Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Allow Nursing Home Residents to Use Organizations as Authorized Representatives

Published on: July 21, 2013 | O'Connor Law

This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ruled that nursing home residents may use organizations as authorized representatives in the Medicaid application and enrollment process.

According to an article on McKnights.com, CMS specifically cited the need for some nursing home residents who do not have family available for assistance to be able to use an organization as his or her representative.

The article noted that this final rule implements several provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Regarding “authorized representatives,” CMS said the new ruling was designed to be “consistent with current state policy and practice.”

People Tracking is Becoming Easier than Ever.

Published on: June 21, 2013 | O'Connor Law

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon have developed a new system for tracking nursing home patients in real life, and the system doesn’t even need a human operator. Using facial recognition and color tracking software with a couple of algorithms mixed in, they have made a system that in its first generation already has an accuracy rate of 88%.

The researchers who developed the system give credit to the Harry Potter series for inspiring them to create a tracking system based on the idea of The Marauder’s Map from the series in which everyone’s location within the building is accurately represented on a map.

Creating a system such as this is not an easy task. It has been attempted before but usually in highly controlled lab settings and with much less accuracy. Previous systems have only had a success rate of up to 50% as to knowing where a person is at any given time. The current system, which was developed in a fully operational nursing home, can predict with higher accuracy and can deal with potential problems such as out of place furniture, opening and closing doors, and people with unpredictable behavior.

Falling Spring Nursing Home in Franklin County Up for Sale

Published on: June 17, 2013 | O'Connor Law

About 10 private companies may be interested in purchasing Falling Spring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a county-owned home in Franklin County. According to an article on Herald-Mail.com, the home could sell for an estimated $6.5 million to $9.3 million.

With seven other skilled nursing facilities in the county, the commissioners no longer want to compete with the private sector. But before they commit to selling the 186-bed nursing home, the public may offer their comments at the commissioners’ meetings on June 18 and June 20.

Over the past few years, the trend has been for PA counties to move away from county-owned nursing homes. The article said that according to Susquehanna Group Advisers, 31 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties do not own or operate nursing homes.

Winner of “Cutest Pet Contest” and new iPod Shuffle Announced

Published on: May 29, 2013 | O'Connor Law

The attorneys and staff of O’Connor Law had their pick of the litter last week when they announced that Jill Strunk of Pottsville and her Saint Bernard puppy, Boudreaux, were the winners of the “Cutest Pet Contest.” The content began in March when clients were asked to send a picture of their pets to the O’Connor Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mjoclaw). Pictures were posted on the Facebook page through May 1 and the picture of the pet that received the most “Likes” was named the winner. The prize was a brand new iPod Shuffle 2GB, an easy-to-use portable device for storing hundreds of songs.

Congratulations to Jill and Boudreaux! Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Schuylkill Center Receives State Award for Excellence

Published on: May 21, 2013 | O'Connor Law

The Schuylkill Center in Pottsville has something to brag about. Last week, it received the state’s second annual “Awards for Excellence in Health Care Compliance” from Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Michael Wolf.

Earlier this month, we had blogged that the death of a Weatherly nursing home resident was ruled a homicide by the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office. The coroner’s report said that an 86-year-old resident was allegedly pushed by another resident on April 20 at the Weatherwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. The push caused her to fall and strike her head. She died 6 hours later at Hazleton General Hospital.

Now the CitizensVoice.com is reporting that the 53-year-old resident who pushed his fellow resident was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter. He was committed to Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $150,000 straight cash bail.

Schuylkill Center in Pottsville Receives State Excellence Award

Published on: May 20, 2013 | O'Connor Law

The Schuylkill Center in Pottsville has something to brag about. Last week, it received the state’s second annual “Awards for Excellence in Health Care Compliance” from Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Michael Wolf.

In addition to the Schuylkill Center, the Pennsylvania Hospital Skill Care Center in Philadelphia also won the award.

In a press release, Wolf said, “When we developed this award last year, our goal was to improve our interaction with healthcare facilities by providing something we were lacking — positive reinforcement. We are honored to be able to highlight some of our own strengths in the commonwealth as this award demonstrates the commitment and dedication of facilities to deliver safe, top-quality healthcare to some of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens.”

Death at Local PA Nursing Home a Homicide

Published on: May 4, 2013 | O'Connor Law

It’s a family’s worst nightmare: the death of resident at the Weatherwood Nursing Home in Weatherly has been ruled a homicide by the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office.

In an article on WNEP.com, a report by the coroner says that the 86-year-old female resident was allegedly pushed by another resident on April 20. She fell and struck her head. An article on the StandardSpeaker.com says the resident died 6 hours later at Hazleton General Hospital.

An autopsy found the cause of death to be a subdural hematoma due to a fall from being pushed. The incident is under investigation by Weatherly police and the Carbon County District Attorney’s Office. Medical paperwork associated with the death is reported to use the term “homicide.”

Attorney Miller of O’Connor Law Attends NJ Association for Justice’s Boardwalk Seminar 2013

Published on: April 20, 2013 | O'Connor Law

The attorneys and staff of O’Connor Law pride themselves on keeping up-to-date on their areas of practice. This week, Attorney Dave Miller is attending the New Jersey Association for Justice’s Boardwalk Seminar 2013 in Atlantic City, NJ. The two and a half day training event includes in-depth educational lectures on trial strategies and litigation techniques, including personal injury, nursing home neglect, and medical malpractice, just a few of the firm’s areas of practice. The seminar also provides attorneys the chance to visit with over 160 legal vendors and network with almost 2,000 other attorneys.

Friday is National Donate Life Blue and Green Day in Support of Organ and Tissue Donation

Published on: April 19, 2013 | O'Connor Law

This Friday (April 19), remember to wear blue and green in honor of the second annual National Donate Life Blue and Green Day in support of organ and tissue donation and in celebration of National Donate Life Month.

Donate Life America is a non-profit alliance of national organizations across the U.S. with a mission to increase the number of designated organ, eye, and tissue donors in order to save and heal lives. They are encouraging the public to wear blue and green on this day, to bring attention to the need for organ and tissue donors.

According to DonorRecovery.org, more than 117,000 people are on organ transplant lists.

Op-Ed Asks: Are Seniors Getting the Care They Deserve?

Published on: April 18, 2013 | O'Connor Law

The other week we read a thought-provoking op-ed piece in The Patriot-News of Central PA (PennLive.com) that reminds us what a difficult decision it is when we can no longer care for an elderly loved one and must move them into a nursing home. Even when we’ve done our research and think that we have chosen an appropriate facility, there is still a chance that things won’t turn out alright.

The op-ed piece details the unfortunate circumstances that the writer’s grandfather experienced the last two and a half years of his life that he spent in a nursing home. In one example, a wound on the man’s knee was bandaged, but had become infected and exposed to urine.

According to the article, some of the issues facing that particular facility included the fact that the staff did not have the time or the support to give each patient the time and care they needed; also, the home was perpetually short-staffed, especially on nights and weekends.