Florida Injury Attorney Blog

In Florida, a 72-year-old nursing home resident at the Rehabilitation Center of St. Petersburg has been charged with molesting another patient. Christopher McDermott was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a disabled person.

The victim, a 54-year-old woman, has a 5-year-old’s mental capabilities. Nursing home workers had reportedly warned McDermott numerous times not to have any contact with the resident. On the afternoon of April 30, however, McDermott was seen touching the female patient’s breast.

Sexual abuse of any kind, whether between adults or an adult and a child is a crime and a cause of serious personal injury. If your loved one was sexually abused by another nursing home patient, a nursing home worker, or a visitor to the long-term care facility, you may be able to hold both the perpetrator and the nursing home liable for civil damages.

Nursing homes are supposed to take care of residents and protect them from becoming the victims of violent crimes. Failure to provide this care and protection can be grounds for a Florida nursing home neglect lawsuit.

Many elderly and sick nursing home patients have a hard enough time taking care of themselves let alone fending off a sexual assailant. Unfortunately, the victim may be too scared or is unable to voice his or her fears or report the incident.

Signs that a Florida nursing home resident may have been the victim of sexual abuse:
• Sexually transmitted disease
• Bruises on the inner thighs
• Pain or bleeding or itching in the anal or genital areas
• Depression
• Personality changes
• Fear of certain people
• Timid behavior
• Making comments about sexual behavior

Man charged with molesting fellow nursing home resident, TBO.com, May 5, 2009

Elderly Often Unrecognized Victims of Sexual Abuse, Senior Journal, November 9, 2004

Related Web Resources:
National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care

Nursing Home Guide, AHCA

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In Florida, the Department of Children and Families is investigating whether the smothering death of Chrisanto Beltran, a 72-year-old male resident at a Southwest Florida nursing home may have been partially caused by nursing home neglect. Beltran died at the Hidden Oaks Retirement Center last January during an altercation with another resident, 87-year-old Kenneth Knauf. The two men were both Alzheimer’s patients.

According to police, they were fighting over a blanket. While the medical examiner determined that Beltran’s cause of death was asphyxiation by smothering, questions are being raised as to whether inadequate patient supervision contributed to the elderly man’s death. According to the Department of Children and Family’s local spokesperson, one of the patients was supposed to be supervised every 15 minutes.

Not only must US nursing homes make sure that they provide each resident with the proper medical care and attention that they need, but nursing workers are responsible for making sure that patients are not a danger to themselves or others. This may mean providing additional supervision, as well as separating certain patients from the rest of the resident population. When failure to execute these responsibilities leads to injury or death, the Florida nursing home can be held liable for nursing home neglect or wrongful death.

Unfortunately, the deadly incident involving Beltran and Knauf is not that uncommon, especially as findings indicate that there are more mentally ill patients living in US nursing homes today than there were several years ago. Elderly patients are particularly at risk of getting hurt when they are around younger, stronger residents that may not be aware of what they are doing and cannot be held responsible for their actions.

Examples:
• In 2003, a 23-year-old mentally ill nursing home resident was accused of starting a fire that caused the deaths of 16 other patients. She was found incompetent to stand trial.

• In 2006, a 77-year-old male nursing home resident died after his roommate, 62, allegedly beat him with a bathroom towel bar. He too was found incompetent to stand trial.

Deadly nursing home fight may have been result of neglect, News-Press.com, March 13, 2009

Suffocation ruled cause in deadly nursing home fight, NaplesNews.com, January 21, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing home patients endangered by mentally ill, Boston.com, March 22, 2009

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

Continue reading "Elderly Florida Nursing Home Resident’s Smothering Death During Fight with Other Resident May Have Been Caused by Nursing Home Neglect" »

The family of William T. Fain, 80, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Westside Regional Medical Center. Fain was admitted to the hospital’s ER on Super Bowl Sunday in 2006 after having a seizure. Hospital doctors told nurses to take him to the intensive care unit and to make sure that he didn’t fall off the bed. The nurses were ordered to lower the bed, install bedrails, and frequently check on him.

The agency nurse monitoring Fain did not follow these orders. Soon after kissing family members goodbye for the night, Fain was found on the floor after falling off the bed. He sustained brain damage from hitting his head and died two weeks after the fall.

The family alleges that the fact that agency nurses are unfamiliar with or do not follow hospital procedures is an issue at Westside Regional. The hospital has responded to this accusation by stating its confidence in the care that the nurses at the hospital provides. Nightingale Nurses is the staffing agency that provided the agency nurse to the hospital.

Agency nurses are being used more often to staff hospitals because of the shortage of full-time nurses. In two hospital surveys conducted in 2007, results showed that 10% of nursing posts are vacant. This does not take into account the fact that many hospitals reportedly wish that they could hire more nurses than the number of posts that their budgets allow.

