Members of HensonFuerst will be joining others in the fight to end Alzheimer’s disease during the Memory Walk on October 3. As an event sponsor, the law firm will help raise awareness and funds to battle this disease, which affects more than 5 million people in the United States.
A recent article in the New York Times highlights the vulnerable and lonely feeling experienced by many nursing home residents who do not want to be in a facility, but have no choice. Such a plight serves to remind all of us being that alone and completely vulnerable to your caregivers is bad enough, but that abuse and neglect suffered as a result of corporate greed of facility owners is inexcusable. A new program has helped some residents to find a way to reintegrate back into their community, and given them hope in the process. To view the entire article, please click on the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/health/policy/19aging.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=nursing%20home&st=cse
The link between poor care and understaffing at nursing homes has long been established – study after study, including one by the Institute of Medicine, show that insufficient numbers of nurse aides and qualified nurses lead to bad outcomes, yet our nursing homes remain critically understaffed – and patients suffer needless injury and death as a result. The Institute of Aging in Chapel Hill is presenting a UNC expert’s lecture on the impact of nurse aide turnover, part of the staffing problem, tomorrow. Attendance is open to the public and free. Attendance information follows:
Sally Stearns, PhD, Professor, Health Policy and Management, UNC Chapel Hill will present:
“The Effect of Nursing Aide Turnover on Nursing Home Resident Outcomes” on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd from 3:00-4:30 p.m. at the Institute on Aging in the 2ND FLOOR conference room. This seminar is free and open to the public.
The Washington State Supreme Court rendered a decision recently that will significantly improve the ability of someone in that state who is abused or neglected in a nursing home to hold the facility operators accountable for the abuse. In Putman vs. Wenatchee Medical Center, the Court struck down and held unconstitutional the rule requiring a certificate of merit to be filed prior to the filing a lawsuit for medical negligence. (North Carolina has a similar rule in effect.) The Court found that the rule unduly burdens the right of access to courts, recognizing that it may be impossible for a plaintiff to know exactly how the negligence was committed prior to engaging in the discovery process available once suit is filed. This is especially problematic in nursing home abuse cases, where nursing home operators routinely hardly ever volunteer information to a family who is trying to find out exactly how their loved one was abused or neglected. I applaud the Washington Court for their foresight and actions, and urge the North Carolina legislature and appellate courts to consider this issue as well. The safety of our seniors depends on their ability to hold accountable those who put profits over patient safety. To view the entire legal opinion, please click on the following link: Putman v Wenatchee Valley Medical Center
Of particular interest to nursing home lawyers like me, who fight every day for the rights of elderly in long term care facilities, are the President’s comments regarding medical malpractice. Many people are not aware that so-called “tort reform” would directly impact the ability of elderly who are abused and neglected in nursing homes to hold nursing home operators accountable. Such an impact would occur even in situations where corporate greed results in nursing homes putting profits over the safety of its residents, in the form of understaffing, absurdly low food budgets, and refusing to spend money for staff training. The “caps” often mentioned in tort reform discussions would most directly impact nursing home residents, who would be faced with limits on their ability to ask juries to hold nursing homes accountable for unforgiveable acts of abuse or neglect. Reducing accountability won’t improve health care. Act now – protect those who are the most vulnerable to abuse. For more information, please click on the following link: www.peopleoverprofits.com
For more information on how you can act to influence Congress away from dangerous limitations on patient rights, please click on the following link: http://www.peopleoverprofits.org/c.ntJWJ8MPIqE/b.2480711/k.8A95/Action_Center/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=ntJWJ8MPIqE&b=2480711&aid=12439
Arbitrations in the nursing home context are popping up more and more as clients who have had loved ones abused come to me for advice. The problem arises because many admission contracts for nursing homes have arbitration provisions in them providing that if a dispute occurs between the resident and the nursing home that such dispute automatically gets resolved by submitting the matter to arbitration. This all sounds reasonable enough until the resident is abused, not fed, beaten by staff (yes folks I really do see this stuff in my office) at which point the most powerful voice becomes a trial in front of a jury to expose the patterns of abuse that led to such a result, often driven by corporate greed in the nursing home industry. However, if the arbitration provision controls, no trial by jury can be had and the matter is kept from the public view. Legislation is currently pending in Congress (the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act) to prevent those problems, and I invite all readers to contact their legislators and ask them to support this legislation. It really will protect our elderly and hold accountable those who attempt to neglect or harm them. See the following for more detail:
GovTrack_ H.R. 1020_ Text of Legislation, Introduced in House
GovTrack_ S. 512_ Text of Legislation, Introduced in Senate
Arbitration Bill 2009
Now is the time that you can do something to protect one of the most vulnerable populations – our elderly residents of nursing homes. There is legislation pending in Washington entitled the “Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act” which is designed to keep the elderly from being subjected to one-sided, industry driven arbitration contracts after they have been abused in nursing homes. Abuse and neglect is unforgiveable, but when it is followed by a restriction of the constitutional rights of the elderly victim, that is unconscionable. Please call your legislators NOW to urge them to support this much-needed legislation. For a full description of the issues and what you can do, please click on the following documents:
Nursing Home Coalition Support Letter 2009 (3-11-09)
Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act Fact Sheet
I have often wondered how long it would take for people to realize what life in a nursing home looks like from a patient’s perspective. For those who think that nursing homes who put profit over patient care shouldn’t be punished, I wonder if they would be willing to do what these brave medical students are doing. Such an exercise makes on think of how scary it would be to completely turn one’s daily and personal care over to strangers. However, when the companies providing that care are unwilling to spend enough money to have enough staff, provide enough food, and have activities to optimize daily life in their nursing homes, the result is tragic and should be stopped. Nursing home abuse and neglect can be prevented – someone just has to care enough to do so. For the full article, click on the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/health/24nursing.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&em
“More than a dozen agencies joined the search for 62-year-old Annie Langley Monday after she was reported missing from Primrose Villa Retirement Community in Angier.Langley is the second resident of the facility, at 431 Junny Road, to be the subject of a Silver Alert this year. In February, 85-year-old Carrie C. Evans wandered away. She was found dead in nearby ravine. Evans died of a severe head injury, according to an autopsy report. Police said there was no evidence of foul play. A subsequent state inspection at Primrose found only one violation, which was unrelated to patient care. The facility was fined $2,000 in April for allowing residents to smoke in their rooms.”
The HensonFuerst Nursing Home Abuse team reminds those persons who are responsible for the care of a family member or friend in assisted-care to aggressively inquire about security measures at the facility. We stand ready to answer your questions about residents’ right.
HensonFuerst Nursing Home Abuse partners Carma Henson and Bob Fuerst, assisted by partner Anne Duvoisin, recently successfully sued Asheville North Carolina’s Aston Park Health Care Center, resulting in a $300,000 monetary award by the Buncombe County jury who heard the trial for two weeks. Prior to trial, the highest offer had been $50,000. This course of action was brought against Aston Park Health Care Center, plus their administrator and director of nursing. The basic facts are that our HensonFuerst client had three separate injuries, the last and worst of which was a broken femur that led to surgery and then her death six days later. Our client was a severely demented wheelchair-bound Alzheimer’s patient with many other medical conditions. Our client’s leg was broken when a certified nursing assistant picked her up by himself, instead of using two people as he had been instructed to do. The certified nursing assistant got our client’s foot caught in the footrest on the wheelchair, twisting her leg and breaking her femur. The jury, out less than half-a-day, clearly sent a message that such reprehensible conduct will not be tolerated.