Missouri Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

One year later, the cause of a mentally ill nursing home resident's death remains a mystery, according to a recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

One morning in the summer of 2009, the 46-year-old resident of the Normandy Nursing Center told employees at the nursing home that he wasn't feeling well. The resident did not eat his breakfast that morning and declined to take his medication. Later that day, a nursing home employee found the man sprawled across his bed. He had stopped breathing, and he was pronounced dead not long after.

Toxicology tests indicated that the resident had died of a morphine overdose. However, the resident had not been prescribed morphine or any other opiate pain medication and was not known to be a drug-seeker. The tests revealed three to four times the normal morphine dose in the resident's system, but tests on his liver indicated that he was not a long-term morphine user. Although police investigated both this resident's case and an incident two months later involving another resident who was found to have opiates in her system, the case remains a mystery.

Continue reading "Cause of Missouri Nursing Home Patient's Death Still Unknown" »

A jury ruled against a California nursing home company and ordered it to pay over twenty-nine million dollars to the family of an elderly resident who died while under its care. According to a Sacramento Bee report, the jury ruled that the nursing home had committed elder abuse. They found that the resident’s daughter was entitled to over one million dollars for the victim’s pain and suffering and for the loss of her mother’s companionship. After the jurors were told that the nursing home company was worth about two hundred million dollars, they awarded twenty-eight million dollars in punitive damages. The punitive damage award was by far the largest elder abuse award in the area’s history.

The deceased had mild dementia when she moved into a nursing home in Auburn, California in 2005. Seven months later, she had a fall that broke her hip. The hip break was not diagnosed for days, and she died of an infected bed sore. This was the fourth incident in which the home was cited for the death of a resident.

The plaintiff argued that the nursing home was purposely without sufficient staff members and therefore provided substandard care. The defense claimed that it took good care of the patient and that the sore that killed her happened after she was transferred to a hospital for surgery on her hip.

Nursing home neglect and abuse is tragic and unfortunately occurs throughout the United States. If you or someone you care about has been a victim of nursing home abuse in Missouri, you need to protect your rights or the rights of your loved one. Contact the experienced Missouri nursing home abuse attorneys at Page Law by calling 314-322-8515 to learn more. We can help.

On December first, the U.S. Senate will begin debates on its version of healthcare reform including a considerable expansion of the Elder Justice Act and other issues concerning seniors and long-term care. The Senate’s version is reportedly more extensive than the House’s bill. The main issues in both reforms include more effective worker screening programs with national background checks. In addition, the Senate’s version incorporates an increase in federal aid for elder abuse identification and requires long-term care providers to report cases as well as implement new anti-abuse programs alongside the Department of Health and Human Service.

Other provisions include Medicare market basket payment updates for 2010, long-term insurance programs and the expansion of Medicaid to community-based and home services. The Senate’s reform will also implement the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act, which enable long-term care insurance programs for current workers to pay gradually in preparation for elder years.

Continue reading "Senate to Debate on Health Reform and Elder Justice Act December 1" »

Missouri nursing home and elder abuse attorneys have always been concerned about the escalating rates of nursing home abuse and neglect in the state. A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has revealed that a Medicare program intended to evaluate the conditions of nursing homes in the United States has overlooked hundreds of facilities that provide substandard care. According to the news report, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has listed up to 13 nursing homes as "special focus facilities," which means that they are inspected more frequently because they received low grades for their living condition. However, a recent GAO report finds that Medicare and Medicaid still may have overlooked 580 nursing homes in this category.

The Senate Aging Committee is considering expanding the program to include facilities that are still underperforming, but have not been included in the special focus list. This is important because many consumers who are looking to place their loved ones in nursing homes are counting on Medicare and Medicaid's information to select a nursing home. However, many don't realize that the "approved" homes on the Nursing Home Compare list may not really provide quality care.

Continue reading "Many Nursing Homes Not Up To Standard, New Report Finds" »

A federal report released Sept. 29 shows more than 90 percent of Missouri’s nursing homes were cited for federal health and safety violations in 2007. According to this news report, the numbers were released from the Department of Health and Human Services, which reflected this trend across the country. The problems associated with most nursing homes included nursing home abuse or neglect, errors handling medication and infected bedsores.

In Missouri, the average nursing home had about eight deficiencies in 2007. That is an increase compared to 2005. Also, almost every nursing home in Missouri – about 92 percent – had some type of deficiency or record of violation.

Here’s another interesting finding from the report. Nursing homes, which operated as a for-profit business had more violations than non-profit homes. The Bush administration will start using a five-star program in December to rank the overall quality of care for the country’s nursing homes.

Nursing home negligence and abuse cases are among the most heartbreaking of personal injury cases because in most cases, the vulnerable victims are severely injured or lose their lives because of the negligence or abuse. Our firm will go after unethical nursing homes that give more importance to profits than the people they are supposed to serve.

If you or someone you love has been a victim of nursing home abuse or negligence, please call an experienced Missouri nursing home negligence attorney to discuss your case. Our consultations are free, comprehensive and completely confidential.

Elder abuse leading to personal injuries occurs more frequently than most of us are aware. A staggering approximate of one third of nursing homes in the United States have been cited for some type of nursing home abuse.

Missouri personal injury attorneys do their best to keep a sort of checks and balances system in place. Recently in Missouri, a nursing home and its employees were found guilty of both criminal and civil conduct. Criminal charges were filed after recurring physical abuse led to the death of a 78-year-old man.

The man, allegedly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was unable to walk. His family had to place him in a nursing home so his needs were better met. Over the course of his stay in the nursing home, one particular staff member allegedly beat the man repeatedly. Nurses found the nursing home abuse victim with a bleeding forehead, swollen lip and bruised eye. The personal injury victim was taken to the hospital where he died from a severe head injury known as a subdural hematoma.

The nursing home employee was found by the court to be the cause of the man’s death. He was also found to have acted in intentional disregard for the man's life through physically abusing him on several occasions. The nursing home operator was found to be negligent in the care of the man.

Continue reading "Abuse of Elderly More Common Than Many Realize" »

After a man was killed in a nursing home fire, his family member filed an elder abuse wrongful-death lawsuit claiming the facility lacked adequate fire prevention systems and the power to deal with an emergency situation.

The suit claims the defendants didn't have an operable sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and alarms. The facility's staff also allegedly did not follow proper procedures when dealing with the fire.

This situation likely also involves elements of a nursing home and elder abuse case, as the staff allegedly did not follow proper procedures. Nursing home and elder abuse is actionable when a nursing home patient is not given proper care and suffers injuries or death from such neglect. By visiting, you will find more information about nursing home abuse.

Generally to prove a cause of action against a nursing home for injury or death of a patient the following need to be established:

1. the existence of a duty owed by the nursing home to the patient;
2. the standard of care applicable to the nursing home governing its care and treatment of the patient;
3. the nursing home's breach of duty to the patient by failure to adhere to the applicable standard of care;
4. injury to or death of the patient; and
5. a proximate causal relationship between the nursing home's breach of duty and the patient's injury or death

Continue reading "Elder Abuse Wrongful Death Claim Filed" »