A week ago, the Attorney General for New York, Letitia James, issued a report on COVID-19 in nursing homes, which stated that nursing home and hospital data underreported nursing home resident deaths by at least 50%. According to the AG’s report, actual deaths from...
Tens of thousands of people have already died from COVID-19 as a result of negligence at nursing homes. According to the New York Times, as of February 1, more than 148,000 residents and employees of 30,000 nursing homes have died, and more than 1.2 million have been...
Philip Esformes spent the last four years in prison until President Donald Trump commuted his sentence in December 2020. A year earlier, the already incarcerated 52-year-old businessman was found guilty of 20 additional counts of bribery, money laundering, and...
A common occurrence at many skilled nursing facilities is when an elderly resident suddenly becomes agitated. Perhaps she recently lost a close friend or relative; maybe she received some other bad news. Whatever the cause, the ever-efficient nursing staff will note...
In our two previous posts on the subject of dementia and memory loss, we highlighted the many environmental and external factors that may cause someone to display signs of severe mental impairment. Qualified medical experts can sometimes find the source(s) of the...
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, conducted a four-year study by evaluating post-acute care provided in skilled nursing facilities. An adverse event is an event that resulted in harm (prolonged nursing home stay, transfer to the...
One of my colleagues recently handled a case where a resident was left out on the patio of a skilled nursing facility in a wheelchair, and the resident was unable to talk or move. The staff put him out on the patio thinking, oh he’ll be able to get the fresh air. But...
I recently had a case of an adult disabled woman who was mentally and physically impaired – very impaired. She was in an assisted living facility that was licensed by the Department of Social Services, and that facility had poor Safety Awareness. Their facility was...
Physical and Chemical Restraints – Friend or Foe? Physical and Chemical Restraints Dangerous to Nursing Home Patients It is a common practice among nursing homes today to use restraints, both physical and chemical, to medically treat a patient. Not all restraints are illegal, as there are proper as well as improper uses of restraints. Restraints are used correctly when they…
Can the Consumer Ever Win? Arbitration Clauses in Nursing Homes Somewhere in your cell phone or credit card contract, buried in the fine print is a mandatory arbitration clause which waives your right to a jury trial and instead binds you to arbitration if there is ever a dispute. You may not have known that you have waived your right…