Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Falling Spring Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Chambersburg is now among the top nursing homes in Pennsylvania, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Franklin County home received a five-star rating, the highest rate offered by the government group. In rating a nursing home, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services take into consideration staffing levels, inspections by the Department of Health, as well as other Medicare and Medicaid quality measures.

In an article on PublicOpinionOnline.com, the nursing home's administrator, Dr. Barry Parks, said, "Now the goal is to stay there."

Falling Springs joins three other nursing homes in Franklin County that earned the five-star rating: The Shook Home (Chambersburg), Laurel Care Nursing and Rehabilitation (Fayetteville), and South Mountain Restoration Center (South Mountain).

Rating lower in Franklin County were Menno Haven in Chambersburg and Swaim Health Center in Newville that both received three stars. ManorCare Health Services in Chambersburg and Shippensburg Health Care Center in Shippensburg received only two stars.

A jury imposed a $200 million verdict against a nursing home management company accused of not doing enough to prevent a 92-year-old resident's fatal fall.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, an hour passed before anyone noticed that Elvira Nunziata got away from a group of residents at Pinellas Park Care and Rehabilitation Center in October 2004.
When someone checked the emergency exit stairwell they found Nunziata, still strapped in her wheelchair, at the bottom of about 10 stairs.
Her estate, which was represented by her son, sued Trans Health Management Inc., in 2005. The case went to trial last week and after deliberating for less than an hour handed down the verdict of $60 million in compensatory damages and $140 million in punitive damages.
During the trial witnesses testified the facility was understaffed and that before her death, Nunziata, who lived in the nursing home since 2003, suffered other falls, injuries and illnesses.
Trans Health no longer manages the nursing home.

According to an article in the Central Penn Business Journal (CentralPennBusiness.com), the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed legislation last week that would put a limit on the amount of punitive damages that could be awarded in civil liability cases against nursing homes.

If House Bill 1907 passes the Pennsylvania Senate, there would be a limit of 200 percent of compensatory damages for cases that include personal care homes, long-term care facilities, and assisted living communities.

However, the bill states that this limit would not apply to cases where there are allegations of intentional misconduct.

There is still time to oppose this measure. If you feel that there should not be limits on punitive damages in civil liability cases against nursing homes, we suggest you contact your local legislators and ask them to oppose it. This will ensure that those who are injured through the negligence of a skilled nursing facility get the compensation they deserve.

We will wait to see if this bill pass the PA Senate.

According to an article on WFMZ.com, asbestos has been found in parts of the Gracedale nursing home in Northampton County.

Testing was done after concerns came to light regarding previous construction work done at the home. There were fears that asbestos exposure may have happened as a result of the work.

Although testing done a few weeks ago has confirmed asbestos fibers, Northampton County's director of administration, Tom Harp, said affected areas have been shut down and no asbestos became airborne.

Clean up has begun to keep any exposed asbestos from becoming airborne. Clean up costs are estimated to be tens of thousands of dollars.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging based in Washington D.C. recently endorsed the Senior Transportation and Mobility Improvement Act introduced by Se. Herb Kohl, Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman, and Se. Ron Wyden.
The legislation introduced in December addresses some of the critically important transportation issues that concern older adults and people with disabilities.
n4a officials stated in a news release that the legislation provides an excellent opportunity for Congress to advance initiatives of the Senior Transportation Task Force, of which n4a is a co-chair.
"The last transportation authorization made significant progress in providing greater resources
and instituting a new coordination planning process that has begun to produce real results in
bringing key stakeholders to the table from the aging and disability communities in planning
transportation services," said n4a CEO Sandy Markwood. "However, there is much more to be done to ensure
that there are adequate, accessible and reliable transportation options for older adults and
people with disabilities. We look forward to working with Congress to see that the provisions
called for in this bill are included in the upcoming transportation reauthorization."
According to n4a, older Americans represent the fastest growing demographic in the nation and they have an increasing desire to participate in the workforce, to age in place and to access social and health services and they often need to have access to transportation to achieve their goals.
n4a believes it is critical that Congress place greater emphasis on community transportation programs that provide a vital link between home and community for older adults and people with disabilities. According to the organization, transportation is consistently at or near the top of services for which local aging programs across the country receive the most requests. Without adequate transportation options, the n4a states many seniors are at risk of increased isolation and may be forced into costly and unnecessary institutionalization.
The Senior Transportation and Mobility Improvement Act provides states added flexibility for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities Section 5310 program to use funds for operating costs. The bill also requires states to annually report to the Federal transit Authority how they plan to coordinate their Section 5130 program with transportation services offered under the Older Americans Act. The bill also provides technical assistance and grants to innovative community programs.

We may not be able to avoid getting older, but a recent article on Health.com offers some tips for preventing the characteristic rounding of the spine caused by osteoporosis:

For those who spend a lot of time in front of a computer, keep limber by stretching which improves range of motion.

Every morning and night, lie on the floor on your back and make slow "snow angels" for 2-3 minutes. This increases flexibility.

When you are sitting at a desk, be sure to sit up tall and your shoulders dropped.

Try pilates and yoga exercises to strengthen your core, which will in turn help with good posture.

For women who have been through menopause, it is important to exercise the muscles around the spine, as they tend to weaken. Target the back extensors, neck flexors, pelvic muscles and side muscles to help support the spine.

Weight-bearing exercises such as walking, stair climbing, and weight lifting can help prevent the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.

Vitamin D helps with bone health. The recommended dosage is 600 IU a day for women up to age 70 and 800 IU for women older than 70. Calcium is also beneficial for women. It is recommended that women 19 to 50 years of age take 1,000 milligrams daily, while older women should take 1,200 milligrams.

A study published in Psychology and Aging has revealed that by improving their brain skills, older adults become more open and receptive to new experiences.

A recent article on CNN.com reported on the study that included 183 older adults between the ages of 60 and 94. Half of the participants took part in a home-based program that was designed to improve their inductive reasoning skills, while the other half were part of the control group. Those in the training group worked on self-guided materials that included tests for recognizing patterns in numbers and letters, crossword puzzles, and Sudoku puzzles. The material was designed to challenge participants, but not overwhelm them.

Elizabeth Stine-Morrow, of the University of Illinois and the lead researcher of the study, said, "The hallmark of this program is that [the seniors] were learning a concrete skill and they could see this in their test performance." She also said that it's a good idea for seniors to put themselves in situations where they learn new things in a way that doesn't overwhelm them.

In the article, Stine-Morrow offered the following advice to older adults, "So stay somewhat in your comfort zone, but push on the boundaries a little bit. And that in turn is likely to make you more comfortable with new experiences, so ideally this could be a sort of self perpetuating process."

We whole-heartedly agree with her advice!

On January 5, the state Department of Public Welfare announced it will consolidate the number of organizations providing financial management services to Medicaid enrollees who receive home- and community-based services.
FMS allows Medicaid enrollees to direct benefits to a company which then manages their financial, payroll, tax withholding, and bill pay on their behalf.
Currently 37 organizations, more than any other state, provide FMS to about 22,000 Pennsylvania residents. DPW will now accept applications for no more than three organizations to provide that service throughout the state.
DPW states reducing the number of FMS providers will help ensure consistent, efficient and cost-effective service and will not affect benefits, services, or access to care.

A recent article on USAToday.com reported that the number of people who live to 90 years of age and beyond has tripled in the past 30 years to 2 million and is projected to quadruple by 2050, according to the Census Bureau.

As the number of older Americans grows, many are forced to live with their children or grandchildren as a result of the current economic crisis. But this trend has led to situations where the elderly are taken advantage of financially or abused physically by their caretakers. As a result, advocates for the old are pushing to educate communities about elder abuse and how to prevent it.

Laura Mosqueda, co-director of the National Center on Elder Abuse and director of the geriatrics program at the University of California-Irvine School of Medicine, is quoted in the article as saying, "The fastest-growing segment are people over 85 and the percentage of people with Alzheimer's, dementia is at an all-time high. This is just an absolute recipe for disaster."

The Cedar Village Retirement Community in Mason, OH opened a long-term care facility this month for victims of abuse. It's the first elder abuse shelter in Ohio and one of only a half-dozen in the country, funded by non-profit groups.

Sally Hume, AARP's senior project manager in education and outreach said, "There is a genuine recognition by those who are concerned by the abuse of elders that there need to be appropriate safe houses for them to get them out of immediate harm's way. Nationally, we've been aware of the need for elder abuse shelters, but they've been slow in coming into fruition."

The Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in the Bronx in New York City was the first in the nation, opening its doors seven years ago. Elder abuse shelters care for abused seniors by providing medical, nursing, and therapy services, meals, legal services, social work, pastoral care, and social, recreational, and educational programs.

"We estimate that as many as one in 10 (seniors) at some point are victims of elder abuse. A victim of elder abuse can be anyone. They can be rich or poor. They can be independent. They can live in a facility," said Carol Silver Elliott, CEO and president of Cedar Village Retirement Community.

Elliot said some seniors become ill and unknowingly sign over their assets to those who care for them. "A few months later they find out they don't have a house, their bank account is cleaned out. They have essentially nothing," said Elliott. Others suffer physical abuse that can include not being fed or cleaned to being beaten.

But the problem can be difficult to identify or may go unreported because victims are abused by those who care for them. They may be cut off by their caretakers so they don't have a way to let others know that they are being abuse.

Advocates say increasing public awareness is the best defense against elder abuse.

