I can’t imagine any resident in THAT much pain for 10 hours, being ignored. I’ve seen waits of an hour. But not this.

FRANKFORT - For 10 hours before his death on March 2, 2002, Loren Richards cried out in pain. From his nursing home bed, the 84-year-old retired farmer and forklift operator begged for help to relieve the unbearable pain from his intestine and abdomen.

But nurses didn’t respond. At one point, 11 of the 13 nurses on duty were on a break.

That is one of a slew of allegations against Beverly Health and Rehabilitation of Frankfort and 11 of its nurses or nurses’ aides contained in a $155 million lawsuit filed by Richards’ daughter, Wanda Delaplane, on behalf of his estate.

In opening arguments this week in the jury trial, her attorneys alleged that the 100-bed facility was severely understaffed due to a company-wide effort to cut expenses and raise the stock price. They also said the nurses failed to take basic steps to treat Richards’ suffering from an impacted bowel that eventually caused a fatal heart attack.

Bowel impactions can cause SO many problems.

They alleged Beverly officials and staff moved to cover up the cause of death and tried to stymie a state inquiry. Investigators cited the home for several violations.

Beverly attorneys deny the allegations and contend that Richards smoked for years and that an autopsy showed his arteries were severely blocked. The lawsuit was potentially filed out of grief and guilt by Delaplane and her siblings, attorney Norris Cunningham said, according to transcripts of the opening statements in Franklin Circuit Court.

In a statement released by Beverly attorneys yesterday, nursing home administrator Kara Meredith declined to discuss the case, but said the safety and well-being of their patients is the top priority.

Bernie Vonderheide, president of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, said he could not recall a jury trial as big as this one in terms of the size of punitive damages sought and the significance for nursing home advocacy.

The trial underscores that staff shortages are a chronic problem in homes in Kentucky and nationwide, Vonderheide said. “It brings out for real all the complaints we have been talking about in long-term care. It makes them real.”

Based in Fort Smith, Ark., Beverly Enterprises Inc. employs 34,000 people nationwide, according to its Web site. It operates more than 400 nursing facilities, assisted living centers and hospices in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

In recent years, the company has been hit with wrongful-death lawsuits in states including Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas and Virginia and has paid out millions. In Evansville, Ind., earlier this year, a county coroner ruled the death of an 86-year-old woman a homicide due to neglect.

Last month, Beverly was sold to San Francisco-based Fillmore Capital Partners LLC for $1.8 billion, according to The Associated Press.

Beverly needs to clean up it’s act. Plain and simple. The staffing shortages have nothing to do with Beverly though- it’s a national problem and I don’t know what the solution to that is.

Interesting article:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Local officials say the state’s emphasis on tracking improvement in nursing homes and home health care services is the reason why Alabama has continued to perform well in those areas, as shown recently in a national study.

Nursing home care in the state was rated as “strong” after ranking above average in 9 of 15 quality measures monitored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Md.

Mike Jordan, spokesman for the Alabama Nursing Home Association, said the ratings highlight industry efforts to track both improvements and shortcomings in the state’s nursing home facilities.

Benchmarking tools like the Setting Targets-Achieving Results (STAR) Web site offered with the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation, have helped give nursing homes a concrete way to monitor their levels of care, he said.

The site lets nursing homes set targets quality goals and track their progress over time.

“It’s about setting a standard, trying to achieve that standard and then if not, saying, ‘What could we have done to make sure those standards are met the next time?” Jordan said Tuesday.

The state rankings were devised using information from the 2005 National Healthcare Quality Report that was originally released in January.

Alabama received an “average” ranking overall after all areas were factored in, including the state’s quality of preventive, acute and chronic care.

“There are concerns about prevention with babies and mothers, but again birth rate is very much related to the economics of the state,” said Dwight McNeill, who helped oversee the study. “The absence of good prenatal care and the level of prenatal care is a concern, but the nursing home and home health care are about the best I’ve seen.”

Five of the state’s six “below average” ratings in preventative care were in maternal and child care categories.

That’s an area Alabama has struggled with, said Tom Miller, director of the health department’s office of family planning.

“Historically we have been trying to improve prenatal care because we’ve lagged behind on infant mortality rates and we’re not where we’d like to be,” he said. “We’re always looking for opportunities to do things that would improve it.”

Miller said his department has been working with the March of Dimes to educate women about the dangers of smoking while pregnant, which has been shown to affect birth weight.

“During pregnancy is a good time for women to quit because we’ve found that a lot of them are more motivated by the pregnancy once they know all the dangers,” he said.

—

On the Net:

Healthcare Quality Report: http://www.qualitytools.ahrq.gov/
qualityreport/2005/state

A follow up article about the NY State nursing home that was going to be shut down.

