A 40-year-old man has been accused of murdering two elderly women at an assisted living facility in California.
Two women, ages 83 and 75, were found dead when police responded to an emergency call at Happy Home Care on June 24. The women both lived at the facility.
The man accused of killing the women was employed as a live-in caretaker at the facility.
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed 42 bills, including HB 1239 – one that will change nursing home staffing standards and ultimately reduce the care these facilities provide to residents.
The debatable aspect of the bill centers on certified nursing assistants (CNAs), who provide much of the direct care to residents in nursing homes. The current law requires certified nursing assistants to provide a minimum of 2.5 hours of direct care to each resident a day. The new bill reduces the hours of direct care to just 2 hours per day.
As the law stands currently, certified nursing assistants and licensed nurses are required to provide a weekly average of 3.6 hours of direct care to each patient in a nursing home per day. This new law keeps that average, but allows for time spent by other workers, like occupational and physical therapists, to count towards that 3.6 calculation.
Medicare patients in nursing homes saw a spike in deaths last year – up 32% from the previous year, according to a government watchdog report released on Tuesday.
There were two reported surges just eight months apart that are said to be a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services report shows that a large number of Medicare recipients in nursing homes had coronavirus in 2020 (nearly 4 in 10.) The number of deaths spiked by a whopping 169,291 from the previous year, before coronavirus appeared, according to the report.
How did investigators get to these numbers? They used what is considered an accepted method of estimating spikes in deaths in a group of people after a catastrophic event. This same method was used to estimate death tolls in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017 as well as the first set of COVID-19 deaths in NYC. There is no report on cause of death just after the first coronavirus surge last spring. It does not attribute a cause of death but is seen as a barometer of impact.
When compared to 2019, death rates were higher every month in 2020. The biggest jumps in deaths were in April 2020 where 81,484 Medicare patients in nursing homes died and in December 2019 where deaths reached 74,299 amongst Medicare patients in nursing homes.
The report released Tuesday is the most comprehensive one from the government currently. It found that those residents in nursing homes or assisted living facilities that are classified as low-income and covered through Medicare and Medicaid were much more likely to have COVID-19 with infection rates among the population at 56% (26% died).
Certain states also suffered worse impacts. By December 2020, more than half of the Medicare patients in nursing homes in Illinois, Connecticut, Louisiana and New Jersey had or were suspected to have COVID-19.
Coronavirus Injury Lawyers at Whittel & Melton Can Help
Our Florida Injury & Wrongful Death Lawyers at Whittel & Melton represent victims of nursing home negligence, and can help you seek compensation for a nursing home or healthcare facility that failed to properly handle the coronavirus pandemic or any other medical emergency. We can assist surviving family members who lost a loved one while in the care of a hospital, nursing home, or assisted living facility.
If your loved one became ill or died because of COVID-19 in a nursing home, then you may be entitled to financial compensation if the facility in question failed to have proper infection control policies in place or lacked the necessary protective equipment needed to keep residents safe. Our Florida Nursing Home Injury and Death Lawyers at Whittel & Melton can help you take legal action against nursing homes that did not follow the law in caring for your loved one. We have years of experience holding these facilities accountable for their role in the abuse, neglect, or other lapses in care by filing civil lawsuits. You have every right to take action against any facilities that failed to live up to their obligations of keeping residents safe from infection and disease. Continue reading
Elder abuse is not just physical abuse – it can take the form of neglect, abandonment, financial exploitation, emotional abuse and even sexual abuse. Caretakers, spouses, children, nursing home staff, assisted living staff, etc. can all be perpetrators. According to the National Council on Aging, more than half of all elder abuse is committed by a family member.
Sadly, 1 in 10 Americans 60 and over have been the victim’s elder abuse victims. Even worse, only 1 in 14 cases of abuse are reported to police.
Statistics show that there were 4.5 million senior citizens 65+ residing in Florida in 2019. With so many elderly residing in Florida’s communities, this is a hotspot for elderly abuse.
How To Spot the Warning Signs of Elder Abuse
If you notice a friend, relative, or loved one exhibiting any of the following signs, this could be an indicator that they are the victim of elder abuse.
