A scathing report by the Office of Inspector General shows that 25 percent of nursing home abuse cases go unreported. Of these unreported cases, 80 percent involved an allegation of sexual abuse or rape of an elderly person. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has promised to do more to identify abuse and […]
Sexual Abuse
HHS Inspector General: One in Four Cases of Elder Abuse Not Reported in Nursing Homes
The Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report stating that at least one in four instances of elder abuse or neglect are not reported. While horrific in scope, the results are not entirely surprising – other, smaller samples have found that 15 to 20 percent of elder abuse […]
Trump Administration Moves to Limit Nursing Home Resident’s Access to Court System
As part of President Trump’s promise to roll-back federal regulations, the Trump administration has announced its intention to scrap a federal rule prohibiting nursing homes from requiring their residents to pursue legal claims through arbitration. In the simplest terms, arbitration is a catch-all term for a dispute-resolution that, while legally binding, does not utilize the […]
Lacking Effective Oversight, Nursing Homes Fail Many Patients
With toothless regulations and ineffective oversight, many nursing homes are still failing the neediest patients. With its budget for overseeing nursing homes slashed in half, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has failed to identify failing nursing homes and keep them accountable. As a consequence, some nursing homes are choosing to accept the […]
Caretaker Charged After Elderly Man Complains of “Being Thrown Around Like a Rag Doll”
A Berkshires caretaker has been charged with elder abuse after an 84-year-old man told hospital staff that his two broken ribs were caused by being “thrown around like a rag doll.” The 52-year-old man, Anthony Marcella II, was arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on charges of assault and battery on a person over 60 […]
Rehabilitation Worker, Jacky Stanly, Convicted of 33 Counts of Sex Abuse
Jacky Stanley, a former rehabilitation worker at Northeast Center for Special Care in Lake Katrine, New York was convicted of sexually abusing six male residents at the facility – each of whom were in the facility after suffering traumatic brain injuries. All six male residents testified in court that Stanley molested them in some way […]
Nursing Home Residents Right to Sue Restored
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Nursing Aid Sentenced to Jail after Sexually Abusing Resident
A Bronx nursing assistant accepted a plea to six months in jail and five years’ probation after being found guilty of Endangering the Welfare of an Elderly Person in the second-degree and Sexual Abuse in the second-degree of a nursing home resident at Manhattanville Rehabilitation and Health Center in the Bronx. He pled guilty to […]
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 […]
Utica Nursing Home Nurse’s Aide Charged with Sexual Abuse of Elderly Resident
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced that John Tamba, a 48 year old CNA from Utica, NY was indicted in October on nine counts of abusing a female patient. Tamba worked at the Focus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center at Utica, located at 1445 Kemble St, Utica, NY, and is being held […]
Nursing Aide Loses Certification License after Pinching Patient’s Breast
Elesia Howard, a former certified nursing assistant (CNA) at the Pathways Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a 112-bed facility located in Niskayuna, New York, pled guilty in September 2012 to charges that she pinched a patient’s left breast nipple. The former employee was convicted of Wilful Violation of Public Health Laws and agreed to surrender her […]
New York Lawsuit Lawsuit: Elderly Woman ‘Defiled’ by Male Stripper’s Performance for Nursing Home Residents
According to a lawsuit filed in April 2014 by the family of 85-year-old Bernice Youngblood, a former patient at East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a Long Island nursing home, the facility subjected the elderly woman to “disgraceful sexual perversion” when it paid $250 for a male stripper to perform for the residents in September […]
Nursing Home Administrator Fired Over Alleged Sexual Abuse of 91 Year-Old Resident
The administrator of Loudonville Nursing Home in upstate New York has been fired as a result of a sexual abuse charge levied against a maintenance worker at the home. Investigators claim that the worker sexually assaulted a 91 year old woman while in her room. The maintenance worker faces felony sexual abuse charges, and the […]
N.Y. Legal Alert: Bronx Nursing Home Fined $18,000 by Department of Health
Bay Park Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation was recently fined $18,000 by the Department of Health. The fine stems from a certification survey in February of 2011, in which the facility was graded deficient in 23 various areas. Among these areas were failure to keep the facility free of accident hazards and failure to keep […]
Panel Declares Nursing Home Worker’s Apology Should Have Been Suppressed
In a decision released yesterday, a New York appellate panel ruled that the lower court should have suppressed a nursing home worker’s apology to police after sexually assaulting a Queens nursing home resident. According to the panel, the apology occurred in the midst of an interrogation, and thus the officer conducting the interview should have […]
World Elder Abuse Awareness Week
Today, June 15, 2011, is the sixth annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. It falls in the middle of World Elder Abuse Awareness Week, which commenced on Monday. While it is important to specify a day or week in which to give attention to the cycle of abuse that many elderly in society face, it […]
Prison Sentence After Conviction in N.Y. Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Case
A nursing home aide was recently convicted of sexually abusing an 61-year old stroke victim at Amsterdam Nursing Home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The aide was convicted of sex abuse, endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, and endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person. The aide was caught in the sexual […]
Upstate New York Nursing Home Fires Two Employees After Disturbing Sexual Incident
Northgate Health Care Facility has fired two nurse’s aides following a disturbing incident involving the employees and two elderly, mentally impaired residents of the facility. According to a NYS Department of Health report, the employees placed the two residents in the same bed together and told them that they were married, hoping to elicit a […]
New York Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Report: CA Jury Awards $12.5 Million To Resident Attacked By Cook
In a recent nursing home abuse lawsuit, a California jury awarded a dementia resident $12.5 million after being attacked by a cook who worked at the facility. In 2007, Sophie Schwartz, a 92 year-old dementia patient, was asleep in her bed at Oakdale Heights of Santa Clarita when she was awakened by a man on […]
New York Nurse Aide Sentenced For Sexually Abusing Nursing Home Resident
Robert Gunderson, a Certified Nurse Aide at Northwoods Rehabiliation Center, a nursing home in Troy, New York, was recently sentenced after being charging with sexually abusing an elderly resident. Mr. Gunderson reportedly fondled the breasts and vagina of a 78 year old woman who was physically helpless. In March 2010, Mr. Gunderson was sentenced to […]
Family Claims Nursing Home Failed To Monitor Dangerous Resident Leading To Sexual Assault
A lawsuit has been filed against a nursing home in Aurora, Ill., and one of its residents, Sylvester Graves, after he allegedly sexually assaulted a female resident. According to the lawsuit, Graves beat the woman severely and sexually assaulted her in his room at Fox River Pavilion nursing home. The plaintiffs claim that Graves has […]