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Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse

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dementia-595638_960_720A New York City nursing home security guard punched an 83 year old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s in the face. 55 year old Michael Adagba was working as a security guard at the Vanderbilt Nursing Home on Castleton Ave. in Tompkinsville, Staten Island last Friday. Around 7:30 p.m. an 83 year old Alzheimer’s patient tried to exit the building.  Exit seeking is a type of wandering that is common among patients suffering from Alzheimer’s. Often the patient is trying to return to a secure place, a home, a family or a workplace. Nursing home staff including security guards are taught to address this type of wandering in a peaceful way . They are supposed to be trained to talk to wandering patients in a friendly way, to make them feel secure.   The Alzheimer’s Association recommends that staff  listen to the reasons why a patient wants to exit and not contradict him or her but propose to go out a little later and then find a way to distract the patient. It seems like Michael Adagba didn’t have much training or experience in working with Alzheimer’s patients. So instead of trying to calm down the 83 year old patient and talking to her in a friendly way, he just punched her in the face. The poor woman suffered swelling and bruises on her face, head and body . Micheal Adagba is facing charges of felony and misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture: courtesy of Pixabay

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Elder Justice LeagueElder abuse or elder mistreatment happens anytime a caregiver or a supposedly trusted person (in a nursing home or at home) intentionally causes physical, emotional or financial arm to a vulnerable elder. It is very difficult to determine the extent of this problem as often elders will not or are unable to complain. However as the elder population is growing so does the number of  instances of abuse. A few years ago The “New York State Elder Abuse Prevalence Study” established that  for one case of abuse known to agencies 24 were unknown.

In order to better fight this growing issue, elder justice advocates representing 11 organizations have joined forces together and created the “The Elder Justice League”. Supported by the National Center on Elder Abuse, “The Elder Justice League” wants to raise awareness of elder abuse through social media.  The NYC Elder Abuse Center is part of this league and you can learn more about it on their website.

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Medical malpractice is on the rise in hospices. Once a place handled by nuns and caring volunteers, hospice care has become a multi-million dollar business handled by not so caring CEO’s who are often putting profits ahead of patient needs.

Recently the FBI busted Brad Harris the 30 year old owner and CEO of a Texas Hospice for instructing nurses to overdose patients.  The Daily Beast  writes that during the course of the investigation Harris texted one of the nurses “You need to make this patient go bye-bye”. Harris who has no medical education also texted another nurse to increase by four times the patient’s medication. In another conversation Harris said “if only this F*** would die”.

Because hospices are paid by the government through Medicaid and Medicare  they receive a cap amount of $27,820.75  per patient. Therefore a patient who stays alive too long is not profitable for a hospice. The incentive is to have more patients with shorter stays. The FBI said Harris spoke about “finding patients who would die within 24hrs”.

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Thomas_P._DiNapoli_cropThe Department of Health is not properly enforcing the law to prevent the neglect and abuse of New York nursing home residents according to a recent audit from the New York State Comptroller, Thomas P.  DiNapoli (see wikipedia picture of the left).  In a meeting with senior citizen advocates in Albany, DiNapoli said that the Department of Health is taking too long to fine nursing homes who have committed violations. According to the audit, in 2011 the DOH collected a total amount of $152,000 in fines  in 2014 compared to $628,000 fines in 2011. Not only are much fewer fines are being levied but the time it took from the violation until the collection of the fine was 4 years in 2014 compared to 6 months in 2011.  Read more in the Legislative Gazette 

 

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dementiaNursing home abuse doesn’t necessarily relate to abuse committed by staff members on residents. Sometimes nursing home residents can be abused by other residents as well. In a recent article in the Buffalo News, Melinda Miller looks at a study from from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City that that surveyed 2,000 nursing home residents in 10 randomly chosen nursing homes in New York State and interviews with several elder care specialists about this problem.