Why It Is Important to Report Elder Abuse
There are numerous reasons why you should report any suspected instances of elder abuse. Reporting the abuse can help the person get out of a bad situation so that they can receive the care they need for any physical injuries or emotional harm.
What to Do If You See Any Signs of Elder Abuse or Witness Acts of Elder Abuse
If you think that any elderly person is in immediate danger, the first thing to do is call 911. The victim should be removed from the situation before any reporting is done.
Once the victim is safe, then you can document any harm that you discovered, such as taking pictures of any wounds or injuries, inappropriate use of restraints, damaged clothing, etc. In addition to photographic evidence, you want to take actual notes of what you have seen so that you do not forget any information that could be helpful. Include specific information, such as dates and times, the person’s name who carried out the abuse, the place the abuse occurred, etc.
As we mentioned before, not all abuse is physical so if you are suspicious of financial exploitation/abuse, you should report this to police right away so that they can launch an immediate investigation. Treat the financial theft as if your own assets were stolen, and document what was taken, the date, the time, if a specific person was involved, etc.
If your loved one is being abused, or even if you just suspect abuse of some kind, you should speak to a personal injury lawyer who specializes in elderly abuse. Our Florida Elder Abuse Lawyers at Whittel & Melton are always available to discuss your potential case and help you understand how to take action.
How to Report Elder Abuse
The state of Florida takes all instances of abuse very seriously. Anyone who witnesses any form of abuse, is required to report it. This can be done through the state’s website, by calling the Florida Abuse Hotline 24/7 at 1-800-96-ABUSE (1-800-962-2873) or TTY: 1-800-955-8771, or faxing your report to 1-800-914-0004. Continue reading
Nursing home neglect happens at nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the country. While this is not as violent as abuse, it is equally as dangerous. When staff at these facilities fails to keep close tabs on their elderly patients or provide them with proper care, this can quickly cause their health to decline.
Nursing home neglect is when a facility fails to provide its residents with a basic standard of care. Sadly, 15.3% of elderly abuse complaints arise from neglect, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime.
If you think this cannot happen to your loved one at their nursing home or assisted living facility, think again. A facility administrator at the Good Samaritan Retirement Home, a 45-bed assisted living facility at 507 SE First Ave. in Ocala, was arrested for elderly neglect when he did not notify a nurse of a resident’s failing health. The facility had many infractions over the years and was finally shut down in 2018.
According to police, the nurse who was assigned to the elderly patient requested that the 31-year-old administrator report any changes in health to her. The resident had recently undergone an outpatient procedure and had been transported back to Good Samaritan.
According to reports, the staff on duty over the weekend let the administrator know that the resident’s health was declining, but were never instructed to contact the nurse.
It is unknown why no one contacted the nurse.
Upon the man’s return to work Monday, he apparently contacted the nurse of the resident’s failing condition. She told him to call 911 and get the resident to the hospital.
The man was charged with elderly neglect.
An investigation by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration apparently found the nursing home was guilty of failing to supervise residents, not taking appropriate action when a resident fell, not meeting staffing requirements, failing to train staff appropriately, and failing to provide the necessary care and services to meet their resident’s needs.
Good Samaritan was disciplined by the state many times before it was officially shut down.
Nursing home neglect is most often the result of poor staffing. Facilities that do not have enough staff may be stretched too thin, and exhausted and overworked employees may not be able to provide the residents in their care with the quality they need to live a healthy and happy life. Some facilities are aware of their issues, and others simply choose to ignore them. Regardless of the reasons, elderly neglect is never acceptable, and all resident’s basic needs must be met on a daily basis.
Elder neglect is a form of elderly abuse. This is because neglect causes harm to the elder. In facilities that do not have the appropriate staff, employees may find it difficult to provide the appropriate standards of care because they lack the support needed to do so. This can result in poor hygiene and affect the resident’s physical and mental health. This can result in a variety of conditions, including:
In the most severe cases of elder neglect, death can result. It is important to note any signs and symptoms that point to neglect. If you have a loved one in a nursing home or assisted living facility and see any of these signs, you should report your suspicions to local police.
