Brent Adams & Associates Legal Blog

Silver Alert Issued For Missing North Carolina Man

A man suffering from dementia wandered from his Raleigh group home yesterday, triggering a North Carolina Silver Alert. The man was last seen wearing all black clothing.

Alleged Sexual Assault At Wake Forest Nursing Home

A man from Wake County has been accused of sexually assaulting a patient at a rest home in Wake Forest.

 

According to police, 42-year-old Michael Brodie, a nursing assistant, allegedly assaulted a female resident at the Wake Forest Adult Care Center.

 

The alleged incident took place in February, however, the victim has only recently come forward. The only comment Wake Forest Care Center Director Terri Allen would make about the incident was that "It was very inappropriate." She did not have further details to offer.

 

Allen said that she has only been an employee at the center for three months and was not the person who hired Brodie.

 

Laws regulate who is or isn't eligible to work at an adult care facility. The center was not in violation of the rules, but a criminal background check may not do much to protect residents.

 

According to Allen, they conducted a background check, however they did not find what an investigation team from ABC11 Eyewitness News discovered: This incident is not the first brush with the law Brodie has had.

 

Brodie's most recent offense was a traffic violation in 2008, but his record also includes charges of misdemeanor simple assault and assault with a deadly weapon dating back to 1986.

 

According to North Carolina state officials, rest homes are only required by law to conduct background checks. The state also maintains a registry of health care workers who have been accused of neglect and abuse.

 

In the case of Brodie, no red flags were discovered, according to the law, meaning that it is up to private centers such as Wake Forest Adult Care Center to determine who to hire.

 

Allen said that the victim is okay, but she fired Brodie after an internal investigation was conducted. She said that the decision was unexpected, much like the surprising allegation against an employee that had been considered to be one of the most trustworthy.

 

Brodie is currently in prison and is scheduled to appear in court later in May.

Cherry Springs Village Nursing Home Ceiling Collapses In Hendersonville NC

The Cherry Springs Village Nursing Home had to evacuate residents after the ceiling of the adult care facility collapsed due to water damage and frozen pipes. No one was seriously injured in the North Carolina nursing home accident.

Silver Alert Issued For Raleigh Woman Who Wandered From Group Home

A Silver Alert was issued for a North Carolina woman who wandered from her group home. She was later safely recovered and returned to her caregivers.

18 North Carolina Nursing Homes Receive Improvement Grants

Using money collected from nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect violations, North Carolina is offering grants to over a dozen adult care facilities to improve the quality of life for their residents. The nursing homes are adding gardens, activity centers, and even ice cream parlors to their facilities.

Wake Forest Care Center Receives No Stars In New NC Rating System

Many are excited about the new nursing home rating system in North Carolina, but for adult care homes that are receiving no stars after review, the rating system is exposing a glut of problems, such as North Carolina nursing home abuse, North Carolina nursing home neglect, and other nursing home safety and health violations.

Wake Forest Care Center is one of three North Carolina nursing homes to receive zero of five possible stars - with the adult care facility recording a recent building fire, a high number of medication mistakes, and a low general quality of life. In 2006, a patient wandered from the home and died, resulting in a state fine.

The NC nursing home has 50 patients - though North Carolina officials suspended new residents from entering the home in March. However, state nursing home regulators are giving the troubled nursing home two months to clean up its act.

Nursing Home Wandering Death Leads To Lawsuit

In February, a Primrose Villa nursing home resident wandered from the facility and fell to her death in a nearby ravine. Now her daughter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in North Carolina alleging that her mother was not properly medicated the night before her death and that she had a history of leaving the premises unsupervised.

Serita Cheryl Evans, 43, says that her mother, Carrie Christine Evans, 85, suffered from insomnia, mild dementia, bipolar disorder, and hypertension. Yet the night before her North Carolina nursing home death, the Trazodone and Vistarial that was prescribed for her health and safety was not administered to her. In addition, the alarm system that warns staff of wandering nursing home residents was broken at the time of Evans' death and had not been inspected in almost a year.

