New York Injury Talk Blog

Nursing homes play an important role in caring for the elderly. Nursing facilities are given the responsibility of providing safe housing, healthy meals and adequate medical care for seniors. Many of these homes take wonderful care of their residents and provide a level of attention that cannot be matched at home. Sadly, not all homes provide the level of care needed and some facilities employ workers who abuse and neglect the elderly.

There are few things in our society as unconscionable as the physical abuse of the elderly. If you witness any of these indicators of physical neglect or abuse of your loved one who is in a nursing home, you should contact the authorities and a New York nursing home abuse attorney right away. There are a number of signs and symptoms that shownursing home neglect and abuse. Bruising is the most common indicator of force. Scratches, burns, cuts and pinch marks are also signs of abuse that require prompt attention.

Neglect can be difficult to detect, but there are telltale signs. If your loved one appears unkempt, appears malnourished or dehydrated, smells bad or has bed sores – those are all signs that they are being neglected at their nursing facility. Nursing home neglect and abuse often occur as a result of under-staffing or lack of trained, qualified staff at nursing homes. If you suspect that a loved one is being neglected or abused, it is critical that you contact an experienced New York nursing home neglect attorney to discuss your situation. Please contact Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro LLP at 212-296-7353 for a free, comprehensive and confidential consultation. We are here to help.

Late last year private equity firms came under the scrutiny of the United States Senate, according to a story in The New York Times. It seems that private equity firms have been snatching up nursing homes all over the country-structuring complex levels of ownership in an attempt to avoid liability from lawsuits handled by New York personal injury lawyers.

Both Democrats and Republicans support oversight and an investigation into why it seems that nursing homes bought by private investor groups scored poorly on 12 to 14 indicators used by regulators to track ailments of long-term residents. In two separate letters, Chuck Grassley [Rep], of Iowa, asked the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s investigative arm, to examine how private equity ownership had affected the quality of care in nursing homes. In one of those letters, reprinted in the Times, Grassley questioned the legal schemes used by investment firms to shield them from liability-in effect denying both patients and family members any legal remedy against nursing homes. Grassley further indicated that the use of such varied and complex ownership structures voided any transparency that would indicate who was responsible for resident care and the operation of investor-owned nursing homes.

According to another New York Times article, corporate structures employed by the investor-owned nursing homes allows them to bypass typical disclosure requirements mandated by Medicare and/or Medicaid funded nursing homes.

The complex structuring of private equity nursing homes seems to reinforce the notion that safety may be compromised for a good return on investment.

Continue reading "Nursing Homes Structure Ownership in Ways to Avoid Liability for Negligence, Abuse, and Death of Patients" »

According to a recent study by Federal Health officials, only minimal penalties are assessed to organizations that have been repeatedly cited for nursing home abuse of their patients. Congress has established strict standards for nursing homes as far back as 1987, and both Presidents Clinton and Bush, along with the nursing home industry have announced many initiatives to improve nursing home care.

However, The New York Times reports that Congressional Investigators, an investigative arm of Congress, has commented that “Some of these homes repeatedly harmed residents over a six-year period and yet remain in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.” Further, the report illuminated the fact that because of the ‘slap on the wrist’ penalty mentality, some nursing homes cycle ‘in and out of compliance’ with federal standards and such nursing homes present a continued threat to the health and safety of their patients.

The report went on to indicate that the accountability office under the Bush administration rarely uses its authority to deny payment to homes with a history of compliance problems. Fines are typically far less than the maximum $10,000 a day according to the report. Apparently, the Bush administration prefers to impose lighter fines fearing that imposing the $10,000 maximum penalty may force some nursing homes into bankruptcy. Instead, those facilities guilty of nursing home neglect are given a grace period.

Continue reading "Federal Report Finds Nursing Home Abuse Still Prevalent " »