The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the Health and Human Services Department, has issued a rule that will prevent nursing homes receiving federal funding from requiring resident’s to sign admission agreements with arbitration clauses. An arbitration clause is a clause in a contract requiring parties to resolve issues through the arbitration […]
Neglect
Four Upstate New York Nursing Home Aides Arrested for Abuse of Residents
Attorney General Eric T. Schniderman announced the arrest and arraignment of four former nursing aids in Oswego, NY on September 15, 2016. The aids were arrested for cases regarding nursing home abuse at two Oswego nursing homes. All four aids were charged with misdemeanors and felonies for taking “undignified” photographs and videos of residents at Pontiac […]
Nursing Home Staff Arrested For Failing to Provide Care to 94 Year-Old Resident
Four nursing home staff members were arrested for neglecting to provide care to a 94-year old resident at Focus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Cooperstown, NY. The elderly female resident was diagnosed with a 4cm x 2cm pressure sore after allegedly being left in the same recliner for 41 hours over Memorial Day weekend this year. […]
Dementia Patient Chokes on Grilled Cheese Sandwich in NY Nursing Home
An Upstate New York Nursing Facility is being sued by the son of a 63 year-old patient, who died after choking on a grilled cheese sandwich. Maureen A. Bali, a resident at Huntington Living Center from May through December 2015, suffered from dementia. As part of Bali’s resident plan of care, she was fitted for […]
76-year-old woman missing from Bronx Nursing Home
On June 14, 2016, a 76-year-old woman with dementia wandered out of Citadel Rehab and Nursing Center in the Bronx, NY. She can be seen on surveillance video standing in the Center’s lobby and leaving the facility with a group of people. Rufus Dunbar, the woman’s son arrived for a visit to find out that […]
83-year-old Alzheimer’s patient punched by security guard at Staten Island Nursing Home
On Friday night July 1, 2016, Michael Adagba, a security guard at the Verrazano Nursing Home, Staten Island punched an elderly Alzheimer’s patient. The 83 year-old elderly resident was apparently trying to leave the facility when Mr. Adagba hit her. The resident suffered multiple injuries including bruising and swelling to her face, head and body. […]
Resident-On-Resident Abuse Prevalent in NY Nursing Homes
A study published June 14, 2016 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that at least one out of five seniors residing in a nursing home has experienced resident-on-resident abuse. Reports of resident-on-resident abuse were tracked over a period of one month in 5 urban and 5 suburban New York nursing homes through interviews, observation […]
Nurses Caught on Video Abusing Nursing Home Resident in Queens, NY
On June 2, 2016, two nurses were indicted after being caught on video surveillance ignoring an injured patient at Peninsula Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The incident occurred in October 2015. A 51 year old disabled male patient fell in the hallway at the facility, injuring his head and jaw. Nurses Funmilola Taiwo and Esohe Agbonkpolor […]
Buffalo Nursing Aide Arrested for Physically Abusing Resident
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arrest of a certified nurse aide in Buffalo, NY on June 14, 2016. Angelene Burton, 53, is charged with slapping an 88 year old nursing home resident. She was arrested after a witness reported her slapping a resident at Highpointe on Michigan Health Care Facility. The resident, who was not named […]
Aides Plead Guilty After Posting Degrading Photos of Nursing Home Residents on Social Media
Nursing home staff members were accused of violating a resident’s privacy by posting degrading photographs and videos on social media. Jane Bosquet, a 76 year old woman suffering from dementia and Parkinson’s disease and resident of Wingate Belvedere in Lowell, Massachusetts had “unflattering” photographs of her taken and posted on Snapchat by two nurses’ aides. Sabrina […]
Monroe County New York Nursing Homes as Repeat Offenders
Monroe County nursing homes have been cited for numerous deficiencies that often place residents at risk, yet they are still open for business; a Rochester nursing home remained open for two years after receiving chronic violations from the government. Democrat and Chronicle, a newspaper in Rochester, NY found that more than 1/3 of violations received […]
Lax Oversight of Nurses in New York Endangers the Public According to Propublica Investigations
According to a Propublica article,New York State’s oversight in the field of nursing care in considerably more lenient when compared with other states in the country. Over the past 15 years, nursing boards around the country have taken steps to tighten the screening process of nurse applicants before issuing licenses and implemented stricter punishments for abusers. […]
State Senate Proposes Bill to Help in the Prosecution of Elder Abuse
There are around six million cases of elder abuse in the United States each year. Five states account for more than 1/3 of those cases. New York is one of the five states. A report released in 2013 identified five obstacles prosecutors faced in handling elder abuse cases, which was the impetus for new bill […]