Her daughter is seeking $10,000 in damages in order to pay for funeral expenses, burial costs, and other expenses.

Man Files Suit Over Friend's Nursing Home Falls

The next friend of a deceased woman has filed suit against the nursing home where the woman allegedly sustained personal injuries due to multiple falls that caused multiple fractures.

According to the suit filed by James E. Golliday in Illinois’ St. Clair County Circuit Court on June 8, Dora Haskins-Bond was a resident at Eldercare Inc., doing business as Calvin Johnson Care Center, between December 2004 and July 31, 2008.

The suit says that on July 7, Haskins-Bond fell during her stay at the center, causing her to sustain fractures to her left femur and right knee. Golliday says that because she had previously fallen during her time at the center, the defendants should have been aware of her susceptibility to falls and fractures.

The suit says that Haskins-Bond was known to be at risk for falls as of no later than February 16, 2006 due to having already suffered at least two falls at the center in addition to other factors which put her at risk.

However, the suit says, the center and its owners did not provide adequate resources and monitoring for Haskins-Bond to prevent a fall, in addition to other breaches of duty.

The suit claims that due to her fall, Haskins-Bond incurred medical expenses, experienced physical and mental pain and suffering, disfigurement, lost enjoyment of life, and aggravation of prior health conditions.

In addition to the center, the suit also names Steven Wolf, administrative manager of Eldercare, and Prudence Wolf, who had ownership interest in the company, as defendants.

Golliday seeks damages in excess of $400,000, plus costs, from the eight-count suit.

Man Says Nursing Home Responsible For His Uncle's Fatal Fall

The nephew of a man who died after sustaining personal injuries in a fall at a nursing home has filed suit against the home, claiming that it allowed him to fall.

According to the suit filed on March 31 in Illinois’ St. Clair County Circuit Court by John Cowan, his father, Leroy Cowan, was a patient at Cahokia Nursing and Rehabilitation Center when he fell on March 22, 2002, causing him to suffer a subdural hematoma.

The suit says that the subdural hematoma eventually led to Cowan’s death on March 31, 2002.

The suit claims that Cowan experienced extreme pain and lost consciousness before his death.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of Cahokia for allowing Cowan to walk without supervision, failure to restrain Cowan in order to prevent a fall, failure to provide Cowan with proper instructions about moving with an aide’s help, and failure to warn Cowan of the risks of movement without help.

John Cowan seeks damages in excess of $50,000.

North Carolina Officials Sweep Nursing Homes For Dangerous Peanut Butter Products

In the wake of the peanut butter salmonella outbreak across the country, North Carolina health officials are sweeping state-licensed health care facilities - such as nursing homes, hospitals, hospices, mental health facilities, substance abuse rehabilitation centers, and adult care centers - for peanut butter products that could be suspect.

The report, which came from acting director Jeff Horton, who said that the North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation, would be doing the checks as soon as possible to keep the outbreak of food poisoning under control in state-regulated health facilities.

The health officials will have be looking for brands such as: King Nut, Parnell's Pride, Austin brand snack crackers, Keebler brand snack crackers, and Little Debbie brand snack crackers.

This sweep for contaminated products comes after a number of the salmonella sicknesses and deaths were connected with nursing home food and hospital food.

In the last month, over 500 people have taken sick after eating contaminated peanut butter products. One of the eight related deaths took place in North Carolina, though the bacteria made people ill in 43 different states.

Is Your Nursing Home Staff Responsible Or Negligent?

Many think that nursing home abuse or neglect is clear-cut acts by staff and nurses - physical hitting, improper use of restraints, or verbal attacks. However, nursing home neglect can be a more passive but still very dangerous form of abuse.

While there are some instances of outright abuse at nursing homes in North Carolina, the majority of improper elder care cases have to do with simple, sometimes subtle neglect: a man suffers from bedsores because he is not moved often enough by attendants. A woman is plagued by urinary tract infections because her health is not checked thoroughly enough. A man is left unattended for hours at a time, lowering his quality of life and increasing the chances that he will have a medical emergency without anyone to help him.

Just last month, a 74 year-old woman suffering from dementia and living in a High Point nursing home went missing from her nursing home on New Year's Day. When rescue works found her, she had almost died of hypothermia - unconscious at the bottom of a wooded embankment. Unlike more distinct cases of abuse, it is difficult to know whether this woman's near-death was the result of an under-supervised nursing home.

If you have questions about your own loved one and nursing home abuse and neglect, call us today for more information about your potential case.

Nursing Home Neglect Fractures Woman's Surgically Repaired Hip

A woman from North Platte has filed suit against the North Platte Care Centre, now known as Premier Estates, alleging that her 65-year-old aunt sustained personal injuries that caused her to permanently be confined to a wheelchair after employees dropped her onto the floor.

Melody Lucero filed suit on behalf of Hazel Earll, a mentally retarded woman who was undergoing rehabilitation at the nursing home. The suit names the nursing home and its parent companies, The Boyle Company Inc. and Davbo Co. LLC., Timothy, David, Stanley and Patrick, Richard and Marcia Boyle, and Pamela Barr, a nurse practitioner for Internal Medicine Associates of North Platte, as defendants.

According to the suit, on November 20, 2006, Earll underwent a surgical procedure at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in order to totally replace her right hip. After the surgery, she showed progress during rehab of the hip at GPRMC and was able to bear weight on her right side, the suit side.

On November 22, Earll was transferred from GPRMC to North Platte Care Centre in order to undergo further rehab. According to the suit, two days later, on November 24, while Earll was being transferred by employees to the bathroom, the employees dropped her, causing her to suffer personal injuries to her right elbow, the right side of her forehead, and her cervical spine in addition to fracturing her newly replaced right hip.

According to the suit, Earll’s right hip incision contracted an infection and on November 29, an appointment was made for her by the staff to see Barr at Internal Medicine Associates.

The suit says that on November 30, Lucero requested that Earll be transferred to the emergency room at GPRMC because of extreme distress due to pain. The suit says that x-rays showed that her hip had been fractured in three places.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of North Platte Care Centre for failure to meet their obligation to care for Earll, conscious disregard for the rights and safety of Earll, hiring and employing nursing staff that was unqualified and untrained, and being chronically understaffed.

Suit Filed Over Injured Nursing Home Resident

A suit was filed by an attorney-in-fact on behalf of a nursing home resident at New Athens Home for the Aged alleging that the resident sustained personal injuries because of the home’s negligence. The home’s neglect allegedly caused her a fractured left leg and right leg and dislocated right shoulder.

According to Gregory Krieg, on March 3 and June 7, Margaret Krieg suffered the injuries. Krieg filed the suit on November 26 in St. Clair County, Illinois Circuit Court.

The suit claims that during her time at New Athens, Margaret Krieg suffered severe and repeated pain, mental anguish, and distress. Gregory Krieg also claims that she has become further debilitated and disabled and incurred great medical expenses. The complaint also states that her ability to participated in ordinary activities and enjoy life has been adversely affected.

The suit alleges that Krieg’s injuries came about due to the nursing home’s violation of multiple provisions in “The Nursing Home Care Act.”

The home’s violations include its failure to evaluate Margaret Krieg in order to ensure that she received adequate supervision and assistance for prevention of accidents, failure to assess the risks associated with side rails, failure to appropriately update her care plan to address her history of failing, and failure to identify potential risk factors, according to Gregory Krieg.

Krieg seeks damages in excess of $50,000 in addition to costs.

July Library Items: A Focus on Nursing Home Abuse in North Carolina

Elder abuse and neglect is one of the saddest, most unfortunate, and most deplorable type of abuse that attorneys come into contact with. But although issues such as nursing home abuse are difficult to discuss, it is vital that we openly confront these issues across long-term adult care facilities across North Carolina. By understanding and reporting instances of nursing home abuse, we will be better able to stop such horrid occurrences and make adult care facilities safer for our loved ones.

