Nursing home cases typically involve abuse or neglect. Abuse cases involve injurious harm to long-term residents by caregivers or fellow patients. Neglect cases typically arise out of the failure to monitor and treat medical conditions, failure to institute proper fall precautions, elopement (i.e., when patients with dementia wander), and failure to maintain skin integrity. We have seen [...]
A nursing home owes a duty to protect elderly patients from a variety of hazards, including falls, C. Diff. infections, assault by employees or other patients, dehydration, malnutrition and bed sores, to name a few. Another hazard, called elopement, involves special considerations. Elopement occurs when an impaired patient wanders away from supervision in the nursing home setting. [...]
Most nursing home and hospital beds come equipped with adjustable bed rails, which can be put up to prevent patients from falling out of bed. However, poor design or misuse of bed rails can lead to injury or death, according to this article in the New York Times. According to the article, about 150 deaths occurred [...]
Patients fall in the nursing home and hospital frequently. According to published statistics, 2% of all hospital admissions are complicated by injuries from falls. The risk of falls is higher in nursing homes and hospital due to patients being weak, elderly or infirm or due to the use of medications. Nursing care plans should include a fall [...]
Nursing homes are inspected on a regular basis. Depending on the outcome of a given inspection, you or your loved ones may be at increased risk of experiencing avoidable injuries, if the nursing home has failed to demonstrate competency in a given area of patient care and has failed to comply with state and national [...]
Nursing homes are required to follow specific rules and regulations in the care of their residents. The law in Ohio is intended to protect the rights of residents in nursing homes and to make sure that they are not neglected or abused. Too often, nursing homes put profits before the best interests of their patients. [...]
A report by the Inspector General's office of the Department of Health and Human Services found that nursing homes are inadequately prepared to handle common natural disasters. In the report, investigators found many "gaps in nursing home preparedness and response." Further, the report states that long-term care facilities' "[e]mergency plans lacked relevant information." The report comes on the [...]
As elderly people find it becomes a struggle to take care of their own day-to-day needs, many find they need the extra help that comes with an assisted living apartment or a nursing home. Some are also able to rely on family members as their needs increase. Unfortunately, nursing homes and family caretakers sometimes take [...]
Nursing home abuse and neglect usually occurs when poorly trained or inexperienced caregivers are required to take care of challenging patients without adequate support from nursing home management. At Mishkind Kulwicki Law, we are often asked to recommend nursing homes to clients and friends who are facing the difficult task of finding an acceptable long-term [...]
There are many causes of nursing home malpractice, but one of the common causes is believed to be chronic understaffing at most nursing home and other long-term care facilities. According to a recent federal study, approximately 90 percent of U.S. nursing homes have insufficient staffing levels to provide the necessary care to their residents. Although [...]