Abuse and neglect in nursing homes, assisted living facilities (ALFs), and even adult daycare centers is rampant across the U.S. While this is a terrible thing, this is what happens at facilities that are more about making money than taking care of their residents. Not all facilities are guilty of these deplorable behaviors, but the reality is that many of them are.
In Williston, the owner of an adult care home was charged with mistreating residents by not providing them beds, restraining one with handcuffs, and abusing residents.
It was found that the woman failed to provide all the residents in her care with a bed, did not care for residents wounds, inflicted wounds on residents, abused a disabled adult, and used handcuffs to restrain another resident. She also did not pay two disbaled adults their monthly allowance for their personal needs.
This was a small adult home with only 10 residents, according to reports.
The woman was arrested by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Sheriff’s Office. All of her charges are felonies.
Abuse in nursing homes, ALFs, and adult daycare centers are heartbreaking as well as shocking. The signs are not always blatantly obvious, which is why so many of these cases go undetected. This is especially true when the victim is disabled or suffering from depression, anxiety, or even PTSD. These conditions may prevent seniors from telling someone about their mistreatment, but some seniors are too fearful of staff members to speak out as they believe their treatment will get worse. The truth is that unless someone is keeping close tabs on the facility in question, abuse can continue to happen without consequence. This is why if you have a loved one in a nursing home or other type of facility, you must educate yourself on the warning signs of nursing home abuse and neglect.
While there are many types of abuse at these facilities, you can be on the lookout for certain patterns that could lead to abuse. The first being physical abuse, which is one of the more obvious forms of abuse as you can see the results on the person’s body. You should look for unexplained bruises, scrapes, cuts, broken bones, fractures, and welts. These could all be signs of trauma happening, such as residents being dropped, restrained, or beaten. Some of these injuries could be the result of accidental slip and falls, but a medical doctor can evaluate the injuries and determine what was the result of an accident or assault.
Other signs of physical abuse may be a resident all of a sudden becoming withdrawn socially and being scared or startled easily. Any behaviors or injuries that are recurring are likely signs that abuse is the culprit.
Emotional abuse can also happen at nursing homes and ALFs. These signs are a bit more subtle, but if you notice a loss of self confidence, isolating, acting scared or not wanting to be left alone, rocking back and forth, sucking, mumbling, or a refusal to take medications, then this could point to neglect or abuse.
Sexual abuse also occurs in nursing homes and ALFs. Signs to look for are torn or stained underwear, bruising on the breasts or genitals, vaginal or anal bleeding, self-isolation, and episodes of rage or anger.
Financial abuse is another form of abuse that occurs regularly at these facilities. This abuse usually involves manipulation, so that the abuser has the seniors consent. You can look for unexplained expenses, missing money or valuable possessions, bills for unknown expenses, and missing checkbooks or credit cards.
There have been 1,502 deaths of residents at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida, according to a new report. This is an increase of 145 deaths in just one week.
However, reports are showing that the weekly death rate is slowing down. Last week was a 10.7% increase, but still a decrease from 14.1% for the period of May 29 to June 5.
Records indicate that 10 employees at these facilities have died since March.
Late Saturday there was a call for body bags and by Monday, the police received an anonymous tip about a body being stored in a shed outside one of the state’s largest nursing homes.
Once police arrived, the corpse had been removed from the shed, but they discovered 17 bodies piled inside the nursing home in a small morgue, intended to hold no more than four people.
The 17 were among 68 recent deaths linked to the long-term care facility, Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II, including two nurses, officials said. Of those who died, 26 people had tested positive for the virus.
For all the others, the cause of death is unknown.
Of the patients who remain at the homes, housed in two buildings, 76 have tested positive for the virus; 41 staff members, including an administrator, are sick with COVID-19, according to county health records shared Wednesday with a federal official.
This nursing home is certainly not alone. Coronavirus has killed thousands of residents at facilities struggling with staff shortages, increasingly sick patients and a lack of personal protective gear.
Andover Subacute has beds for 700 patients and records show it is the state’s largest licensed facility.