NEWS 10NBC has a follow up on a Rochester nursing home that was sold and renamed after the state accused some employees of neglecting residents. Jennifer Matthew, now called Blossom North, has been under the care of Blossom Healthcare for just over a month. Blossom North President Jerry Wood says the community needs to see change is happening in order for the facility to thrive. “We have a lot of empty beds but they are getting filled.

Wood says 90 of the original Jennifer Matthew employees still are still employed as certified nurse assistants. 28 others have been fired or suspended following the state’s investigation that showed employees severely neglected residents. “The department of health has shown me what they had and it was despicable. What I saw and it’s not going to be tolerated here.”

Wood says all remaining employees are currently being retrained in terms of how to handle patients and there’s a new buzz going around to help boost morale. “My big word is compassion but you can’t teach compassion.”

Ann Grande-Cline returned to Blossom North when the new owners took over. She left during the neglect allegations but didn’t want to. Grande-cline says she never saw any abuse. “I didn’t see any of that. I’d be lying if I did.”

“I ‘m glad i didn’t have to move cause that was an awful ordeal on people,” said resident Inez Flanigan.

Wood says constantly checking in on employees and being vigilant will help Blossom North shed the bad reputation left by the previous owner and spare residents from another bad experience or even the fear of one. “I don’t care what your job title is but wherever there’s a job just get it done.”

Wood says the second floor of the facility is being revamped to serve as a rehab facility. If they can acquire 80 rehab patients then the 55 long-term patients they have right now is sufficient.

Wood says this project has been a huge investment and hopes to at least break even by May.

A CNA is fired for abuse and the he makes threats to harm other aides still employed. NOT SMART.

A former Linden Courts employee, charged with abusing patients and making terroristic threats against the facility, was bound over to District Court to stand trial.

James A. McDaniel, 25, 2401 E. 2nd; was charged with the felonies in Lincoln County Court and could face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment if convicted of all the crimes.

On Thursday, McDaniel waived his preliminary hearing and had his case bound over to felony court.

Lincoln County Judge Kent Florom lowered McDaniel’s bond from $10,000 to $5,000 but he was reminded not to go within 100 feet of Linden Court.

McDaniel was arrested by the North Platte police for two counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult March 6.

The police said two elderly female patients of Linden Court, 4000 W. Philip Ave., had been handled roughly by McDaniel March 2.

McDaniel was a certified nursing assistant at the retirement home and worked in the memory support division of the facility, according to court records.

Tim Jordison, administrator of Linden Court, said an internal investigation was completed immediately after administrators received the abuse complaint. McDaniel was immediately suspended then fired from the facility the next day, March 3.

The police said McDaniel handled two elderly patients roughly, leaving marks on them.

Jordison said Linden Court also notified the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services about the complaint. The HHS certifies medical professionals in Nebraska.

The police interviewed McDaniel on March 6 and cited him for two counts of felony abuse.

Later that day, the police said, McDaniel ran into a Linden Court employee at Wal-Mart. A police spokesman said McDaniel told the woman she should quit her job because he planned to “take everyone out” there and he didn’t want her to die.

The employee reported McDaniel’s statements to the police and administration at the retirement home.

The police arrested McDaniel for terroristic threats March 10. He was charged in Lincoln County Court and held in jail on a $10,000 bond. He will face a preliminary hearing March 16.

Six separate employees of Linden Court applied for and received protection orders against McDaniel. He is not allowed to speak to those people or to come within 10 blocks of the retirement home at the direction of a Lincoln County District Judge.

Jordison said Linden Court screened all employees with background checks, reference checks and drug screens. He said no one with a criminal past worked in any capacity at the home.

“The same was done with McDaniel,” Jordison said. “But nothing showed up.”

McDaniel could also have his license revoked if convicted of the abuse charges.

Make sure you know the status of resident DNR orders. I can’t imagine this sort of thing happening but I guess it does.

EKIN - A Pekin nursing home received a $10,000 fine for failing to provide CPR in a timely manner to a resident who died.

This is the third fine since September given to the facility, previously called Pekin Living and Rehabilitation Center and now known as Timbercreek Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center.

Officials at Timbercreek, 2220 State St., referred questions about the fine to the corporate office, which did not return a phone call.

The latest incident occurred Nov. 12, when a 71-year-old woman vomited, slumped over the dining room table and was unresponsive, according to state reports.

Staff working on the patient thought she had a “do not resuscitate” order, so instead of starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation, they moved her to a nearby room and began to suction the food out of her mouth. During that time, another staff member checked and realized there was no order not to resuscitate, so CPR was started.

Employee accounts to the state indicate between four and 10 minutes lapsed before CPR was started.

Also during that time, emergency transport was called to the facility for a “code blue” but when they called to see which entrance to use, the person who answered the phone said they didn’t need to come because she was a DNR, and hung up the phone, state reports indicated.