Continue reading "Elder Abuse a Growing Problem" »

The New York Times has reported that only one out of seven medical errors and accidents that harm Medicare patients are reported by hospital employees.

In the article, Daniel R. Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, said that even after medical facilities investigate reported injuries or infections, the facility rarely changes its practice to prevent the error from happening again.

The report says that hospitals are required to "track medical errors and have adverse patient events, (and) analyze their causes" in order to receive payments from Medicare.
Most alarming is that even the most serious problems that caused patients to die have gone unreported. Other events included bedsores, hospital-acquired infections, delirium from too many painkillers, and excessive bleeding due to improper use of blood thinners. These unreported events were spotted by independent doctors who reviewed patient records.

According to the article, hospital employees do not know "what constitutes patient harm," said Levinson. An employee may assume another employee would report the incident, or they thought it was an isolated event that would not happen again. In other cases, employees thought the events were so common that they did not need to be reported.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com said, "Medical mistakes are one of the biggest problems we have in health care today. We're beginning to see that with more monitoring, we are identifying more problems."

Continue reading "Report Reveals Most Hospital Errors Go Unreported" »

We're often quick to point the finger at nursing homes and long-term care facilities that receive negative ratings, so we were happy to hear that Fulton County Medical Center Long Term Care in McConnellsburg has received AdvisorMed's 2012 Great Pennsylvania Nursing Home award.

According to an article on PublicOpinionOnline.com, the award recognizes nursing centers that offer services that consistently exceed their residents' expectations.

AdvisorMed.com is a free online report card and health information guide to physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, and health care agencies. They determine rankings by using national standards that include information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as other data and consumer reviews.

Fulton County Medical Center (FCMC) Long Term Care ranks among the top tier of all nursing homes in Pennsylvania. In January 2011, the state Department of Aging and the Office of Long-Term Living awarded FCMC's Long Term Care the Excellence in Quality Care Award. Congratulations to the staff and administration!

According to an article on The Times-Tribune.com, PA Lackawanna Holdings LLC has accused the county of breach of contract, alleging it was not informed of an ongoing agreement with a commercial linen supplier when it bought the county's nursing home in 2010.

The nursing facility, now known as Lackawanna Health & Rehab Center, was purchased by PA Lackawanna Holdings in March 2010. According to the complaint, the county was required to provide copies of all contracts, leases, and agreements related to the nursing home, which the new owner assumed under the purchase agreement.

But PA Lackawanna Holdings alleges that it never received a copy of a 2008 contract with Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply Inc., nor was it made aware of 2009 contract with Dempsey that ran until 2014, to provide commercial linen services to the facility. It was not until the new owner terminated services with the linen company that Dempsey went to court in June 2010 to compel PA Lackawanna Holdings to honor the 2009 contract.

A county spokesperson said the county has not comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy against speaking about pending litigation.

Delirium, a sudden change in mental status or sudden confusion, is especially common in elderly hospital patients.
A patient experiencing delirium may have clouded consciousness and may have trouble focusing or paying attention. Some patients may hallucinate or become paranoid, speech may ramble and thoughts may be jumbled. Some people become withdrawn while others may become hyperactive. Symptoms may come and go throughout the day.
According to the Hospital Elder Life Program website, delirium can slow the recovery process and add to the length of a hospital stay. A direct cause can usually be identified, such as drug toxicity, infection, dehydration, kidney or liver failure, thyroid disorders, alcohol or drug withdrawal, anemia, or decreased oxygen and some medications can also cause or worsen confusion.
HELP, a program developed by Dr. Sharon K. Inouye and colleagues at Yale School of Medicine, offers tips adapted from onlinehealth.com to avoid or lessen the risk of hospital delirium.
1. Bring a complete list of all prescribed and over-the counter medications the patient is currently taking.
2. Prepare a "medical information sheet" listing all allergies, names and phone numbers of physicians, the name of the patient's usual pharmacy and all known medical conditions.
3. Bring glasses, hearing aids, and dentures to the hospital.
4. Bring in a few familiar objects from home. Family photos, a favorite comforter or blanket for the bed, rosary beads, a beloved book and relaxation tapes can be quite comforting.
5. Help orient the patient throughout the day. Speak in a calm, reassuring tone of voice and tell the patient where he is and why he is there.
6. When giving instructions, state one fact or simple task at a time. Do not overwhelm or over stimulate the patient.
7. Massage can be soothing for some patients.
8. Stay with the hospitalized patient as much as possible. During an acute episode of delirium, relatives should try to arrange shifts so someone can be present around the clock.
9. If you detect new signs that could indicate delirium -- confusion, memory problems, personality changes -- discuss these with the nurses or physicians as soon as you can. Family members are often the first to notice subtle changes.
10. Find out more about delirium. The American Psychiatric Association's "Patient and Family Guide to Understanding and Identifying Delirium" is available on line.