Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Blog

Fact Pattern:  Georgia Iris Jones had just celebrated her 100th Birthday.  She was physically frail but still had an engaged mind and opinions of her own making. She was expected to return home after short-term rehab at the nursing home.  The life expectancy table estimated Iris had a fraction over two years left. Little did anyone know, but her life would end in less than another two months, and all because of nursing home neglect.   The course of her last weeks were as follows: […]

Sexual abuse in nursing homes is a difficult topic to think about.  (It is even more difficult to write about.)  CNN has published a report about Nursing Home Sexual Abuse.  Studies show that only about 30% of all elderly sexual abuse victims over the age of 65 report the abuse to law enforcement.  Roughly 85% [...]

Even if they plan to return home, many elderly hospital patients require some level of skilled nursing care after a hospital stay. Many of the families I represent in nursing home neglect cases placed their loved one in a nursing home after being provided a referral from the hospital. I often wonder, “Why in the [...]

Nursing homes have long required residents (or their legal representatives) to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of being admitted.  These arbitration agreements prevent residents injured by abuse or neglect from going to court and exercising their constitutional right to a trial by jury. Essentially, what this means is that the nursing homes are trying [...]

New Year, old problem:  Nursing home care is not improving. And although I believe that lawsuits on behalf of residents seriously injured by abuse and neglect provide incentives for corporate caregivers to improve care, there is no remedy as good as prevention.  And prevention is first the responsibility of the family, and choosing the nursing [...]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently revamped its rating system for nursing homes. The result: About one-third of all facilities received lower ratings. It’s time we raise the standards for nursing homes across the country. The change in the rating system was long overdue. It was last modified in 2008. The new ratings [...]

A new study from Brown University has linked communication and attentiveness in nursing homes with the quality of care, meaning that there could be another matrix by which nursing care facilities are rated. The data was collected through surveys distributed to staff and directors at nursing homes through Brown’s School of Public Health. While the survey [...]

Illinois recently passed legislation to allow nursing home cameras for video and audio monitoring to ensure the safe and humane treatment of residents. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the legislation, which will become law in January 2016. The law would allow families to place video cameras in loved ones’ rooms to monitor their treatment and [...]