Choose a state to contact a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Choosing a Nursing Home
When looking at different nursing home facilities here are a few factors that should be evaluated:
- Are the home and the current administrator licensed?
- Does the home conduct background checks on all staff?
- Does the home have
special service units to
meet specific needs? - Does the home have
abuse prevention training?
Contact Us To Learn More About Your Legal Rights!
This educational tool also provides comprehensive resources to help families choose the best nursing home that will tailor to the individual needs of the nursing home
resident.
Forms Of Elder Abuse
There are many different forms of elder abuse that can occur, and some warning signs that should
be looked for are:
- Physical Elder Abuse
- Mental Elder Abuse
- Elder Abuse Neglect
- Exploitation/Financial
Elder Abuse
Nursing Home Abuse News
Dec 19 , 2008 - Michigan Caretaker Charged with Elder Abuse
Nov 17, 2008 - TN Nursing Home Faces $35M Wrongful Death Suit
Oct 13, 2008 - Massachusetts Launches New Elder Abuse Initiative
Aug 26, 2008 - $2M Settlement Reached in Nursing Home Neglect Suit
July 14, 2008 - TX Nursing Home Resident Claims Negligence
Feb 7, 2007 - Nurses Face Multiple Charges of Elder Abuse, Neglect
May 25, 2005 , " S.F. officials say elder abuse common "
Jan 18, 2005, "Nursing home ratings may be misleading"
Nov 16, 2004, "GAO investigates handling of suspected Arkansas nursing home abuse deaths"
Oct 19, 2003, "Nursing Home Abuse Owner Criminal Prosecution Appears to be on the Rise"
Sept 1, 2003, "Program to Fight Against Nursing Home Abuse"
July 21, 2003, "Congressional investigators stress need for nursing home reform"
July 2, 2003, "Increase in high paying nursing home abuse lawsuits"
More Nursing Home Abuse News:
April 25, 2003
Volunteers can help prevent nursing home abuse. An Alabama woman has become a state certified ombudsman for nursing homes after seeing a need for more nursing home advocates while her mother lived in one. Volunteering is a way to make sure nursing home residents are protected. Her volunteers visit the residents that may not have any visitors normally and talk to them to make sure their rights are being protected.
With the number of nursing home abuse reports made in this country, volunteers to monitor laws affecting nursing home residents is a way to make sure things are being done. Not every nursing home has abusive practices but many nursing homes are understaffed and overworked. This can often lead to frustrated employees that eventually become verbally abusive or neglectful because of it.
September 2, 2003
Increase in nursing home abuse lawsuits indicate the push for change - In the past, finding a nursing home abuse lawyer to accept a case was tough for families wanting to get justice for the abuse their loved ones had endured, or tragically had not endured. The increase in nursing home abuse lawsuits is not due to “sue happy” people rather the knowledge that a high incidence of nursing home abuse is occurring and families want immediate changes to be made.
The uncovering of a nationwide problem of how elders are treated in care facilities has resulted in nursing home abuse being on the forefront of many lawmakers priority lists to change. The high number of baby boomers next to be the ones to have to deal with nursing home care first hand is large. As one nursing home abuse victim’s family stated, “I sued to get them to treat nursing home patients better. We’ve got to make it better for the next generation: ours,” (boston.com 9/2/03).
The largest nursing home abuse jury verdict was awarded to a Texas family in 2001. The son of a woman sued after nursing home abuse neglect was so severe that she suffered 16 bed sores, including some bed sores so bad that they penetrated to the bone. Initially awarded $312 million, the family agreed to accept $20 million in settlement to stop the appeal process that the nursing home had been planning.
For more information on nursing home abuse contact us to confer with a nursing home abuse lawyer.
March 5, 2003
$1.5 million settlement reached after Arkansas nursing home abuse found - An Arkansas nursing home chain has to pay $1.5 million to the state after the attorney general’s office found evidence of nursing home abuse at several of the homes.
March 3, 2003
Tennessee nursing home violations lessened - A Tennessee nursing home that was categorized in immediate jeopardy and received a 70-page list of health violations had to pay the state nearly $3500 a day from January 31-February 21. The state has found that the nursing home is still breaking health codes at a lesser degree, so the home must pay at least $50 a day to the state. The state will have another investigation in the next few months to see if the nursing home has complied.