According to the study, every month, 1 out of 5 residents in New York nursing homes experiences some form of aggression from another resident. Most of the time the aggression is only verbal such as screaming or cursing but sometimes anger leads to physical assault and residents may be hit, kicked or bitten. Sexual assault is also an issue with some residents exposing their genitals or making unwanted sexual advances. Instances of scratching, spitting and throwing things are also mentioned in the study.

In nursing homes, it is common to see confused residents entering other residents’rooms and going through other resident’s belonging. This type of behaviors can be the starting point of further violence. In the article, the director of an Elder Clinic in New York State, explains how her confused mother went into the room of another resident who then got upset and pushed her. She fell and broke her wrist.

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A nurse was charged with endangering a patient suffering from dementia after she was caught splashing water and hitting a nursing home resident during a bed bath.  Mina Maxine Gayle-Campbell, a certified nurse aid at the Shore View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brooklyn, NYC was caught on camera last April when she physically abused the victim. Not only did she splash the 82 year old man in the face with water and hit him repeatedly but she also used the man’s own hand to hit himself.  Read more in the NY Daily News

US News Best Nursing homes gave an overall rating of 5 stars (out of 5) for the Shore view Shore View Nursing & Rehabilitation Center however the nursing staff only got 2 stars.Shore view

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wandering preventionIf a nursing home resident who suffers from dementia or Alzheimers gets injured because he or she wandered unsafely or into unsafe places, got hurt, eloped, got lost or became trapped in unsafe areas, the nursing home can be held liable for negligence because it failed to proprely supervise the resident.  Incidents of unsafe wandering happen most often in nursing homes that are understaffed or in which the staff is not proprely trained.

Because wandering represents a significant safety risk to older adults with dementia it is often a reason why a family makes the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home.  A good nursing home will train employees on how to prevent unsafe wandering and elopement, assess each patient on a regular basis as to his or her propensity to wander and balance safety and autonomy while implementing measures to deter unsafe wandering.

Families also need to understand the risks of unsafe wandering and elopement and what they can do to help. Discussions may prepare residents and family members who may be unused to seeing wandering behavior in others, and because residents may begin wandering after moving in, discussions might invite more conversation about past or current behaviors.

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Polack and Lerner83% of women and 32% of males who have developmental disabilities are victims of sexual assault. Adolescent and young adults are the most at risk. Government policy recommends a shift from institution-based care to specialized care provided within the community, where persons with developmental disabilities may have the opportunity to live independently in the least restrictive setting. Transitioning developmentally disabled people from institutions to the community seems to be a positive choice, however there is a risk that the oversight and support care for this vulnerable population in the community may not be sufficient, opening the door to possible abuse and neglect according to an article written by Daniel Pollack a professor at the School of Social Work at Yeshiva University in New York and Jonathan Lerner in Youth Today.

Read the complete article here

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3D_Judges_GavelA daughter was accused of financially abusing her ailing mother 2 years after her mom suffered a stroke in 2010, 62 year old Barbara Schwarz started to help her with her finances. However instead of helping her she started to steal money from her account to pay for spa treatments, fancy clothes and booze. Authorities were alerted to the theft by a sibling  and an analysis of the suspect’s bank records allegedly indicated that none of the money was used to benefit the ailing woman. Read more in the NY Daily News and the Queens Courier

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Last August an 80 year old nursing home resident suffered severe personal injury after she was physically abused by a nurse’s aid in a New York facility. The incident happened when 59 year old Marie Jeanty, a certified nurse aid was changing the resident at the West Lawrence Care Center, a nursing home located at 1410 Seagirt Boulevard in Far Rockaway, N.Y.  According to Court documents, the nurse aid asked the resident to move to change her clothes and bed linen.   Jeanty then allegedly pushed and hit the resident multiple times in the arm and shoulder with a closed fist and forcibly pushed her into the side of the bed rail, causing her face to hit the rail. As a result, the resident suffered a black eye and significant bruising and swelling to her left arm, right temporal area, and right orbital area, which required treatment at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. The nurse aid was arrested at the beginning of this month and charged with second degree assault and two  felonies for endangering the welfare of another person. Read more in the NY Daily News or read the press release of the New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman

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