Nursing Home Neglect & Abuse
Spotting the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect in OKC: What Families Need to Know
When you place a loved one in a nursing home, it’s reasonable to trust that they will be safe, cared for, and treated with dignity. Unfortunately, that trust is not always honored. When nursing home operators fail to take the necessary precautions to protect your loved ones, the results can be tragic.
Popular Blood Thinner and its Side Effects
Since the 1950s, blood thinning drugs known as anticoagulants have been used to treat heart problems related to blood clots, such as abnormal heart rhythms, pulmonary embolisms and deep-vein thrombosis. These conditions are common to the elderly. Anticoagulants such as Coumadin (the brand name for Warfarin) were seen as breakthrough drugs in cardiac medicine. Anticoagulants have saved and prolonged many lives, but these medications can have serious side effects people taking these drugs need to be monitored very closely. When combined with certain foods and medications, such as antibiotics, side effects can be deadly.
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Oklahoma Nursing Homes Face Allegation that They Forced Patients to Sign Away Rights
If your loved one needs nursing home care in Oklahoma, you’re probably comparing facilities based on factors like location, quality of care, available medical providers, and cost. Experienced Oklahoma nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers recommend adding one more factor to your list: Choose a nursing home that does not require you or your loved one to sign away any legal rights.
This factor makes the list after allegations have arisen that several nursing homes throughout the state have been requiring patients and their families to sign away their right to sue the nursing home for negligence or other harm resulting from substandard care. Instead, these agreements state that the patient and family agree to submit to binding arbitration – a type of out-of-court settlement in which damages awards are frequently lower than the patient or family deserve.
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Oklahoma Bill Would Strengthen Review of Nursing Home Deaths
A new bill introduced in the Oklahoma legislature seeks to boost accountability for deaths or serious injuries that occur in the state’s nursing homes.
House Bill 1110 calls for the creation of an 11-person review board. The board’s job would be to investigate cases in which an elderly or disabled nursing home resident died or was seriously injured to determine whether abuse or neglect was a factor.
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Recognizing the Subtle Signs of Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect
When you choose a nursing home for an elderly loved one, you take care to find a place that seems clean, comfortable, pleasant, and capable of meeting your loved one’s needs in a thorough and safe manner. The last thing you want is for your loved one to suffer abuse or neglect.
As knowledge about nursing home abuse risks becomes more widespread, many experienced Oklahoma nursing home abuse lawyers and Oklahoma families know what the most common signs of abuse or neglect are. But many families are not aware of how subtle the signs of abuse or neglect can be. Particularly when a loved one’s mobility or communication are limited, it can be hard to tell that abuse is happening – but that does not mean abuse is not present or not serious.
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New Nursing Home Ratings Use Tougher Standards in Reporting
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released an updated set of nursing home rankings on its Nursing Home Compare website. The new rankings saw many of the 15,000 listed nursing homes lose ground – including several that lost one or more of the total “stars” available for nursing home care.
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Growing Overmedication a Concern in Nursing Homes
According to a recent NPR article, there is a serious, growing issue of overmedicating nursing home residents. There are around 300,000 seniors in nursing homes today who are receiving anti-psychotic and/or anti-anxiety medications. These medications aren’t explicitly prescribed for dementia or Alzheimer’s, rather, they’re administered to make the stress and aggression that go along with these diseases more bearable for all involved, including the nursing home staff.
However, Federal Law prohibits nursing home staff from administering antipsychotic or other psychoactive drugs for their own convenience, and for good reason. These drugs are intended to treat very specific and serious mental disorders (i.e. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder), and they have very specific warnings associated with their use with dementia, citing an increased risk of “heart failure, infections and death.” Medical professionals agree that these medications should be used as a last resort, but this is not always the case.
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Know Your Rights as a Nursing Home Resident
Certified nursing homes in Oklahoma City and throughout the state are required to respect their residents’ rights and protections under federal and state law. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Too many instances of nursing home abuse and negligence have been reported in recent years. In fact, the Sooner State has been deemed one of the worst in the country when it comes to the quality of our assisted care facilities. This is a drastic issue that needs to be addressed by legislators in prompt fashion.
Until the state of our nursing homes vastly improves, it is primarily up to nursing home residents to look out for themselves and ensure that they are receiving the treatment they deserve. If you are a nursing home resident, know that you have the right to:
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Elder Care Advocates Outraged Over Lack of Charges against Abusive Aide
On May 9, 2010, Virginia Hicks, a resident at an Oklahoma City nursing home called Epworth Villa, suffered a broken wrist when an aide allegedly grabbed her arm with much too force.
After the incident, a lawsuit was brought against Epworth Villa. District Judge Patricia Parrish found the aide’s actions to be “atrocious” and “utterly intolerable.” She ruled that the nursing home was liable for the abuse and ordered them to provide $15 million in damages, effectively bankrupting the owners.
However, criminal charges have not been brought against the aide who had injured the elderly woman.
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Citizen Advocacy Group Gives Oklahoma Nursing Home a Failing Grade
Families for Better Care, Inc. is a citizen advocacy group that acts as a watchdog of nursing homes for residents and their families. According to a recent NewsChannel 4 report, the group gave Oklahoma nursing homes a failing grade. The report states that local nursing home residents are living in dangerous conditions and that immediate and decisive action is required to keep the elderly safe.
Out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Oklahoma ranked 49th in providing “safe, quality nursing home care and security,” the report stated. In response to the ranking, Oklahoma State Representative Richard Morrissette stated: “We aren’t getting better, we are sinking like a rock!”
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