The health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010 includes important provisions to prevent abuse of long term care residents. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, included in the bill, requires facilities to provide more information to the public about risk factors for negligence, abuse, and neglect such as staff turnover and retention, the outcome of complaints against the facilities, and proven crimes by facilities and employees against residents. The additional information will be provided on Nursing Home Compare, a databank already available on Medicare.gov, the federal government’s official Medicare website.

The Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act creates a national program for criminal background checks of long term care employees, so that employees convicted of abuse or neglect cannot simply move to another state to work in a different long term care facility. Holding long term care facilities and their employees accountable for negligence, neglect, and abuse is key to preventing future harm to long term care residents.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of negligence, neglect, or abuse in a long term care facility, contact Benjamin Gideon at bgideon@bermansimmons.com

For more information on the provisions affecting long term care in the health care bill, see National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care website

University of Iowa researchers found that people with memory loss “remember” feelings associated with happy or sad experiences, even though they don’t remember the experience itself. The lead author, Justin Feinstein, stated the findings demonstrate that a friendly visit or phone call may make a person with Alzheimer’s happy after the visit or phone call itself is forgotten. Conversely, neglect or abuse by nursing home staff “may leave the patient feeling sad, frustrated and lonely even though the patient can’t remember why.” The study demonstrates that persons with memory loss do suffer psychological harm from neglect and abuse, and underscores the need to treat persons with memory loss with dignity and respect.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by neglect or abuse in a nursing home or care facility, you may contact Benjamin Gideon at bgideon@bermansimmons.com

For more on the study, go to: Even as Memory Fades, Emotions Linger

A recent review by the Washington Post showed that many nursing homes are “up-coding” billing for care of residents. The nursing homes bill using a special billing category intended to be used only for the five percent of nursing home patients who need highly specialized care and rehabilition. One nursing home chain has billed sixty-four percent of their patients at this category. Nursing homes that provide negligent or substandard care but bill for services not received or worthless services could be liable for punitive damages.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by neglect or abuse in a nursing home or care facility, contact Benjamin Gideon at bgideon@bermansimmons.com

For more on the Washington Post review, see: href=’http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/28/AR2010032802764.html?hpid=topnews’ >Review of Nursing Home Finds Many Bill For More Services Than They Provide

The Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, is reportedly taking steps to end overprescription of antipsychotics in the elderly. She has joined a federal lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Risperdal, charging it with boosting sales of Risperdal to nursing homes through the use of kick-backs. She also promises to closely monitor antipsychotic use among the elderly. According to an analysis by the Boston Globe, 22% of nursing home patients in Massachusetts who receive antipsychotic drugs do not suffer from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. As the Globe editorializes, the drugs are used “to help understaffed nursing homes control unruly patients with dementia.”

If you or someone you know has been harmed by neglect or abuse in a nursing home or care facility, you may contact Benjamin Gideon at bgideon@bermansimmons.com.

For more on the recent Boston Globe editorial, see: All eyes on antipsychotics

A Philadelphia jury recently awarded 1.5M in punitive damages against a hospital and 3.5M in punitive damages against a nursing home, for the death of an elderly man from bedsores two years after his discharge. When the then 74 year old man went to the hospital due to weakness and confusion, the hospital failed to diagnose a urinary tract infection that made him susceptible to the bed sores that ultimately killed him. His condition worsened at the nursing home, and he became malnourished to the point that he lost 28 pounds. The verdict sent a strong message that such negligent care would not be tolerated.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by neglect or abuse in a nursing home, you may contact Ben Gideon at bgideon@bermansimmons.com

For more, see:
Philadelphia jury awards 5M in punitive damages for death of elderly man from bed sores