Articles Posted in Inadequate staffing

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In a confidential settlement, a nursing home paid $475,000 to a seriously injured resident. The resident was listed and charted as being at a high risk for falling. However, several nursing assistants placed the resident at the edge of her bed and then left her alone.  This occurred while the resident was waiting for her dialysis appointment. The resident fell off the bed and hit her head on the floor.

The resident suffered a traumatic head injury and died one month after the date she suffered her head injuries. The resident was survived by her three adult children.

The lawsuit brought by the family of this resident alleged that the nursing home chose not to monitor the resident properly in order to prevent her fall. This case was settled as a confidential settlement.

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Sophia Alcon, 77, was admitted to Life Care Center of Pueblo, a skilled nursing facility. During the 7 months that she remained there, she suffered various injuries and illnesses, including urinary tract infections, bed sores, dehydration, malnutrition, pain, renal failure and aspiration pneumonia. She was brought to a nearby hospital where a staff medical provider noticed that her vagina was packed with dried feces. She died as a result of her medical conditions and is survived by her 10 adult children.

One of her sons, on her behalf and for the family, sued the nursing home and its corporate affiliates maintaining that they were responsible for her death. In the complaint it was alleged that the nursing home was negligent, was responsible for her wrongful death and was guilty of numerous consumer protection violations. Among other things, the Alcon family alleged that the defendants chose not to properly assess Sophia’s medical needs, formulate an appropriate care plan, provide adequate staffing and properly trained personnel at this skilled nursing facility.

The jury’s verdict of $5.56 million, included $5 million in punitive damages, which are designed to punish the defendants for the abusive treatment to Sophia Alcon.

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According to recent reports by the National Center on Elder Abuse — Administration of Aging (Department of Health and Human Services), America’s expanding elderly population has led to an increase in elder abuse.

It is predicted that by 2050, people 65 and older will make up 20% of the total U.S. population. Today, the fastest growing segment of America’s population consists of those 85 years and older. In 2010, there were about 5.8 million people 85 or older. By the year 2050, it is projected that there will be 19 million people over 85.

“Elder abuse” is defined as intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm (whether the harm is intended) to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who is in a trust relationship with the elder. Other abuse includes the failure of caregivers to provide the basic needs of an older adult or to protect the elder from harm from others.

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A Cook County jury signed a $150,600 jury verdict for injuries suffered by Ruth Ratowitz on Oct. 17, 2011. She was wheelchair-bound and was being transported by Rich Township to and from her healthcare appointment at Ingalls Memorial Hospital’s Professional Office Building in Harvey, Ill. She was 67 years old at the time. The transportation program was sponsored by the Rich Township Dial-A-Ride Program for Rich Township residents.

The township provided the transportation in a van specifically outfitted with a Q’Straint Restraint System for the purpose of keeping passengers secure in wheelchairs.

The plaintiff filed this lawsuit against the Rich Township and its driver, Horace Morgan, claiming that they chose not to properly secure her wheelchair in the van for the return trip and was speeding and making sharp turns during the transit causing her to fall from her wheelchair inside the van where she suffered a fractured tibia.

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Salvador Palmieri was 86 when he underwent heart surgery and then experienced complications, which necessitated prolonged hospitalization in his hospital bed. A week after surgery, a nurse noticed new bedsores on his buttocks.

The hospital’s wound care nurse recommended cleaning and dressing the wound. However, a few months later, while Palmieri was still hospitalized, he became septic.

Palmieri was transferred to another hospital where he was diagnosed as having Stage IV sacral pressure sore, sepsis and other sores on his extremities. In spite of the medical treatment given, Palmieri died of sepsis, respiratory and kidney failure. He was survived by his wife and two adult sons.

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The New York Times has reported that a California nursing home fined by the state for substandard nursing care and facing many lawsuits has gone to the bankruptcy court to try to extinguish the burden of these fines and coming judgments. The nursing home faced many lawsuits filed by families on behalf of patients.

The nursing home company, North American Healthcare, which owns and operates 30 nursing homes in California and other Western states, was criticized for taking the bankruptcy route to avoid paying out judgments and verdicts brought by injured or killed nursing home residents.

In 2014, another California nursing home chain filed for bankruptcy for the same reason. Also in Florida, a bankruptcy judge forced Medicaid officials to continue paying a nursing home that was protected under its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

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It is not new that nursing home residents are too often at risk for abuse, neglect and injury in the more than 17,000 nursing home facilities operating in the United States. Too many times these facilities are understaffed or staffed with untrained or unskilled workers. All of this results in many reports of serious physical, verbal and even sexual abuse in Illinois nursing homes and in other states.

It has been more than a decade since there was a two-year investigative study completed that found more than 9,000 instances of abuse. The most common abuse problems are untreated bedsores followed by inadequate medical care, malnutrition, dehydration, falls, inadequate hygiene and cases of wandering residents.

The aging of adult Americans places even more stress on nursing home facilities and long-term care facilities in which the aging are most likely to be residing. The cost of maintaining a resident at a qualified nursing home is now out of reach for many families. Many times a family member or a loved one becomes unmanageable at home because of illness, injury, age, dementia or other onset of the conditions related to aging.

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As the baby boom generation ages, the population of nursing homes is also expanding. Elderly Americans and Illinois residents who reside in nursing homes are likely the most vulnerable members of this aging society. Nursing home cases should not be confused with medical malpractice cases. A medical malpractice case typically concerns particular acts of negligence, such as a failed surgery or misdiagnosis. In contrast, nursing home cases do not involve a particular or discreet act of negligence. Rather, a nursing home abuse case in Illinois involves a pattern of sub-standard care, abuse or neglect.

For example, a nursing home abuse case may involve bedsores. Bedsores can be wounds of the flesh that take form over many days, weeks or even months. A nursing home resident who is dehydrated or suffers from malnutrition would not be the result of a single wrongful act.

Many nursing home cases arise from substandard care, abuse or neglect. Often nursing homes in Illinois operate without a single on-site treating physician; instead, they have only one who may make regular rounds. At the same time, most well-run nursing home facilities provide treatment by a resident physician, a nursing home administrator, a well-trained nursing staff, CNAs, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists, wound care doctors, dieticians and other medical and nursing providers.

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Mary Dwyer was 87 years old when she was admitted to Harbor View Heath Care Center for a short-term rehabilitation after she had surgery. During the following three months, she lost 20 pounds and developed multiple pressure sores, including a Stage IV sacral wound. Dwyer required two surgical debridements, application of a wound vac to remove fluid from the wound and a diversionary colostomy.

She then suffered a complication, which necessitated the reinsertion of her bowels into her abdomen. Following the surgery, Dwyer died several days later and was survived by her three adult children.

Dwyer’s family filed a lawsuit against the nursing home’s corporate owners and several affiliated companies claiming inadequate nursing home staffing. Specifically, the lawsuit claimed that the defendant nursing home did not have enough certified nursing home aides available to turn her every two hours or a full-time dietician who could assist nursing home residents like Dwyer during meals. After a jury trial, the jury returned a verdict of $13.2 million for this wrongful death action.

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Peter Piel, 62, resided at the Mirajoy Home. When a nurse’s aide attempted to transfer Piel from his bed to a shower chair, he fell, hitting his head, fracturing his left hip and injuring his right leg. He required surgery for the hip and was diagnosed as having brain damage and chronic pain. His injuries and permanent condition are all related to his fall at the assisted living facility.

Through his guardian, Piel filed a lawsuit against the nursing home and its owner claiming improper staffing and training. Among other things, the lawsuit claimed that there should have been two aides transferring Piel to that shower chair.

The defendants argued that his injuries were not related to his fall. They contended that the aide had caught him before he hit the floor and that his injuries were not as significant as claimed. Before the case went to trial, the parties settled for $1,500,000. The attorneys representing Piel’s guardian were Michael F. Moran and Alexander H. Feldman.

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