Nursing Home Abuse Investigated

An 87 year old man in a New Hampshire nursing home died as a possible result of elder abuse. The case is being investigated.

When the man was taken to the hospital he had serious sores on his legs, which had been wrapped in bandages where the skin had grown over the bandages.

Also the man's catheter was blocked with blood, his genitals were extremely swollen, and he had cuts and abrasions on his body. The man suffered from dementia and diabetes,
The hospital reported their suspicions to the state attorney general and the department of health.

An autopsy will be performed.

For this man, dying with dignity was not an option.

Nursing Home Abuse Victim Freezes to Death

The family of an 89 year old woman with dementia who wandered outside and froze to death is suing a nursing home and a nurse assistant for wrongful death.

The 89 year old woman with dementia wears an electronic ankle bracelet. After the exit door alarm went off, the nurse assistant shut it off failing to make the rounds to check if anyone was missing. Instead she went back to watching TV.

The 24 year old nurse's assistant faces 5 years of prison for providing less than substantial care resulting in death.

The case is scheduled to go to trial soon. The woman also lied to police saying that she did a bed check after the alarm went off. She is being held in jail on $99,999 bond.

PA Nursing Home Reporting Update

More than 300 nursing homes in the eastern region of Pennsylvania began reporting healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) this week to the Patient Safety Authority through its Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS).

Nursing homes in central PA will begin June 15 and nursing homes in the western part of PA will begin June 22.

Pennsylvania legislation that was signed into law in July 2007 (Act 52) made it mandatory for all hospitals and nursing homes to report healthcare-associated infections. Nursing homes must report to the Patient Safety Authority and the Department of Health.

Nursing homes had to start from square one to determine what should be reported.

This new procedure will hopefully reduce nursing home abuse in Pennsylvania.

Resources for Nursing Home Bed Rail Equipment

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has drafted several reference tools about entrapment risk when using bed rails. One document in particular, the Hospital Bed System Dimensional and Assessment Guidance to Reduce Entrapment, is an extremely up-to-date piece of literature. This document was drafted in 2004 and approved in 2006. It addresses the risks with using bed rails, and the body parts that are particularly at risk in their use. The FDA also outlines the procedure for reporting an adverse event associated with bed rails.

Various resources are available for those seeking more information about bed rails and the hazards that these devices can present. Many federal agencies have compiled information about their use; you may find it helpful to review these resources if parent or grandparent is in a facility that requires the use of bed rails as a restraint device.

Do your research before making a decision about whether a bed rail is appropriate for your family member. The use of a bed rail should never be a cookie cutter decision.

Bed Rail Entrapment Death in Nursing Homes

Entrapments can result in serious injury and death.

When a patient becomes trapped between the bed and the side rail, the patient may have compression to the neck or chest area. Compression may mimic crush injuries and can cause serious injury or death. This compression can be especially serious in patients with clotting and bleeding disorders, weakened bones due to medication or osteoporosis, and the weak or elderly. The latter is also the population on whom side rails are more likely to be used. Patients also may become asphyxiated when they are trapped. This deprives the patient of oxygen and may result in brain damage or death.

The Food and Drug Administration has published many notifications, brochures, and reports about the use of bed and side rails in an institutional setting. These materials have addressed possible dangers and risks about their use and have issued guidance about what practitioners and institutions should do if an entrapment happens, and what can be done to help prevent entrapment. The FDA also established a hospital bed safety work group to look at the safety of the hospital beds and the side rails.

Despite the FDA having knowledge of the entrapment hazard and risks to patient life and safety, the FDA has yet to issue a recall for hospital bed rails and mattresses. This indicates a failure on the part of the FDA to address the issue sufficiently and protect patients from the beds they are using.

Bush Banishes Nursing Home Neglect Evidence

Just when you think it can't get any worse -- it does.

George W. Bush left office with a low approval rating and a path of destruction. Some of it is widely known and some very secretive.

This cover-up has to do with nursing homes and nursing home abuse and shielding evidence of abuse and neglect from the very people who need it to plead their case in court.

What Bush did was designate Medicare and Medicaid contractors as federal employees in order to prevent their information from being found or heard.

So your grandmother is in a nursing home and she has many bedsores; some which become infected. Finally, she gets real medical hospital care but it's too late; she dies. You sue the nursing home for neglect and abuse but the very records that your lawyer needs cannot be obtained under Bush's new rules.

Why would anyone protect the last shred of information that would help protect the elderly, the terminally ill, the most vulnerable in our society?

Now what?

Bed Rail Entrapment and Nursing Home Abuse

According to the Food & Drug Administration, there are about 2.5 million hospital and nursing home beds in the United States.

Between 1985 and 2008, 772 incidents of patients caught, trapped, entangled, or strangled in beds with rails were reported to the FDA. Of these reports, 460 people died, 136 had a nonfatal injury, and 176 were not injured because staff intervened. Most patients were frail, elderly or confused.

Hospital bed and side rail entrapments occur when a patient somehow becomes stuck between the mattress and the rail, a gap created by the bed when it is adjusted, or when the patient becomes disoriented and tries to leave the bed without assistance. Some entrapments are more common than others. Common types of entrapments happen in moveable beds (where the bed can be adjusted, thus creating a gap), in narrow spaces between side rails and the mattress, and in the spaces between the bars or PVC materials that make up the side rails themselves. Further entrapments also may happen if a patient becomes entangled in bedding used on the bed, and then becomes entrapped between the side rail and the bed.

Likewise, entrapments may be more likely to happen in specific parts of the bed. These parts commonly are referred to as entrapment zones. Entrapment zones commonly involve flaws in the relationship between the bed and the mattress in use on the bed. These zones may happen if the mattress is either too long or too short for the bed, or if there is a soft – rather than firm – edge to the mattress.

Entrapments can result in serious injury and death.