This is considered a type “A” violation of the Nursing Home Care Act, which is the most serious licensure violation imposed by the state, and “pertains to a condition in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result,” according to a release by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A Wisconsin nursing home is under the lime light in a big way:

The state of Wisconsin has released a report on the Pleasant View Nursing Home that alleges at least two incidents of resident abuse and subsequent attempts to cover it up.

The report, completed last month by a division of the state Department of Health and Family Services, tracks the alleged actions of an unidentified Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and other staff from June to November 2004.

The CNA is accused of intentionally shoving a resident, who fell to the floor, in June 2004, and hitting another resident, who subsequently hit his head on a bed footboard, in November 2004. The same CNA was allegedly known as a bully among staff and residents, according to the state report.

The facility’s administrative staff are accused of attempting to quiet the incidents.

WHY any facility would try to hush the actions of a bully aide is beyond me. These aides are BAD to have around. We all know one when we see one too…

The report documents interviews with staff that suggest the home’s administrator, Eugene Puckhaber, encouraged subordinates to “downplay” the alleged abuses and approved an internal investigation that concluded the shoving incident was an act of self-defense. Puckhaber is cited in the report as having failed to take “all reasonable steps to provide quality personnel to assure the health, safety and rights of the residents.”

The CNA remained on staff for almost a year and a half after the alleged abuse.

“This created a direct threat to the health and safety of the residents of the facility,” the state report concludes (the CNA is no longer employed at Pleasant View).

Several other nursing home employees went along with the alleged whitewash for fear of retribution, according to the report.

Wow. I wonder if the aide in question threatened the facility with a lawsuit. We all know these types too.
Read the rest of this article…it’s kind of sad that any employee is allowed to stay- when this stuff happens. A little shove is abuse. If this behavior is ok, what does it say about the administrator??

California’s second-largest nursing home chain agreed Wednesday to pay $1.3 million to the state to settle civil allegations that it provided negligent care to scores of frail patients, including two who died.

The agreement resolved a lawsuit against Pleasant Care Corp., a La Cañada Flintridge firm that owns 30 nursing homes in California, 10 of them in Los Angeles County. It marked a victory in state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer’s effort to aggressively penalize negligent nursing home operators, a tactic previous state prosecutors have not used. The settlement came in the third major legal action taken by Lockyer’s office against a large nursing home chain since he took office in 1999.

The suit accused Pleasant Care of a “pattern of poor quality of care that we found permeated their operations statewide,” said Collin Wong-Martinusen, who directs Lockyer’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse. The case was lodged under the state Unfair Business Practices Act.

This used to be a really good nursing home. I don’t what happened to make this change.

Laconia – The Belknap County Nursing Home has been cited by the state as having conditions that “constitute immediate jeopardy to resident health.”

In a March 3 letter to the administrator of the 94-bed facility, the state cited “widespread deficient practice” in analyzing medication errors, not notifying physicians of errors and failing to assess patients for bed sores or properly documenting the problems.

The letter from the Department of Health and Human Services stated that if immediate steps are not taken to correct the problem, the facility’s agreement in the Medicare/Medicaid Program would be terminated March 10. No more federal funds would be extended and a civil penalty of $3,050 a day would be imposed.

Philip “Bud” Daigneault of Laconia, one of the county commissioners who govern the nearly full facility, said yesterday that a plan to correct the concerns had been submitted and accepted yesterday by the state and that the notice of immediate jeopardy was lifted yesterday afternoon.

“I can assure you we have been dealing with this since day one. We run a very good facility here and at no time were patients in jeopardy of their health or safety,” Daigneault said. He noted the criticism focused primarily on paper work and documentation and that patients were receiving the medical care and treatment needed.

“We just came through a bad review,” he said, noting it had never happened before.

Commissioner of Health and Human Services John Stephen said last night that a verification visit is planned by his department for today and that if sufficient, an “immediate jeopardy” notice would be removed.

“We are working very collaboratively with the county commissioners to make sure seniors receive good quality care. We are pleased that they are responding … very positively,” Stephen said. “We will have a follow-up tomorrow.”

Robert Ehlers, bureau chief for certification in the Health Facilities Administration within the state HHS, who sent the county home the letter, declined to comment on the matter yesterday afternoon.

But in the letter, obtained by the New Hampshire Union Leader, Ehlers told Bernard Gray, administrator of the Belknap County Nursing Home, that a survey team found that the facility “failed to ensure that nine of 11 residents with pressure ulcers in a standard survey sample of 19 received the necessary treatment and services to promote healing, which resulted in immediate jeopardy to residents.”

It noted that the facility “failed to provide ordered treatment” and assess resident skin status, failed to document skin status, failed to provide pressure-relieving devices, failed to provide consistent pressure treatment, and provided treatment without doctors orders.

In a separate but related count the team found medication errors.