The 2004 Survey of Adult Protective Services reported some sobering numbers regarding elder abuse, not just for North Carolina, but for the entire country:

• There were a total of 565,747 cases of elder abuse and neglect in 2004 - roughly a 19 percent increase from the last survey conducted in 2000.
• Roughly 24 percent of the neglect cases stemmed from caregiver neglect, while another 21 percent of cases dealt with financial exploitation.
• 67 percent of neglected or abused elders were female.

Because of these shocking numbers, we have decided to focus our new July document library items on how to look for signs of nursing home physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.  According to the North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation, there have been hundreds of adult care facility violations in North Carolina in the last two years - ranging from small issues with staff qualifications to the completely avoidable deaths of nursing home residents due to negligence, abuse, or neglect.

If you have a relative in a nursing home, long-term care facility, or adult care home, take a moment to go over the three lists of warning signs we have complied and become familiar with the red flags of abuse and neglect. It is always a difficult choice to place a loved one in professional assisted living - make sure they are getting the care and attention all people deserve. If you think that your loved one is being abused and neglected, please seek help immediately.

Learn the signs of elder abuse and neglect:

• Warning signs of physical nursing home abuse
• Warning signs of sexual nursing home abuse
• Warning signs of nursing home neglect

Doctor With Record of Neglect Still Practicing in Colorado

For some Denver-area families, the nightmare never ends.

An area physician with a documented history of neglect still is practicing medicine and “tending” to elderly patients in the hospital and nursing home community, according to thedenverchannel.com, the ABC affiliate there.

 

In 2000, the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners put Dr. Stan Worley on five years probation when several patients under his care died at the O’Hara Nursing Home in Denver. Dr. Worley was a staff physician at the nursing home when sanctioned by the board. Dr. Worley was sued by one family of a deceased resident but the case was settled. O’Hara has since closed.

Six years later, Dr. Worley was a staff physician at the Cherry Creek Nursing Center in Aurora when yet another fatality occurred under his watch:

Distressed Patient Seemingly Neglected by Doctor

On Sept. 8, 2006, 82-year-old Frank Andrade was discharged from a hospital and sent to Cherry Creek for rehabilitation for hip surgery. Concerned about her father’s dehydration from diarrhea, Rachel Belmudez asked Dr. Worley if her father was strong enough for the transfer.

She said the doctor said, "He's good to go."

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment investigation reported Andrade worsened that day.

 

 

Oklahoma Nursing Homes Can't Afford Liability Insurance

Nursing facilities that carry no liability insurance are gambling. But most of them have no choice but to roll the dice. Available funds pay for resident care, staffing and administrative costs.

 

In Oklahoma, there are 56 uninsured elder homes with 6,621 beds, according to the Oklahoma Center for Consumer & Patient Safety (OCCPS) in Tulsa, according to NewsOK.com.

”Over 20 percent of beds in Oklahoma are in nursing homes that refuse to carry insurance," said Hugh Robert, executive director of OCPPS. "The number is likely a lot higher."

OCPPS wants legislation which would require all nursing homes to carry liability insurance or at least to provide proof of assets in case of a lawsuit.

But the Oklahoma Association of Healthcare Providers (OAHP) sees it much differently. "Under funding from Medicaid and Medicare has forced many nursing home owners to make a choice -- either pay for liability insurance or pay for taking care of residents," said Becky Moore, executive director of OAHP. “Unless the government wants to increase Medicaid payments to homes to cover insurance costs, it should not mandate insurance coverage,"she said.

She agreed many homes in Oklahoma lack legal protection from the threat of lawsuits but said administrators have no choice. Moore said the number of insured homes increased when an insurance group which covered nine out of 10 homes in the state went bankrupt three years ago.

"Premium rates have increased five times what they were five years ago," Moore said, adding that insurance policies have huge deductibles for their coverage.

 

http://newsok.com/article/3217720/1205868148