Nursing home abuse can begin as early as the hiring process. Not all states require background checks for those applying for jobs in nursing homes, and for that reason, people with criminal convictions do not have a hard time gaining employment at a nursing home or similar care facility. People with a history of assault, criminal negligence, or theft would be high risks as employees in a nursing home.
Overwhelming Frequency of Nursing Home Employees with Criminal Convictions
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, over 90 percent of nursing homes in this country hire employees with criminal convictions, a huge problem in the fight against nursing home neglect. The report looked at the employees of 260 nursing homes employed on June 9, 2009 and found that 92 percent of the facilities had hired at least one employee with a criminal conviction. In fact, nearly half of the nursing homes had 5 or more employees with criminal convictions ranging from burglary to sex offenses. Forty-three states require background checks but only 10 states require both a state and FBI background check. This is necessary to find convictions in multiple states and under different names. New Jersey and Pennsylvania only require the statewide check.
This type of disregard in the hiring process leads to the hiring of inadequate and often dangerous employees in nursing homes across the country. These are often the people that are in charge of the daily needs of one of our most vulnerable populations. Do we expect a sex offender or other convicted criminal left in charge of the care of multiple patients to handle bed sores, accidents and other safety issues properly? Nursing homes are paid a lot of money to care for your loved ones, but they often hire employees that have shown a clear disregard for the rules of society. Bed sores and pressure ulcers, accidents, and other abuses such as restraints, lack of proper nutrition, and over or under-medicating are all issues in many nursing homes. Without a proper background check into possible nursing home hires, we are allowing dangerous people to care for our loved ones.
Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
It is important that you are a frequent and attentive visitor in order to protect your loved one from neglect and abuse, especially when the nursing home is hiring convicted criminals and charging them with your loved one’s care. Lawmakers need to pass bills to make the background checks mandatory nationwide so that the vulnerable patients are protected.
If you believe your loved one has suffered neglect or abuse in a nursing home or other long term care facility, please contact the Mininno Law Office for free case evaluation or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Behavioral differences include excessive fussiness, extended periods of crying, refusal to sleep lying down, or too much or too little sleep. Another common indicator of brain damage is developmental delays. There are typical milestones that are generally expected of young children at specific stages of their life. For instance, there is a general age when most infants begin crawling, rolling over, uttering their first word, and so forth. A child with brain damage may have difficulty reaching these milestones at the typical age. Other symptoms can include body temperature, skin color, breathing patterns, seizures, and other similar indicators.
If your baby is born with a birth defect, it is natural to be confused and scared. Some birth defects we have control over, and others happen naturally. Cleft palate birth defects are those that can be caused internally or externally. It has been recently discovered that the drug Topamax, an anti-convulsant used to treat seizures and migraines, can cause 
Children born with cleft lips or cleft palates often face many challenges while growing up. Development is changed drastically, and learning to eat and speak becomes harder than ever. While surgeries are indeed available to correct craniofacial birth defects, these surgeries can be overwhelmingly expensive for some families, leaving parents and child forced to cope with these oral malformations. 
The foundation operates the CLEFTLINE, a toll free 800 number that provides information to callers about facial clefts and other oral malformations. Callers will also be provided with information regarding cleft palate support groups in their regions. 
SmileTrain is a charity that provides oral cleft repair surgery for only $250 to poor families. They do this through funding from benefactors, and through donations from civilians like you and I. In addition to providing parents with the opportunity to afford the procedure, SmileTrain also trains doctors in over 75 countries to perform craniofacial surgeries on children. 
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Topamax is associated with a few side effects and risks, some more dangerous than others. The most common side effect associated with the drug is numbness and tingling (parasthesia) in arms and legs. Other side effects include fatigue, change in tastes, weight loss, difficulty focusing, short term/non-severe loss of memory, nausea, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. No side effects seem to be long-term or life threatening. 
Two weeks ago, we posted a 
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