The 10 Worst Nursing Homes in the Tri-County Area: #9

old ladies — Nursing home abuse and neglect are unacceptable crimes to humanity.

South Jersey Health Care Center (Camden)

The South Jersey Health Care Center (a for-profit corporation) is a long term care facility located in Camden, New Jersey. It participates in Medicare and Medicaid, it has 120 certified beds, and it is #9 in our list of the ten worst long term care facilities in Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester counties. Based on the last three inspections the facility received, the South Jersey Health Care Center failing on a large number of counts to provide services that meet professional standards, and is instead providing negligent and abusive care (nursing home abuse).

Inspection reports show isolated incidents of failure to maintain residents’ nutrition status, failure to develop comprehensive care plans, and failure to prevent or treat pressure sores. They show patterns of nursing home abuse and less than professional house keeping/maintenance services. The same reports show widespread occurrences of unsanitary conditions in food prep and service areas, and widespread occurrences of hazardous obstructions.

Nursing Home Abuse: The South Jersey Health Care Center was found in their Quality Measures inspections to have lower than national and/or New Jersey percentage averages in the following areas:

Long stay residents given influenza vaccinations during flu season
Long stay residents assessed and given pneumococcal vaccinations
Short stay residents give influenza vaccinations during flu season
Short stay residents given pneumococcal vaccinations

Nursing Home Abuse: The Quality Measures inspections found that The South Jersey Health Care Center had higher than national and/or New Jersey percentage averages in the following areas:

High risk long stay residents who develop pressure sores
Low risk long stay residents who develop pressure sores
Long stay residents who have catheters inserted and left in their bladders
Long stay residents who spend most of their time in a bed or chair
Long stay residents who have urinary tract infections
Long stay residents who lose too much weight
Short stay residents with moderate to sever pain.

Nursing home abuse: Inspectors determined that the facility failed to give professional services that met a professional standard of quality, it failed to make sure each resident’s nutritional needs were met, failed to store, cook, and serve food in a safe and clean way, and failed to make sure that the nursing home area was free of dangers that cause accidents. Perhaps their biggest failure was their failure to provide immediate updates to doctors or family members when residents’ health or treatment changed, when residents suffered injuries, or when residents needed to be transferred or discharged. Long-term care facility negligence and nursing home abuse, as you can and will further see, are a serious detriment to the long term care industry.

Have You Been Affected by Nursing Home Abuse?

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or loss due to nursing home abuse or negligence, you’ll need proper representation. The Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers at the Mininno Law Firm are here to help you receive the compensation you are due.
Contact Us to fill out a free case evaluation form, or call us for a free consultation: 856-833-0600 in New Jersey or 215-567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Note: Conclusions in this blog were formed from data provided by the State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and Medicare .

The 10 Worst Nursing Homes in the Tri-County Area: #10

old lady 5 — Nursing Home Abuse is a serious issue in today's long term care industry. It's time we started to attack the facilities that do not provide respectful and attentive care to our elderly citizens.

In a series of 10 blogs, the Mininno Law Firm will be revealing the 10 worst nursing homes in three of our surrounding counties- Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington. The ratings of these nursing homes were determined after inspection of health standards, staffing, and quality measures. Nursing homes can receive up to five stars. The facilities you will read about in the series have all received just one.

The Fountains at Cedar Park

The Fountains at Cedar Park is a long term care facility located in Atco, New Jersey. It participates in Medicare and Medicaid, has sixty certified beds, and is #10 in our list of the ten worst long term care facilities in the tri-county area. Based on the last two inspections the facility received, it’s failing on a large number of counts to provide services that meet professional standards. Inspection reports show isolated incidents of hazardous obstructions. They show patterns of drug regimens including unnecessary drugs (abuse), unsafe, unsanitary, and uncomfortable living conditions (negligence), improper housekeeping and maintenance (negligence), and regulations on meal frequencies not being met (abuse). The same reports show widespread instances of unsanitary conditions in food prep and service areas.