Even before the pandemic, the nursing home had struggled. Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation II recently got a one-star rating of “much below average” from Medicare for staffing levels, inspections and patient care.
Reports indicate that the nursing home is overwhelmed by the death toll and has requested help from the governor’s office to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The state Department of Health sent two shipments containing 3,200 surgical masks, 1,400 N95 masks and 10,000 gloves to the nursing homes, according to a spokeswoman.
The nursing home has told local health officials that they are housing sick patients on separate wings or floors, Danielson said. And local residents have been gathering supplies to donate to the nursing home.
Most of the state’s nursing homes have reported at least one case of the coronavirus, which as of Wednesday had infected 6,815 patients of long-term care facilities in New Jersey. At least 45 of the 351 coronavirus-related deaths announced on Wednesday were residents of long-term care facilities.
Thirteen of the bodies discovered on Monday at the Andover facility were moved to a refrigerated truck outside a hospital in nearby Newton. A funeral home had made arrangements to pick up the other four.
The number of deaths in nursing homes from coronavirus is rising by the day. Due to the fact that older adults and those with underlying conditions are the most vulnerable to the virus, nursing homes and elderly assisted living facilities must follow infection control protocols as well as guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When a nursing home or assisted living facility breaches this duty during a pandemic, a nursing home neglect lawsuit could result.
A pandemic is no reason to let safety and security measures slide, especially among the elderly and those with compromised immune systems who are among the most at-risk populations for contracting the deadly coronavirus. As such, nursing homes across the United States have failed to take swift actions to protect their employees and residents during the COVID-19 outbreak and can be held liable for their negligence.
Due to nursing homes failing to contain certain areas, many sick and elderly residents quickly contracted coronavirus and spread the disease to others in their nursing homes. In the majority of these cases, the spread of the disease could have been prevented with common-sense guidelines, like social distancing, frequent hand washing, and the usage of face masks.
Sadly, many nursing home residents came in contact with COVID-19. Our Nursing Home Negligence and Abuse Attorneys at Whittel & Melton know this would not have happened if nursing homes had followed pandemic guidelines.
A military veteran who contracted coronavirus in mid-March at a Florida VA nursing home in Pembroke Pines has died, state officials confirmed Saturday.
The deceased veteran, who was not identified, was one of two men living at the nursing home for veterans in Pembroke Pines who were hospitalized last month after they tested presumptive positive for the coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs. They were transferred to a local hospital.
The two residents at the Alexander Nininger State Veterans Nursing Home were tested after they showed signs of a low-grade fever, according to officials. They have been the only veterans at the state’s seven veteran nursing homes and domiciliary facilities who have contracted the disease since the coronavirus outbreak in Florida last month.
With more coronavirus test results rolling in, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among veterans at the Miami VA hospital has more than doubled to 36 as of Saturday, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs records. One of those veterans, a man in his 90s, died last week, according to the Miami VA officials.
About half of those patients are being treated at the downtown Miami VA hospital and the other half are quarantined at home, records show.
The Miami VA hospital now surpasses the Orlando VA facility, with 34 positive COVID-19 patients, for the most coronavirus infections in Florida.
Statewide, 104 veterans have tested positive for the viral disease at federal VA hospitals as of Saturday, up more than 30 percent this past week.
That figure, however, represents less than 1 percent of the total confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide, according to Florida Department of Health records. As of Tuesday, there have been 13,629 positive test results and 254 deaths in Florida due to the highly contagious respiratory disease.
The 372-bed Miami VA hospital, which serves 58,000 veterans in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties, has also had four staff members test positive for the viral infection, and the employees are all in isolation, mitigating further risk of transmission to other patients and staff, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Miami VA hospital was among dozens of veterans’ facilities nationwide recently cited by a federal inspector general for failing to maintain adequate equipment and supplies, including critical N95 masks for healthcare workers. The reality is, hospitals in and outside the VA system are reporting shortages of the N95 masks as well as traditional surgical masks.
On Monday, Miami VA officials started requiring employees to use and reuse surgical masks for one week, unless they are treating patients with COVID-19 or their masks become soiled. In those instances, they can ask supervisors for a replacement.
“These masks are expected to be used for a week at a time, longer if possible,” Miami VA Healthcare System Director Kalautie JangDhari told staff in an email Sunday that was updated with the same message Wednesday. “Masks may be removed while eating or drinking, but must be immediately put back on.”
Despite the new policy, Miami VA healthcare workers say surgical masks are not as thick or effective as the N95 masks that were found to be in short supply at the hospital by federal inspectors during a visit last month.
Sadly, nursing homes are habitually understaffed. With the novel coronavirus pandemic, staff shortages are even worse. However, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are known to keep resident to staff ratios high, and staff numbers low, in an effort to boost profits. These facilities are notorious for placing profits over people, which can ultimately lead to serious injuries and death.
The staff at nursing homes and assisted living facilities are not always properly trained on infection control measures, which means they are often unaware of the policies and procedures to prevent infection. It has been documented that Florida nursing homes have struggled with infection control. There have been repeated instances of workers failing to wash their hands as they move between patients.
The CDC has released new regulations for how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in nursing home and assisted living facilities, which include:
A nursing home in Baker County that saw a sudden spike of 10 coronavirus cases said the illness was bought into the facility from someone who was recently moved to the facility.
The Macclenny Nursing and Rehab Center suddenly found that 10 patients in the facility had been infected with COVID-19 as of Thursday. Only one other case of the infection had been reported in the county prior to the outbreak in the nursing home, the Florida Department Health data showed on the coronavirus dashboard.
Susan Kaar, vice president of compliance and quality management for the nursing home’s owning company Southern Healthcare Management LLC, said the facility’s first confirmed case was a resident who was admitted to the center after being at a local hospital. While monitoring residents, the center noticed others displaying symptoms associated with COVID-19 and tested them. The virus spread rather quickly. All victims of coronavirus were transferred to a local hospital.
As a proactive and preventative measure, all patients and staff were tested for the virus. This is when the additional cases were found.
It is unclear how many of the 10 victims were elderly patients and how many were staff.
The facility says it is collaborating with the local Department of Health. .
Baker County Commission Chair James Bennett Friday said county first responders have handled the situation and the jurisdiction is taking the outbreak in stride.
As of Monday, the DOH coronavirus dashboard said Baker County had 12 victims of the illness with no deaths. The dashboard indicates the age range of the 12 victims is 24 to 97.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Florida is at 12,350, as of Monday. The number of residents that have tested positive for coronavirus are 11,961. The number of hospital admissions are 1,555 and the number of deaths are 221.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, nursing homes are experiencing a shortage of caregivers. Regulators are now allowing “personal care attendants” to perform more hands-on functions normally handled by certified nursing assistants, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration. In addition, the state of Florida is temporarily waiving a live-scan fingerprinting requirement for new employees who work with residents because fingerprinting vendors are shut down, according to an emergency order. Instead of fingerprinting, nursing homes are required to conduct background checks through several sources, according to the order. The waiver is in effect for 30 days and is due to expire April 27 unless extended.
Nursing Homes Still Have a Duty of Care to Residents
Florida nursing home and assisted living facilities owe their residents a duty of reasonable care to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Elderly nursing home residents and residents with underlying health issues are at an increased risk of dying from coronavirus. Because of this, nursing homes and assisted living facilities must take extra precautions to prevent coronavirus from spreading throughout their facilities.
When nursing homes and assisted living facilities do not take the necessary steps to protect their residents from coronavirus, this could translate to negligence. Any residents who suffer harm or die from being infected with coronavirus have a legal right to bring a lawsuit against a negligent nursing home or assisted living facility.
Nursing Homes Must Take Extra Precautions
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), advises healthcare employees to follow very strict procedures for preventing the spread of viruses, including the following:
Filing a Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit After Contracting Coronavirus
Nursing homes that fail to take the necessary steps to prevent coronavirus from spreading can be held legally responsible for any suffering and death caused by the virus. Let’s say an infected nursing home staff member contracted the virus and exposed a resident to it after failing to wear protective gear around the resident. The resident may very well have a valid claim for a negligence lawsuit.
Contact Our Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Attorneys at Whittel & Melton
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