About 1 out of every 8 nurses working in Florida is a fill-in nurse. The Florida Hospital Association has acknowledged the downside of employing someone who is only a temporary worker and not a permanent part of an organization. It also, however, noted that hiring a temporary nurse is better than being understaffed. The use of agency nurses is reportedly an even more common practice at hospices and in the home health service.

Problems that can arise with fill-in nurses include:

• They may be unfamiliar with the facility, its policies and procedures.
• Because they don't always work with a patient regularly, they may not notice when there has been a change in the patient's condition.

Groups who represent Florida nurses are supporting bills that would obligate Florida hospitals to report staffing levels, including nurse-to-patient ratios. They are hoping that such a mandate would improve work conditions for nurses and provide better care for patients.

Our Florida personal injury law firm handles wrongful death cases as well as claims and lawsuits involving medical malpractice.

Lawsuit over man's death puts use of agency nurses in spotlight, Sun-Sentinel, March 10, 2008

Measure would require hospitals to divulge nurse staffing levels, Naplesnews.com, March 9, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Westside Regional Medical Center

Nightingale Nurses

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An 82-Year-Old World War II Veteran and nursing home resident had nine maggots in one eye, bedsores, a fever, and an infected breathing tube when he was admitted to Florida Hospital DeLand on November 7 for respiratory problems. At the time, Anthony Vincent Digiannurio had been a patient at the University Center West nursing home in DeLand, Florida.

Digiannurio’s daughter, Laura, says that hospice workers placed her father at University Center West because he couldn’t use his legs and he had lung problems. In May, Anthony hurt his head during a fall when a nurse left him to take care of another patient.

Diagiannurio was awarded the Purple Heart in 1988 for his participation in the European Theater of Operation on September 8, 1945. He also is the author of nine books.

Nursing Home Abuse
Nursing home abuse and negligence is a serious problem in the United States. There are some 1.5 million people living in about 17,000 nursing homes throughout the U.S. Unfortunately, there are nurses and nurse’s aides at these homes that are unqualified, overworked, and/or underpaid.

Elderly residents, who make up over half of the nursing home resident patient population, are especially susceptible to nursing home abuse because they tend to be physically weak and emotionally vulnerable—especially the ones who are very frail and unable to articulate that they are being abused.

If you suspect that someone you love is a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, you should take immediate steps to remove your loved one from the nursing home. You should also contact an experienced Florida nursing home abuse lawyer right away to determine if your loved one has grounds to file a nursing home abuse claim or lawsuit.

Signs of nursing home abuse or negligent include bedsores, unexplained genital disease or injuries, overmedication, sudden weight loss or weight gain, broken bones, bruises, loss of possessions, sudden financial withdrawals from a resident’s bank accounts, and unexpected changes to a resident’s will.

Nursing home abuse can be physical, verbal, emotional, or mental. Nursing home abuse is against the law.

Patient in nursing home investigation vet with Purple Heart, Daytona Beach News-Journal, November 17, 2007

Signs of Nursing Home Abuse, Elder Abuse Foundation

Related Web Resources:

Florida's Nursing Home Liability Statute

National Center on Elder Abuse

National Citizen's Coalition for Nursing Home Reform

Continue reading "Florida Nursing Home Patient Admitted to DeLand Hospital Had Maggots in His Eye and Bedsores" »

Phillina Anderson, a Palm Beach County resident, has been arrested for allegedly abusing an elderly nursing home resident at a South Florida facility.

Law enforcement officers with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit apprehended Anderson after a witness reported seeing Anderson strike an 89-year-old Alzheimer’s patient across the face.

At the time of the alleged assault, Anderson was working at the Glades Health Care Center in Pahokee. A witness said she heard Anderson tell the patient to shut up and then she slapped the elderly woman in the face so hard that the victim cried out. Anderson’s supervisor reported the attack to authorities.

Anderson is charged with one count of abuse of an elderly person. She could face up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

If you think that your loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse, you should look into the situation immediately. Often, a person is at a nursing home because he or she is ill or physically weak and needs the help and care of others. If your loved one is being abused, he or she may not be able to even speak out about what is happening.

Some common symptoms of nursing home abuse and neglect:

• Extreme agitation by the victim
• Rocking, biting, or sucking
• Not wanting to be around people
• Unexplained bruises, scratches, or broken bones
• Extreme and quick weight gain or weight loss
• Dehydration
• Bedsores
• Malnutrition
• Wrongful Death
• Sepsis

Abuse at nursing homes and of the elderly can consist of physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.

Abuse of the elderly where the victim has grounds to file a claim or lawsuit does not always have to occur at a nursing home. It can even occur at the elderly person's home. Elder abuse is a growing problem in the United States.

Nursing Home Employee Charged in Patient Abuse, North County Gazette, September 11, 2007

Related Web Resources:

Elder Abuse Prevalence and Incidence, Elder Abuse Center

Nursing Home Abuse Resource

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