A state advocacy group in Michigan is calling for increased oversight of state nursing homes, citing as their motive the growing instances of extreme nursing home abuse. One specific case mentioned a nursing home in Washtenaw County, Michigan where maggots infested one patient’s throat and another patient’s catheter. Clinical corporate staff members instructed the nurse who came upon the catheter infestation to document it as “debridement.” Debridement is a name for dead tissue, not maggots. The second maggot incident took place in an Oakland County care facility. Maggots obstructed the airway of a woman had been coughing. The maggots were discovered when the airway was being cleared.
Maggots Sign of Severe Neglect State Wide?
The group, a non-profit Michigan Protections and Advocacy Service, cited the maggot infestation cases as evidence of a severe problem concerning treatment in the state’s care facilities. Of course, a representative of the state agency that regulates nursing homes insisted to a Michigan radio DJ that these maggot infestations were isolated incidents and that they, in no way, reflect the treatment that the state’s care facilities provide. Mike Pemble of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said, “I don’t think it’s fair to hold it up and say this is happening in all nursing homes.”
Rhonda Smith, communications specialist with the Michigan Protections and Advocacy Service, did not provided the name of the nursing home involved. A Michigan television station is reporting that the Whitehall Healthcare Center of Ann Arbor was the culprit.
The MPAS reported that the information regarding these horrid incidents of neglect was gathered from surveys performed by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. They are also preparing a report they they claim will highlight “numerous examples of abuse and neglect of individuals with disabilities in nursing homes throughout the state.”
Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If your loved one is a resident at a nursing home or long term care facility and you believe that the care they are receiving is negligent or inadequate, contact our professionals for a free case evaluation or consultation. Contact the Mininno Law Office by phone at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
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Some lawyers who have represented defendants in these sorts of cases have come forth with surprising, if not shocking, legal arguments to avoid liability. Some attorneys in this situation have argued that there can not possibly be negligence because that tort requires a duty and a breach of duty. The argument follows that a defendant could not have possibly had a duty of care towards a being that is not yet born. This approach is very rarely accepted because it sets forth bad public policy and it tends to disregard the values we tend to hold as a society. Negligence that harms an unborn baby is just as undesirable as 
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