Panama City Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Panama City nursing home residents deserve the highest quality of care. These individuals have served our society for many years and should be treated with the utmost level of respect. Often, seniors who are in care facilities are unable to fully advocate for themselves. It is therefore vital that family members play an active role in care and that state agencies oversee facilities. All of us have a duty to ensure that Panama City nursing home abuse and Panama City nursing home neglect are not tolerated.

WJGH reported this week on an ongoing legal battle involving one senior care advocate. Brian Lee is the former Ombudsman for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. In this role, Lee was charged with overseeing conditions and investigating problems in assisted living facilities and nursing homes in the state. Last year, Lee was fired from this role. He has filed a whistleblower lawsuit in which he alleges his firing was illegal and came in the wake of his attempt to look into some of the state's worst nursing homes. This investigation included Lee's attempt to identify ownership of these horrible facilities. Lee claims that he had been an outspoken advocate for nursing home residents and that his concern for these individuals led to a contentious relationship with nursing home industry and spurred his eventual termination from the Department. The state asked the judge in Tallahassee to dismiss the wrongful termination suit but the judge refused and Lee's whistleblower case will move forward. Lee is currently working in an outside role as an advocate for Florida seniors.

Both federal and state laws protect the rights of nursing home residents. At the federal level, the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 provides that all care center residents are entitled to quality care in an environment that allows them to reach or maintain their "highest practicable" well-being. Nursing homes are required to provide all residents with a comprehensive care plan that is periodically reassessed and includes nursing, social, rehabilitation, dietary and pharmaceutical services. Residents or their representatives have a right to be involved in and fully informed about all care-related decisions. Patients also have a general right to be treated with dignity and respect.

Elder neglect and elder abuse are criminal acts. Neglect is the failure to care for an individual in a manner that helps avoid harm or pain. Examples of neglect include, but are not limited to: the failure to provide appropriate toilet assistance or diapering; improper positioning such as that leading to bedsores; and failure to provide needed assistance with bathing and personal hygiene. Elder abuse is the intentional infliction of harm or pain. Abuse can be physical, but it can also be mental/emotional and includes berating, shaming, or ridiculing the individual.

If you believe that a loved one is the victim of abuse, you should not hesitate to get involved. Please contact our experienced Panama City nursing home abuse attorney. Our team can help you protect your loved one's health and safety and advocate for their legal rights.

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It is not strange to hear about a fire, and furthermore it is not all that uncommon to hear that a fire was caused by a methamphetamine lab explosion--however, it is strange when that type of fire occurred at a nursing home. If you are baffled by the previous statement, you join the opinion of many others in Ashtabula, Ohio. Earlier this week a fire erupted at Park Haven Home in the Cleveland suburb and early reports indicate there was a meth lab in one of the patient's rooms.

The blaze was reported to have left one man dead and another six injured. The nursing home where this occurred was already in hot water after several complaints of nursing home abuse where patients were not receiving adequate care. The Associated Press reported that the decedent, Shaun Warrens who was 31 years old, was burned over 90 percent of his body and his death has been ruled accidental. Warrens was neither a resident nor an employee.

Panama City nursing home abuse and neglect remains a mostly hidden problem in our area. While most caregivers at these facilities work hard to provide the best services possible to those who depend on them, there are always some who feel comfortable cutting corners, providing substandard supervision, and creating a culture where mistreatment permeates. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of the largest nursing home chains prioritize maximization of their own profits over ensuring that every resident in their facility receives the best care possible. For example, the profit-motive often leads to staffing shortages. The shortages in turn mean that there are often not enough caregivers to go around. Nursing home neglect often results.

Elder abuse is not confined to the nursing home, however. It exits everywhere--at the senior's own home, elder living communities, nursing homes, and everywhere in between. Study after study continues to pour out revealing that this abuse is reaching epidemic proportions.

At times the abuse is perpetrated intentionally by those with dubious motives. This is the case when a caregiver takes out their own frustration by physically striking a senior or when the caregiver steals money from the unsuspecting elder. At other times the mistreatment is not intentional but caused by passive neglect. For example, leaving a senior alone in the restroom for too long without help or failing to double-check the correct medication dose are forms of neglect that can lead to substantial harm. While the motives of the caregiver in those cases are not inherently suspect, the harm to the senior is often the same as if the mistreatment was intentional. That is why it remains important for senior care advocates to guard against both intentional abuse and passive neglect.

Caregiver burnout is often cited as one of the main causes of neglect. As in all contexts, when one is overworked, the chance of shortcuts and costly mistakes rise. One local organization, Hopewell Care, recognizes the role the burnout plays in improper senior caregiving. That is why the group announced this week that they were rolling out a wider variety of services in Panama City to those caregivers who are caring for elder friends and family members. The group noted that many caregivers seem to hit a wall after the holidays, with the risk of burnout at a peak. It is easy to get overwhelmed while helping vulnerable seniors who are often facing a range of problems including dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and other ailments. Interested caregivers can visit the group's elder caregiving website to learn more about finding a certified at-home aide or to download guides like "Care Giving 101," "Parkinson's Disease Gait Training," and similar resources.

Our Panama City elder abuse attorney appreciates the challenges faced by seniors and their families as they search for quality affordable long-term care. For many, the right choice is utilizing at-home services like those provided by Hopewell. Alternatively, those in need of around-the-clock help are likely to need assistance in skilled long-term care facilities. No matter what the situation, however, the law demands that the level of care the senior receives be up to a reasonable standard. Any time that a senior's health deteriorates suspiciously or an accident like a fall occurs, it is important to contact legal professionals experienced in these matters to learn how the law applies in your situation.

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Understaffing a nursing home puts patients at risk. If any business, whether it be a nursing home or a hospital or a factory, does not have enough employees to do a job, that job cannot be done properly. Understaffing in health care settings is catastrophic. Yet, it has become a way of life, or death, in nursing homes as their corporate owners put profits ahead of patient safety.

Neglect and abuse are rampant in nursing homes because of understaffing. In nursing homes, staff time is directly related to the ability to provide minimal care. Statistics show that higher staff levels and lower nurse turnover are linked to fewer medical complications like pressure ulcers, infections, and deaths. I will give you this example. Poor nutrition due to inadequate food intake is a major reason for death in nursing homes. This should never happen. Feeding patients who need assistance, encouraging patients to remain independent in feeding themselves, and supervising patients at mealtimes require staff time. When it is inadequate, patients suffer, and they die or they suffer from bad problems like pressure ulcers which are in large part the result of poor nutrition.

Government regulators have recognized the danger of understaffing in nursing homes. Regulations exist, but they are not followed in too many cases. Nursing homes are required to have enough staff to provide all necessary care to all patients on a 24-hour basis, but in practicality, I don't see this level of staffing happening in many nursing homes. During depositions or in private conversations, many nurses have cried and told me that they despise not being able to provide conscientious care to their nursing home patients. Their staffing is so sparse that they run from patient to patient without having the ability to provide good care.

As an attorney representing patients, I can file suit, but what can you as a family member do immediately? Contact the Agency for Health Care Administration in Tallahassee. That agency will direct you without delay to the people who can provide prompt assistance.

Is there such a thing as the "right" nursing home? Not if you or I are going there. We will pitch a fit. But let's be realistic. Sometimes we have to choose the best option for ourselves or for a family member. When we have to, how will we make the hard but necessary decision?

In my last post, I gave some statistics that should make us think a lot about how to make the right decision. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave one in five certified nursing homes only one star of five based on quality of care, staffing, and health inspections. For profit homes, contrary to our expectations, have the worst performance according to the Government Accountability Office. My research in cases that I've been asked to investigate show that reported deficiencies in nursing homes are only the tip of the iceberg and that substantial histories, documented in the medical records, show that untreated pressure sores, malnutrition, falls and other problems occur regularly. So what is one to do?

One source of information is attorneys in your neighborhood. We may have a useful perspective on who we are regularly asked to sue and who we are never asked to sue. That in itself may provide a lot of guidance for nursing home selection. When we investigate alleged nursing home malpractice cases, we look at common financial, administrative, medical and quality of life concerns that typically arise in nursing home settings. We closely examine inspection reports, medical records, and staff logs for evidence of failures in staffing, training, supervision, equipment, and oversight, but your problem is to look for red flags before you decide to sign the agreement to admit your family member there.

Here are some simple suggestions developed after a long time of looking at nursing homes that provide good care and those that don't. Consider the family member's special needs, for example, respiratory therapy. Make sure the facility offers that service and has a history of compliance with the necessary certification standards. Also, make sure the facility doesn't regularly reject appropriate patients simply for staffing convenience or cost control. Check the records about the nursing home in places like Nursing Home Compare or similar sources. Those records should document the facility's record on key quality measures like infection control, pressure sores, weight loss, bladder control, use of restraints, daily living skills, and pain treatment. The records provide a good snapshot of each home in comparison to others.

Continue reading "Using Reasoned Judgment to Choose the Right Nursing Home " »

If you are going to a nursing home or choosing one for a family member, there's no such thing as the "right" nursing home, because going there will always signify a frightful change. But just maybe there is a right nursing home where life will be pleasant, and the care will be given with kindness.

Since I handle nursing home cases, as do many other attorneys who are experienced in personal injury and malpractice law, I am often asked for advice about how to choose a nursing home. Decisions like this can affect every one of us, so I take the questions seriously and give the best advice I can. That's because I've had a look at the dark side of nursing home care - pressure ulcers that penetrate to the bone, blood infections caused by dislodged feeding tubes, broken bones over and over again from unattended falls, restraints that entangle and cause terror or, even worse, strangulation - all compounded by malnourishment, dehydration, untreated depression, and chronic inattention from inadequate staffing.

Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave one in five certified nursing homes only one star of five based on quality of care, staffing, and health inspections. These are common problems for the 1.5 million Americans in nursing homes, but they don't have to happen. For-profit homes, contrary to our expectations, have the worst performance according to the Government Accountability Office. Even those statistics don't offer a reliable picture of the problem. The Medicare/Medicaid star system, for example, is partly based on unaudited self-reports about staffing and quality of care criteria. My research in cases I've been asked to investigate show that reported deficiencies are only the tip of the iceberg and that substantial histories, documented in the medical records, show untreated pressure ulcers, malnutrition, falls and other problems that regularly happen in advance of these investigative findings.

So how do you come to the point of selecting the best nursing home for yourself or a family member? Whether it's someone else or me who typically represents nursing home residents against the homes they hire to provide quality care, we have to say at the outset that we are not social workers, physicians, or nursing home case managers. With that caveat, we can say that we offer someone looking for a nursing home one thing, that is, an attorney's perspective on common financial, administrative, medical, and quality of life concerns that arise in nursing home care. And we as a group can offer some tools for evaluating how well a specific nursing home evaluates them. Considerations about which nursing home to select are so important for end of life decisions that any attorney practicing in this area of law, who is worth his or her salt, should give this advice without charge. Next week, I will suggest some things for you to consider.