The Injury Lawyer Directory Blog

Two Alabama nursing homes received very different ratings from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The new evaluation and ranking system from the government department gave one nursing home their highest rating, while the other home across town received one of their lowest.

The Department of Health and Human Services began rating and evaluating nursing homes in order to help consumers more effectively evaluate nursing home care for their loved ones. It is heartbreaking to find out your loved one has been the victim of nursing home neglect or nursing home abuse, and this rating system is designed to help prevent that.

The rating system judges nursing homes on staffing, quality measures, and health inspections. The top 10% of nursing homes are given five stars, while the bottom 20% receive one star. Other nursing homes that don't fall into either of these brackets can receive a rating ranging from two to four stars.

After one Tuskegee, Alabama nursing home was found to have six health deficiencies, they were given a one-star rating. While there are many other factors that should come into play when choosing a nursing home for your loved one, these new ratings may help you evaluate the quality of care your loved one will receive. To find out how your nursing home rates or how a prospective nursing home ranks, you can visit www.medicare.gov/nhcompare.

If your loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse or nursing home neglect, you deserve compensation for the injuries suffered. It is important to hold negligent nursing homes accountable in order to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

If you have a nursing home abuse claim in the Mobile, Alabama area, please contact the Alabama personal injury lawyers at Long & Waite, P.C. today to schedule a consultation.

In recent years, nursing home abuse lawsuits have increased dramatically due to a rise in the incidence of violent attacks among nursing home residents. Many of these acts of violence are perpetrated by criminal offenders and mentally ill residents housed in our nation's nursing homes.

A nonprofit nursing home residents' advocacy group based in Oklahoma has indicated that there are more than 1,600 registered sex offenders in nursing homes. The advocacy group has also documented over 60 rapes, murders, and assaults in nursing homes, all perpetrated by criminal offenders residing in these institutions.

Furthermore, a report put out by the Associated Press indicates that almost 125,000 non-elderly mentally ill adults lived in nursing homes in 2008. It appears that many nursing homes across the country are going to great lengths to fill empty beds. As a result, they are accepting residents that pose a threat to other residents, particularly those that are elderly and in poor health.

There are also quite a few elderly people in nursing homes with violent tendencies. Many of them suffer from Alzheimer's disease, magnifying the danger posed by these individuals to other residents. Several months ago, a resident of a Minnesota nursing home in his 90's body-slammed another resident, leading to his wrongful death. The man was a former professional wrestler who suffered from Alzheimer's, a combination that clearly puts the safety of other residents in jeopardy.

Nursing homes have an obligation to maintain a safe environment for their residents. When staff members fail to protect the safety of residents, they are guilty of nursing home neglect and must be held accountable for their actions. It is unacceptable for our elderly loved ones who need additional daily care to become victims of violent rapes, murders and assaults because the nursing home failed to properly screen their residents or staff members failed to prevent a violent outburst from a resident.

If you have a nursing home abuse claim in Tulsa or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, please contact Carr & Carr, Attorneys at Law today to schedule an initial consultation.

Verne Gagne founded the American Wrestling Association in the 1960's and was champion of the league for many years in the late 60's and 70's. Back then, he was body-slamming other men who were equally matched physically and were anticipating the move. No one would have questioned his motives or intentions.

Today, the 82-year-old ex-professional wrestler suffers from Alzheimer's disease and lives in a nursing home in Minnesota. While he does not possess the physical prowess of his heyday, he is still a force to be reckoned with by nursing home standards. Combine this with diminished mental capacity and you have a potential tragedy in the making.

Gagne recently body-slammed a 97-year-old resident living in his nursing home. The resident broke his hip in the incident and died three weeks later.

Nursing home staff and police investigators are uncertain what caused Gagne to lash out at a fellow resident. Considering his mental capacity, he could easily have believed he was back in the ring.

However, this was not Gagne's first violent episode at the nursing home. In a prior incident, Gagne put a choke hold on the same resident he accidentally killed with his body-slam. Based on this history of violence and his imposing physical stature by nursing home standards, the staff should have taken greater precautions to ensure the safety of the other residents.

By failing to properly monitor Gagne's behavior, the staff inadvertently caused the death of a resident. It is difficult to blame Gagne for his actions. He suffers from a condition that inhibits proper mental functioning. Most likely, he was not fully aware of what he was doing. However, it is reasonable to expect that the nursing home staff would take extra precautions to ensure that a former professional wrestler with Alzheimer's does not accidentally injure another resident. This negligence on the part of the staff makes them guilty of nursing home neglect.

When we place our loved ones in a nursing home, we trust that the staff will take proper care of our family members. When staff members violate this trust, they must be held accountable for their actions. It is important to consult an experienced nursing home abuse attorney when you have a family member who has been intentionally or unintentionally mistreated while living at a nursing home. Your loved one may be eligible to receive compensation for his or her damages.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of nursing home abuse and neglect in the Phoenix, Arizona area, please contact the Law Offices of Snyder & Wenner, P.C. today to schedule a consultation.

When you take your loved ones to a nursing home, it can be an emotionally draining experience. Now, imagine that nursing home doesn't "exist" in a legal sense. That's exactly what has happened in Glens Falls, New York, where the Eden Park Health Care Center was found to be operating illegally.

Glens Falls Crossings

In September 2007, it was reported that Glens Falls Crossings LLC, Catskill Crossings LLC, Poughkeepsie Crossings and Utica Crossings LLC, which were issued Certificates of Need by the New York State Department of State for operating these nursing homes, don't exist. The DOS Division of Corporations has said there is no record of Glens Falls Crossings LLC, and the other three are not registered with the state. Being registered is an obvious requirement for operation of a nursing facility.

Glens Falls Crossings registered a domain citing affiliation with Cold Springs Hills Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, but Cold Springs officials claim this isn't so. They've also never heard of Glens Falls Crossings. This is cold comfort to those families who allege abuse of their family members while they were at Glens Falls. And the list of alleged abuses is chilling. Heating units were turned off in rooms as temperatures outside hovered around freezing. Nursing students poked and prodded residents of the facility as they tried to eat. Staff refused to tell family members why residents were taken to the hospital. Missing medication, call buttons that do not work, and a litany of other alleged abuses have been recorded. Though these abuses were recorded with the Department of Health, complaints were ignored and not investigated.

The future of Eden Park in Glens Falls will probably be comprised of lawsuits as family members begin to sue. As a place which obtained its certificate of need under phony pretenses and is not registered with the state or county, there seems to be little doubt that those involved will find any sympathy from the accusers.

Neglect and Abuse

According to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (NCCNHR), neglect and abuse are two different things, but are both criminal acts.

• Neglect - May or may not be intentional. It is failing to care for someone which might result in harm or pain. Examples include lack of changing incontinent individuals, lack of bathing, lack of assisting those who need help eating or drinking, and lack of assisting those who need help walking.
  
• Abuse - This is the intentional cause of pain or harm. Types of abuse include intimidation, mental, physical, sexual, verbal, psychological abuse, unreasonable seclusion, and corporal punishment.
  

It is probably no surprise that reports of nursing home abuse are on the rise. People are more aware of what to look for thanks to media reports and more intensive investigations (when investigations take place is another thing, though). Due to the aging population of Baby Boomers, more people are going into nursing facilities, and this can be overwhelming to small staffs that are not paid very well. However, this last point should have no bearing on the care of the elderly.

If you feel a loved one may be the victim of elder abuse, contact the facility supervisor or hospital administrator to file a report. You may also contact the police, or a protection advocacy group. And if your loved one has been abused, please contact an injury lawyer with experience in the field of nursing home abuse.