The Fountains at Cedar Park was found in their Quality Measures inspections to have higher than national and/or New Jersey percentage averages in the following areas:

• Long stay residents whose need for help with daily activities increased
• Long and short stay residents who have moderate to severe pain
• Long stay residents who are more depressed or anxious
• Low-risk long stay residents who lose control of their bowels or bladder
• Long stay residents whose physical independence became limited
• Long stay residents who developed urinary tract infections

Inspectors determined that the facility failed to give residents care and services to get or keep the highest quality of life, it failed to give professional services that met a professional standard of quality, and it failed to make sure the nursing home was free of dangers that could cause harm. A lot of these issues stem from the staff: negligent care takers who fail to spend appropriate amounts of time with each of their patients. Long-term care facility negligence and abuse run rampant throughout the industry.As you’ll see in future blogs, the amount of it is shocking.

Nursing Home Abuse and the Mininno Law Office

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or loss due to nursing home negligence or nursing home abuse, you’ll need proper representation. The Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers at the Mininno Law Firm are here to help you receive the compensation you are due.
Contact us to fill out a free case evaluation form, or call us for a free consultation: (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Note: Conclusions in this blog were formed from data provided by the State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and Medicare.

Philadelphia Man Sentenced for Callous Run-Down

joeg — Joseph Genovese, 20, of South Philadelphia.

On May 6th, 2010, Twenty year old Joseph Genoveseof South Philadelphia was sentenced to 7-14 years in prison for callously running down 2 women after a Phillies game on July 10th, 2008. The game was over and the two women, both from St. Louis, were crossing the street at Broad and Curtin on their way to have dinner. Genovese was stopped at a red light three cars back. Genovese, under the influence of marijuana, swerved around the two stopped cars in front of him and sped through the red light, striking down 53 year old Cindy Grassi, and 36 year old Sandra Wacker.

Grassi was killed and Wacker was permanently disabled. The women were both P.E. teachers at an elementary school in St. Louis, and became friendly after discovering their shared loved for the St. Louis Cardinals. The two would follow the Cards to one away game a year. They had made it all the way out to San Francisco before seeing them play at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Grassi’s death and Wacker’s permanent disability are awful tragedies, especially to their families. Yes Genovese will serve jail time, but this doesn’t ease the blow of losing a loved one. Nor does it ease the hardships Cindy Grassi’s family will now have to face without her. In Grassi’s case, a Philadelphia Wrongful Death Attorney could work to recover damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses, loss of past and future income, and loss of consortium.
Wacker’s permanent disability will also create hardships for the people that depend on and love her. In this case, a Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney could recover damages for disability, impairment and loss of enjoyment, past and future medical expenses, and life expectancy.

Seek Help from a New Jersey or Philadephia Trial Attorney

If you or a loved one is suffering due to personal injury or wrongful death, do not do it alone. The Philadelphia and New Jersey Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Trial Attorneys at Mininno Law Firm are here to help you. Our team is dedicated to earning you the compensation that you deserve. Contact us for a free consultation or call at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Nursing Homes: A Cure For Incontinence?

electric underwear — Electronic Underpants could bring an end to incontince related complications in nursing homes.

We at the Mininno Law Firm are advocates for health and safety in nursing homes. We applaud any and all uses of technology that could improve the quality of life for patients in nursing homes and convalescent centers. Anything these facilities can employ that will help prevent bedsores, patient falls, and prolonged pain or discomfort , is something this firm stands behind. That is why we post this blog about a new technology that could potentially end patient complications due to incontinence.

The product, developed in Australia and focused on incontinence management, could change the way elderly citizens are cared for. Simavita, a “company established to develop solutions that improve quality of life across the global spectrum,” has been developing the product for the last ten years. Simavita’s “SIMsystem” is a new continence aid that will revolutionize the way caretakers handle patient continence. SIMsystem, or Smart Incontinence Management System, will work towards four separate goals:

1. To limit the time patients spend in soiled undergarments.
2. To limit the time caregivers spend on incontinence management.
3. To use the data collected by the SIMsystem to schedule bathroom visits to eventually prevent events on incontinence.
4. To limit costs for facilities on incontinence consumables.

How Does it Work?

The product is, in laymen’s terms, a pair of electronic underpants. Under a disposable pad lies a sensor strip that measures frequency and level of incontinence. Ultimately, the use of the sensor strip is imperative to prevention of incontinent events. The entire system works as a 4 step process through the SIMserver.

1. An incontinent event is read by the SIMbox.
2. The event is recorded on the computer at the time that it occurs.
3. The caregiver is notified over the facilities paging system, or via SMS text message to a mobile phone or pager.
4. The caregiver tends to the patient implementing required procedure, and the intervention is recorded via the SIMbox.

The Chief Executive of Simavita, Phillipa Lewis, says:

“Incontinence Management is a key area in which innovative technologies can benefit aged care. We developed SIMsystem to provide greater comfort and dignity to the elderly while aiming to significantly lower costs for aged care facilities.”

When asked about the safety of the product, Lewis called the product “completely safe,” using very low power as well as the accepted form of wireless technology for body worn products. Some naysayers have commented on the ethics of the new invention, claiming that the tracking portion of the system is an invasion of privacy that may work to diminish dignity, rather than the opposite.
In the end, however, it seems that removing patients from incontinence pads and gaining them some form of freedom does much more to build dignity than the tracking does to take it away.

Incontinence is a very time consuming aspect of a nurse or caregivers job. It’s often necessary to for caretakers to check for incontinence upwards of ten times a day. The SIMsystem will potentially cut the time spent on incontinence management in half, freeing up time to pay attention to other dire needs of patients.
With this new technology, currently being used only in care facilities in Australia, the quality of life for elderly patients in nursing homes and convalescent centers will gradually and greatly improve.It’s not really clear how long it will be before the SIMsystem is being used world wide, but hopefully, it will be soon. Far too many of our elderly citizens are being victimized by their own incontinence, and by nursing home attendants not providing the proper care and attention.

Has Your Loved One Been Victimized by Nursing Home Abuse?

If you or a loved one have suffered from this kind of negligence at a nursing home or care facility, you need help. A New Jersey trial attorney will help you receive the compensation you deserve. Contact us to fill out a free case evaluation form, or call us at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia for a free consultation.

Vehicle Safety: New Legislation May Make Cars Safer

In light of the recent Toyota automobile recalls, a new legislation proposal released Thursday by The Energy and Commerce Committee is focusing on auto safety. Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif) released the draft, which could ultimately form the basis of legislation that will strengthen vehicle safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The New Jersey and Philadelphia trial lawyer strongly support this legislation. Fortunately, Lawmakers vowed to address auto safety after Toyota recalled over 8 million vehicles for varying reasons, including accelerating, braking, and power steering.

What Changes Will be Made?

The proposed legislation includes a few drastic changes to auto safety laws currently in place. Perhaps the biggest change would be the installation of Event Data Recorders in all new cars and trucks. Event Data Recorders are more commonly known as “black boxes,” and they make it easier to reconstruct events leading up to crashes. This black box data is another innovation that has been urged by New Jersey and Philadelphia trial lawyers.
Also included is the elimination of a cap on civil penalties that automakers face. Additionally, legislation would allow the NHTSA to immediately recall any automobile, upon finding “imminent hazard of death or serious injury.” The responsibility to recall currently falls on the shoulders of the automakers themselves, which is why it’s no surprise it took Toyota so long to officially make them.

The plan creates a $3 “vehicle user fee” to help fund the NHTSA, an entity that safety groups say is severely underfunded and ill-equipped to investigate serious safety issues. This group ensures that the existing engineering and technology that is available to automakers is actually used by automakers to make our cars safer. The fee would eventually increase to $9 in the programs third year. The plan intends to require a U.S. auto executive to verify information submitted to the NHTSA in response to an investigation. Any executive caught submitting false information could be fined as high as $250 million.
Finally, the new legislation aims to require new safety standards related to brake override systems, the prevention of pedals getting stuck in floor mats, and vehicle electronics. Waxman’s committee is expected to hold a hearing next week, and congress will consider the legislation later this year.

Have You Been Injured in a Car Accident?

Auto safety is a matter of grave importance, and legislation to help increase that safety is surely welcome. Unfortunately, no such legislation exist and car manufacturers do not have the incentive to make cars safer. As a result, everday people get unnecessarily hurt because of vehicle crashes due to defective vehicles. If you or a loved one has suffered injury or loss due to a defective vehicle or negligent driver, it is imperative that you seek legal advice. The team at Mininno Law Firm is here to help you.
Contact us to fill out a free case evaluation form, or call us for a free consultation: (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.