It was determined that the nursing home:

* failed to fully investigate medication errors;

* failed to provide education to prevent medication errors;

* failed to report all medication errors to a physician;

* failed to administer medication in a timely manner;

* and failed to utilize the Quality Improvement Committee to analyze the reasons for medication errors.

Ehlers wrote that in order to avoid termination March 10, “you must correct the Immediate Jeopardy and submit to this office a letter of credible allegation of compliance. “

Daigneault said such a letter was sent Tuesday and that it had been approved by HHS yesterday.

Stephen said the department still needs to verify things today.

Daigneault said the Belknap County Commission was meeting with the staff of the nursing home yesterday afternoon to go over ways to ensure that the problems do not occur again.

He said the facility is fully staffed and fully funded through the federal, state and county for the 90 or so who are in residence.

He said the county and the state share equally in the non-Medicaid portion of the operation.

“We went through extensive renovations last year to bring everything up to snuff,” he said of the home which was built in 1998.

Fully staffed, he said the home uses agency nurses which is not inconsistent with other nursing homes in addition to its full time nursing staff.

Daigneault said the county has the option to appeal any finding and has 60 days to request a hearing.

“The commission is meeting now and we are having a meeting with director to discuss this,” he said.

For all who think Unions are a good thing, check out this site:

Union Facts.com

Look up the profile of many unions. Here’s a sample of the SEIU.

For all the talk about companies doing unfair labor practices, check out SEIU’s record. (Shame)

And see how many facilities actually chose this union for representation vs. how many DON’T. (13 pages long!!)

It’s like this with all the unions. Look around the site. You might learn something.

Michigan…NOT the state to be in and try to mess with the lives of nursing home residents. And everyone involved gets in trouble, not just the aides.

The state attorney general said Monday eight workers of a Big Rapids nursing home, including a Hart doctor who was the facility’s medical director and a deputy county medical examiner, tried to cover up a death of a 50-year-old woman who died because her oxygen tank wasn’t changed.

When patient Sarah Comer died, eight nursing home workers “went into cover-up mode,” state Attorney General Mike Cox said Monday at a news conference announcing 18 felony counts against the former workers at Metron of Big Rapids.

One of those being charged is Dr. Rudy Ochs of Hart, the nursing home’s director who also served as the Mecosta County deputy medical examiner. It was that role which Cox alleges helped those involved evade immediate detection.

Cox said it was on Ochs’ recommendation that no autopsy be performed on Comer, who was oxygen-dependent and died only 16 hours after being admitted to the care center for rehabilitation of kidney and diabetes complications. Ochs, who runs a family practice with the county’s contracted medical examiner, Dr. Paul Wagner, in Hart, is deputized as a secondary investigator.

“It’s a clear conflict of interest,” Cox said. “(Ochs) used his relationship as deputy medical examiner to influence what was done after death.”

Officials at Metron, headquartered in Cascade Township, said they have cooperated with the investigation.

“The health, safety and security of our residents is of the utmost importance to our management and staff,” a statement released by the company said. “We will continue to provide quality restorative and long-term health care to our residents.”

In all, the center’s former administrator, interim director of nursing, nurses, a nursing assistant and Ochs are charged. The 18 felony and five misdemeanor allegations include involuntary manslaughter, falsifying medical records, tampering with evidence and failing to report patient abuse.

Beside Ochs, those being charged are: Kathleen Rose Johnson, 57, of Big Rapids, a nurse and day-shift supervisor; Cheryl Lynn Williams, 41, currently of Florida, a nurse and midnight-shift supervisor; Tracey Marie Moore, 31, of Luther, a nursing assistant; Sharon Elaine Mumah, 39, of Morley, interim director of nursing; Christine Marie Mondrella, 42, of Paris, the director of nursing; Laura Lynn Ferrara, 41, of Kalamazoo, a nurse and corporate clinical director for Metron in Grand Rapids; and Robert Koch, Jr., 49, of South Carolina, the nursing home administrator.

None of the suspects returned repeated calls seeking comment. Seven of the eight are to be arraigned Friday in Mecosta County District Court, the attorney general’s office said.

Mecosta Administrator Paul Bullock said Wagner offered to talk to county commissioners about Ochs’ role in the allegations. Ochs remains with the county, Bullock said, declining further comment.

Comer’s death initially was investigated by state health officials, who could not prove wrongdoing by her caregivers.

But Cox said he can, based on the strength of information obtained with legal tools not available to health department investigators. The attorney general’s health care unit used search warrants and subpoenas — court orders that require a person to appear and be questioned under oath — to ferret out the circumstances of Comer’s death.

Doctored medical charts initially pushed suspicion aside, Cox said.

“There was tampering (with records) after the death to make it appear she was properly attended to,” Cox said. “No one should check their security or their dignity at the door. A number of staff members didn’t do their job, both in primary care and in supervision.

“This is a horrible case that need not have happened.”