NY Nursing Home Attorney Report: The Cover-up is Worse Than the Crime (Usually)
On January 4, 2016 Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced several guilty pleas in connection with allegations against Mohawk Valley Health Care Center (MVNH) for falsifying business records and covering up nursing home resident abuse and neglect. In a separate civil settlement, MVNH Associates, LLC also agreed to pay a $1,000,000 fine to Medicaid for […]
Rochester Nurse Convicted of Falsifying Medical Records After Failing to Provide Blood Thinner
A Registered Nurse (RN) at St. Ann’s Community Home in Rochester, New York recently entered a plea of guilty in a criminal court case involving neglect of an elderly resident. RN Christine Deisenroth was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. AG Eric T. Schneiderman charged the […]
New York Disability Nonprofit to Repay $363,000 due to Medicaid Fraud
New York’s state Medicaid system is designed to provide health care-related services to some of New York’s most vulnerable populations. One such population is people with developmental disabilities. The Office for People with Developmental Disabilities is tasked with coordinating services either directly or through a network of Medicaid-funded nonprofits. Over 700 nonprofits currently exist in […]
Study Finds Signs of Alzheimer’s in 20-Year-Old Patients
In a recent post, we examined a Mayo Clinic study linking a toxic protein in the brain to the development of Alzheimer’s Disease. Though commonly associated with senior citizens, Alzheimer’s is no longer just for the elderly. A study conducted by Northwestern University and reported on Yahoo! by Cassie Shortsleeve recently discovered that patients as […]
Mayo Clinic Study Breakthrough: Alzheimer’s Is Linked to Toxic Proteins in the Brain
A large scale Mayo Clinic study recently conducted produced shocking results – the toxic protein tau may be responsible for Alzheimer’s and cognitive degeneration. For the past several decades, neurologists and researchers have focused on amyloid, a toxic protein found in the brain that was thought to contribute to cognitive decline, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s […]
Plaintiff Awarded Judgment in Legal Malpractice Action After Attorney Fails to Timely Commence Pressure Ulcer Suit
A March, 2013 judgment in Suffolk County Supreme Court awarded a plaintiff roughly $463,000.00 in a legal malpractice action. The case was brought when the plaintiff’s attorney failed to timely commence an action for negligence, medical malpractice, and violations of NY Public Health Law section 2801-d against a defendant nursing home. The underlying cause of […]
Discussing the Legality of Nursing Home Surveillance
It is difficult to ignore the continuous flow of headlines regarding nursing home abuse. It has become a prevalent issue across the U.S. However, imagine the number of cases that go unreported. Many times incidents of abuse and neglect are brought to light because of video surveillance. We have seen an increase in the number […]
Albany Nursing Home Fined $25K for Failing to Treat Patient’s Wound that Developed into Gangrene
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) fined the Teresian House Nursing Home, a 302-bed facility located in Albany, New York, $25,350 in November 2013 for failing to treat a patient’s open wound that developed into gangrene. The affected resident was originally diagnosed with a thyroid disorder, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and peripheral vascular […]
N.Y. Nursing Home Failed to Provide Adequate Treatment for Suicidal Patient
Investigators from the New York State Department of Health (DOH) recently cited the Indian River Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, a 122-bed facility located in Grandville, New York, for failing to provide adequate treatment to a suicidal patient who died 18 days after being admitted into the center. The DOH report concluded that “the facility did […]
Police Issue Silver Alert after Mentally Disabled Nursing Home Resident Wanders from Facility
The Suffolk County Police Department issued a Silver Alert in May 2014 after a deaf and mentally disabled man wandered from the Maple Rest Home, an assisted living facility in West Sayville, New York. As a result of the alert, police officials were able to locate Peter Fallon, 73, and return him uninjured to the […]
Hidden Camera Investigation Leads to 17 Arrests of Nursing Home Employees Charged with Neglecting Patient
Seventeen employees of the Highpointe on Michigan Health Care Facility in Buffalo, New York were arrested and charged in April 2014 with neglecting a 56-year-old resident under their care. The male patient suffers from Huntington chorea, a neurological disease that makes him bedridden and totally dependent on staff members for his care. The eight nurses […]
Researchers: One in Ten Elderly Americans Experienced Some Form of Abuse
Overview: Elder Abuse as a Public Health Problem According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, one out of ten Americans ages 60 and over has experienced some form of abuse. The New York State Elder Abuse Prevalence Study determined that for every case of abuse that went reported, nearly 24 cases went unreported. By […]