As the temperature outside is rising to over 100 degrees in some parts of the country, we want to remind you how vulnerable the elderly are to the heat. Nursing home neglect can lead to patients being left in rooms without air conditioning, left outside in wheelchairs, individuals wandering outside into the heat and not able to make their way back into the facility. Checking up on your elderly loved ones in the summer months can be crucial to their health. Whether they live alone or in a nursing home facility, it is important to make sure that they have properly working air conditioners and fans that will keep them out of the heat. Heat exhaustion is a very preventable form of nursing home neglect.
Missing Resident Found Unresponsive Outside Facility
A 57-year-old woman was found unresponsive this week outside of the Riverview Nursing Home in Bossier City, Louisiana where she lived. The autopsy has not yet been performed, but Bossier Coroner Dr. John Chandler said there were indications that the death was heat-related. It was 100 degrees with a heat index of 106 degrees in Bossier City on the day the woman was found. She had been missing for several hours before a staff member of the nursing home found her a little after 6 p.m. She was taken to Willis Knighton Pierremont hospital in Shreveport where she was pronounced dead.
The details of this story have not been released, so we do not know the mental or physical condition of this woman. She most likely wandered out of the home and was not able to make her way back. It is the nursing home’s responsibility to keep track of their residents. Patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia are especially prone to wandering off and not knowing how to get back to the facility. The staff needs to be more aware of where all of the residents are at all times. In the summer and winter months, an elderly person wandering outside can suffer fatal consequences if they are not found immediately.
Nursing Home Neglect Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If your loved one is currently a resident of a nursing home or care facility and you are worried that the care they are receiving is negligent, abusive, or inadequate, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation. You may also call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
The data for this study, which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined data gathered between 2003 and 2008: 2.1 million white nursing home residents and 346,808 black nursing home residents were studied. Although the overall number of bed sores has decreased in recent years, black patients still consistently maintained higher rates than white patients. White nursing home residents saw their total rate of bed sores decrease from 11.4 percent to around 9.6 percent in 2008. On the other hand, black nursing home residents saw their bed sore rate drop from 16.8 percent in 2003 to 14.6 percent in 2008, still significantly higher than their white counterparts. Bed sore attorneys say that the highest rates of bed sores in recent years come from black residents who live in nursing homes that have the highest concentrations of African American patients. They say that conversely, the lowest rate was among white nursing home patients who resided in homes with few or no black patients. Bed sores are a major problem in our country today and blacks and whites alike need to be aware of the potential danger that they present.
Defective products attorneys work to serve two groups of people: their immediate clients who have been injured and are in need of compensation, and the public at large, who are put into harm’s way with a defective product.
85-year old Heartland Health Care Center – Kalamazoo resident, Dollie McGrew died this month when the facility van that was transporting her to a dental appointment at the University of Michigan hit the curb. McGrew was pronounced dead at the scene while the driver of the van was not injured. The details of the incident have not been released, but the driver of the van did have a valid driver’s license and the facility did report the death to the state.
On June 11, 2011 Juan David Hernandez, 28, who is a Colombian citizen and a resident of Florida, was arrested in Vancouver for obstruction of justice after he gave a false name when he was pulled over for an illegal turn by a police officer. According to Vancouver Police Det. Rick Stewart, “When they looked inside the vehicle’s front seat, they saw bags and bags of mail.” The bags were full of letters from all over the world containing checks for $30. After an investigation, they discovered that Hernandez was guilty of 
A brain dysfunction caused Messina to collapse and landed him in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers beginning in late August of 2006. Several days after his admission into the hospital, he was diagnosed with bedsores. He began to develop the bedsores at SIUH and Golden Gate Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. Professionals say that Messina’s bed sores worsened until ulcers were developed on his mouth, buttocks, ankles, and genitals. Many of these bed sores had healed by the time he entered Golden Gate Rehabilitation Center. Various health problems sent Messina back and forth between the hospital and the rehab center over the next year. He can no longer walk due to a dislocated hip and he is unable to receive a replacement because of the infection which was caused by the bedsores. The New York Supreme Court jury assigned to this case found SIUH 75% responsible for the developments and complications of the bedsores. Bed sore attorneys say that this means that the hospital is liable for $4 million of the total awarded to Messina.
In February, April Courtney, 36, pleaded guilty to burglary and elder abuse for a September 3, 2008 attack on her then 94 year old grandmother Lydia. According to police investigations, over an eight-month period of time, Courtney had allegedly withdrawn $28,000 from Lydia’s bank accounts without her consent. The women had been fighting for a while since Lydia found out about the money. On the day of the attack, Courtney tricked her grandmother into thinking she was a friend when knocking on the door. When Lydia opened the door, Courtney grabbed her cane away and began to beat her with it. Lydia was hit about 20 times in the head and body and then fell to the ground and pretended to be unconscious in hopes that Courtney would stop hitting her. Courtney then went into the house and stole documents that might be used as evidence against her in the financial abuse case. She fled to Texas and was captured a week later by federal Marshals. She was set to go to trial on charges of burglary, elder abuse, attempted murder and inflicting great bodily injury on a person over 70 years old, but worked out a last minute plea deal where the attempted murder charge was dropped. Courtney was sentenced to four years in prison.
In one of the suits, Bonita Tomblin is alleging that her late mother, Anoway Rose Smith, died as a result of the nursing home’s “systemic abuse and neglect.” Smith was a patient at the nursing home four separate times between August 25, 2009 and February 2010, and she died on February 23, 2010. According to the lawsuit, Tomblin says her mother suffered “skin breakdown, weight loss and falls” as a result of the neglect from the home. The lawsuit asks for damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, physical impairment, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, aggravation of existing diseases and physical defects, medical expenses and for her death. It also requests punitive damages.
Right now, Kentucky state law only requires nursing homes and long-term care facilities to conduct name-based background checks for prospective direct care employees. With the grant and the new digital fingerprint scanning equipment, more in-depth criminal background checks will be available. Kentucky state law also does not order that the employees submit fingerprint checks, but the facilities will be expected to voluntarily participate in the grant program and officials are expecting high involvement. According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services spokeswoman Jill Midkiff, the cabinet intends to pursue legislation that would require the fingerprint checks for caregivers employed in long-term care facilities.
Carmella Saldana, of Oklahoma City, was arrested on June 6, 2011 on a felony abuse and neglect by a caretaker charge. Saldana’s mother, Deborah Gay Ramirez, suffered a stroke in 2006 that left the right side of her body paralyzed. In 2009 she suffered a mini-stroke that left her completely paralyzed and bedridden. According to Saldana’s sister Christa Ramirez, Saldana took a more active role in their mother’s care after her stroke. But after their mother died on August 7, 2010 at the age of 57, Christa is accusing her sister of elder abuse and wants her to pay for the way she treated their mother.