February 19, 2003
House approves controversial bill limiting jury awards against nursing home abuse - The House approved a controversial bill in Arkansas that would limit jury awards against nursing homes. The bill was asked to not be sent immediately to the Senate in order to allow any consideration of further amendments. If passed, the bill would limit punitive damages to $1 million and has a provision that would require lawyers to prove that a specific act was committed against their client. Some House members against the bill felt that it “strikes a blow at the absolute weakest among us” and that it is “fundamentally wrong and unfair.”
May 28, 2002
Abuse in nusing homes has become an increasingly large problem in this nation identified by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as "one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S." Recently, the Senate Aging Committee chairman wanted to have criminal background checks from nursing home workers and expanded powers for the government to try to reduce the high number of reported incidents of abuse in nursing homes that occur on a widespread scale. Senator John Breaux feels that, "we have an obligation to protect the fastest-growing segment of the population" when proposing his legislation at a hearing on financial exploitation of older people.
An expansive investigation has found an increase in abuse in nursing homes and has found that as many as four out of five abuse in nursing home incidents go unreported in addition to the over half a million cases of abuse in nursing homes that are reported to state adult protection agencies. Breaux attributes abuse in nursing home problems, in part, to the fact there is no federal worker whose full-time job is to protect seniors from abuse and that "no one really is in charge of this area." A survey that is currently underway has found 375,000 instances of abuse in nursing homes occurs every year, and this survey has only included the numbers from 24 of the states that have reported so far.
Breaux's proposed bill would include:
- Create new offices in the Justice and Health and Human Services departments that would help conduct the background checks, coordinate government programs, issue reports and aid in training law enforcement.
- Require long-term care facilities to immediately report suspected crimes to law enforcement, with fines for noncompliance ranging up to $100,000.
- Mandate criminal background checks for all staff members in long-term care facilities.
- Make facilities receiving federal payments give a 45-day notice to regulators before shutting down and abandoning residents.
- Seek training of bank personnel to recognize when something is amiss in an elderly person's account.
- Create a federal information center on elder abuse, with a Web site to educate the public.
August 8, 2001
A congressional report was released showing numerous reports of serious physical, sexual, and verbal abuse in nursing homes nationwide. The study was prepared by the minority (Democratic and Independent) staff of the Special Investigations Division of the House Government Reform Committee. The report also found that 30 percent of nursing homes in the U.S., including 5,283 facilities, were cited for about 9,000 instances of abuse over a recent two-year period, from January 1999 to January 2001. Common instances of abuse in nursing homes included untreated bedsores, inadequate medical care, malnutrition, dehydration, preventable accidents, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
July 30, 2001
A common feeling amongst elders in the U.S. is the dread of living in a nursing home because the feeling of burdening their families is too great. Eighty-three percent of elderly Americans would stay in their homes until the end if they could, and thirty percent say they would rather die than reside in a nursing home. The fear of living in a nursing home was shown to be one with good reason after nursing home inspection documents showed that more than a quarter of American nursing homes were repeatedly cited for serious violations of abuse that caused death or injury to patients. California showed a third of the nursing homes were cited for causing serious harm or death to patients.
April 23, 2001
A growing challenge facing the nation is the effectiveness at preventing the problem of abuse in nursing homes that has become far too common. Forty out of fifty states now have task forces to address the issue of abuse in nursing homes that has continued to worsen because the demand for nursing homes is continuing to increase. An assistant professor of public policy, Susan Eaton, has studied the link between human resource personnel management and the quality of patient care in nursing homes. Eaton attributes the quality problems of abuse in nursing homes to under staffing and poor management practices.
August 3, 1998
A written statement that was provided to the Senate Special Committee on Aging described a nursing home resident that was suffering a degenerative brain disease and was found with bruises, bedsores and a broken pelvis within months after her 1995 arrival at the Orangetree Convalescent Hospital by her daughter. The daughter was quoted as saying in her official account that "She always seemed to be starving or begging for water." The nursing home resident died after reports showed she had choked on her food, but the resident's daughter planned on telling the committee that the mother was supposed to be fed through a tube. The nursing home denied any wrongdoing.
October 27, 1997
One out of four nursing homes are cited for causing death or serious injury to a nursing home resident every year. One woman, Bessie Seday recounts her experiences in a California nursing home, Creekside Care Convalescent Hospital. Seday told Time that, "I couldn't get anybody's attention, starting on the fourth day," recalled the bed-bound 84-year-old, "You'd have your call light on for hours, but nobody came." Seday was also deprived of any sun during her four months stay at Creekside (Time, 10-27-97).
If you have any questions regarding safety concerns and nursing home prevention, click on a state or select from below to contact an Elderly Abuse Lawyer: