Articles Posted in Nursing Home Neglect

An article on the AltoonaMirror.com reported that Grane Healthcare of Pittsburgh is aiming to close the sale of Laurel Crest Rehabilitation & Special Care Center in Ebensburg by Dec. 31.

Grane, which currently owns 11 nursing homes in central and western Pennsylvania, is purchasing the home from Cambria County for $14.2 million. Several years of continued losses, staff layoffs, and other cost cuts forced the county to sell Laurel Crest late this spring.

In recent years, state inspections revealed dozens of deficiencies at Laurel Crest that resulted in serious fines and penalties. Grane, whose nursing homes have faired well in recent Department of Health inspections, plans to look closely at Laurel Crest to see what improvements can be made to the facility. In the article, Grane company spokesman Mark Fox said, “Laurel Crest itself is in good condition overall but we’re looking at the facility carefully.”

Finding a good nursing home for a loved one can be a difficult and emotional process. There are many factors to consider, including cost, activities offered to residents, staff-to-patient ratios, quality of care, and many others.

A recent statistical analysis was done by Scripps Howard on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Nursing Home Compare system, which includes about 15,700 nursing facilities. The Compare list, which uses a one to five star rating scale, is meant to be used as a starting point for families researching nursing homes. However, the Scripps Howard analysis highlights the difficulties in finding a good nursing home due to differences in levels of nursing home quality across the country.

To read the full analysis, visit the ScrippsNews.com website.

A Texas woman was sentenced to 20 months in jail after she was caught on videotape abusing a paralyzed nursing home resident.

The nursing home resident had told her husband earlier this year that she was being abused. But because the woman suffers from dementia, she could not properly identify her abuser to the nursing home administration. The woman’s husband placed a camera in her room and caught the nursing home aide forcing the woman out of her wheelchair, striking the woman numerous times on the arm, as well as slinging the woman into bed so forcefully that she hit her head on the headboard.

Stories of this type of abuse do not happen in every nursing home. But when neglect does take place, it is inexcusable. There are some signs you can look for if you suspect a loved one in a nursing home is being abused. Those signs include:

• Bed sores
• Dehydration and malnutrition
• Severe injuries
• Broken bones

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On Nov. 13, ThePittsburghChannel.com posted a segment by WTAE’s investigative reporter Paul Van Osdol on two nursing homes in the Pittsburgh area that were rated below average by Medicare. Click on the link below to read the entire article:

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/21608237/detail.html

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A Meyersdale, PA woman faces a misdemeanor charge of neglect of care of a dependent person stemming from allegations that she neglected an elderly woman in the early stages of dementia.

According to an article published Nov. 10 on DailyAmerican.com, the caregiver is also charged with recklessly endangering another person and simple assault charges for allowing an 82-year-old woman to suffer bed sores that developed into blood poisoning.
The elderly woman was taken in at the caregiver’s personal care home in February 2006. According to court documents, the elderly woman could not communicate and was not able to perform tasks for herself, such as eating, using the restroom, or walking and dressing without assistance.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, the caregiver dropped the elderly woman off at a local hospital, without offering any medical history or information regarding the elderly woman’s condition. The elderly woman’s family was notified after being tracked down through medical records.

Police said that hospital staff determined the elderly woman suffered from bed sores on her left and right heels, left hip, buttocks, and back. According to court documents, she suffered from blood poisoning brought on by stage 4 bed sores, the final stage of severity. Medical staff told police it would have taken eight to 10 weeks for the bed sores to reach that level of severity. She died July 7, 2003.

The caregiver said she moved the elderly woman and propped up her feet to alleviate pressure and to treat the sores. She also denied the sores reached stage 4.
Authorities say the caregiver will probably be arraigned in Somerset County court in January and her trial placed on the trial docket for March.

“It is very difficult because of the circumstances surrounding that are bad things happening to elders and the decision of when it moves from an unfortunate situation to a criminal act,” said Nils Frederiksen, deputy press secretary with the attorney general’s office.

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