Gainesville, Ocala & Daytona Beach Personal Injury Lawyer - Nursing Home

No Penalty for Nursing Home Abuse

Craig Cannon — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 08:43:39 GMT

Federal health officials impose only minimal penalties on nursing homes repeatedly cited for mistreatment and abuse of patients. As a result, some nursing homes go in and out of compliance with federal standards. Those nursing homes pose a continued threat to the health and safety of patients.

"Some of these homes repeatedly harmed residents over a six-year period and yet remain in the Medicare and Medicaid programs," said the report, to be issued this week by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress. The Department of Health and Human Services "fails to hold homes with a long history of harming residents accountable for the poor care provided," the investigators said.

Congress established strict rules for nursing homes in 1987. However, since then little seems to have changed at the worst-performing homes. The Bush administration rarely uses its authority to deny payment to homes with a history of compliance problems. A nursing home in Michigan was still open even though it had repeatedly been cited for "poor quality care," poor nutrition services, medication errors and employing people who had been convicted of abusing patients.

Congress is likely to use the report to create new legislation requiring stiffer penalties for the most serious violations. Administration officials agreed that higher fines were appropriate in some cases.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Craig Cannon

Nursing Home Abuse Ends in Wrongful Death

Craig Cannon — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:13:53 GMT

Choosing a good nursing home is difficult. Unfortunately for the family of one elderly person, the nursing home they choose for their mother resulted in her wrongful death. The 81 year who suffered from alzheimer's was abused by aides at the nursing home. Thankfully, cases like this are rare - but resident advocates and nursing home administrators alike say elder abuse, in all its forms, is all too common.

So what do you need to know before moving your loved one to a nursing home? You will, of course, need to visit the place -- but when, and what should you look for? Experts say go on a weekend, or in the evening. If a facility has a problem with meeting staffing requirements -- this is when you'll see it. You're also urged to talk to an administrator, and see how the administrator relates to the staff. The way the staff and administration relate is the way the staff and the residents are going to relate.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Craig Cannon

No Polk County Nursing Homes on Florida's Watch List

Shannon Weidemann — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:36:26 GMT

The quality of care and level of safety have improved in Florida's nursing homes since laws were passed in 2001 to improve the standards. These measures included more time spent with each patient that is charted, more nurses to be hired, and that nursing homes must carry liability insurance.

Six nursing homes in Polk County have made Florida's Watch List in the past, which alerts the public to homes that are not meeting standard levels of care. None of the nursing homes in Polk County have appeared on the list since 2004. That is a good indicator that the laws are helping and conditions are improving.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann