfe was sent to Heartland of Charleston, a Manor Care, Inc. facility in Charleston, West Virgina, to receive physical therapy and recuperate from surgery. She wasn't supposed to die.

Ms. Wolfe was, by doctor's order, to be assisted to go to the restroom. Instead, the overworked staff insisted she wear diapers. When Ms. Wolfe tried to follow doctor's orders anyway, she fell. The fall led to her placement in a bed where it was difficult for her to get out. The nursing home staff did not change her diaper timely, sometimes making Betty lie in her own waste for hours on end. Several times, she was found wet from her neck to her feet. The constant saturation lead to infected pressure sores on her tailbone which the staff also failed to treat properly or timely.

Ms. Wolfe's family alleges the facility was frequently understaffed and experienced a 150% turnover rate among the nurses and staff. The workers who were there frequently often had to work double shifts. The employees were not properly trained and were overwhelmed with work. The defense counters that Ms. Wolfe "was on a downward slope" when she transferred to Heartland of Charleston. The defense also suggested that Ms. Wolfe had several long standing medical issues, such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and chronic urinary tract infections.

This creates the question: do long standing medical issues give a facility a right not to provide quality of care and quality of life and basic poor care? To read more on this story, go to Trial Begins in Nursing Home Case