Nursing Home Abuse

A series of articles published in recent months in the Miami Herald have shed light on elder abuse occurring in many state-run assisted living facilities, and it appears that Florida lawmakers are taking steps to toughen oversight of these facilities. The newspaper found that elder abuse is rampant in state facilities, often with little or no repercussions for the at-fault parties or the state agencies responsible for oversight. Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham was alarmed to learn of the abuse in many state nursing homes and applauds Florida legislators for the recent passage of committee bills 7176 and 7174.

If made into law, and that seems increasingly likely, the bills will transform the state’s oversight of state-run homes from one of the worst in the country to possibly the toughest. Some lawmakers are calling for the closure of the state’s worst nursing homes where some residents have died from negligent care and banning the caretakers responsible for the abuse from ever working in these facilities again. Two Senate committees recently announced the bills, following the Miami Herald articles that detailed the dangerous squalor that frail elders were subjected to in some of the worst facilities.

Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat and Vice Chair of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee voiced her outrage at the reports, saying, "[The state] wasn’t doing its job. They were not enforcing the regulations, and not closing down facilities that didn’t correct the violations and abuse."

If passed, the bills will improve oversight and implement mandatory penalties in fatal neglect incidents. The bills would also create a public ratings system based on each facility’s regulatory history. In addition, the bills would remove some of the powers of the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, which has faced sharp criticism for failing to close or penalize facilities with records of poor patient care.

Florida is home to many seniors who rely on state- and privately-run facilities to provide their day-to-day needs. While many assisted living facilities place the needs and welfare of the people under their care above all other considerations, the sad fact of the matter is there are other facilities that do not. These negligent facilities fail to provide the level of care their patients deserve, and this abuse results in deteriorating health conditions, sharply diminished quality of life and other unacceptable conditions. If you know or suspect that someone in an assisted living facility is suffering from abuse, you owe it to him or her to report it to the local police department. If someone in your family has suffered some type of elder abuse at home or in a nursing home and you want aggressive and experienced legal representation, call James O. Cunningham today at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000. Schedule a free consultation today to get an Orlando elder abuse attorney with more than 35 years of experience on your side.

A female employee at an Ormond Beach assisted living center was arrested recently and accused of stealing from people under her care. One of the more egregious accusations came from a 99-year-old resident who told police that the worker had taken her wedding ring off her finger. The accused, a 26-year-old Daytona Beach woman, faces one charge each of grand theft and exploitation of an elderly person, and Ormond Beach police expect to file additional charges against the woman in the near future. Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham would like to remind readers that theft is a form of nursing home abuse. As a longtime nursing home abuse and neglect lawyer serving residents in Central Florida, he has helped countless residents receive the damages they need to recover from the abuse they have suffered and move to other assisted living facilities.

Officers were alerted to the thefts when the relative of one of the patients reported a ring missing from her relative’s belongings. Administrators at Signature Health Care conducted an informal investigation and discovered that other items from other patients had also gone missing. After being alerted by the administrators, police examined work schedules and cross-referenced them with the times when items disappeared. After conducting interviews, police narrowed their interest to the suspect, who they eventually arrested. After initially denying responsibility for the missing items, the worker eventually admitted taking a bracelet and ring from one of the residents. However, she denied any responsibility for a missing cell phone and an undisclosed sum of cash. She is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $1,500 bail.

As difficult as it is to consider, residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities are easy prey for unscrupulous people. They have limited mobility and are easily intimidated by abusers who threaten further abuse if their victims report the abuse. Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham is a fierce advocate for the rights of people who live in these facilities and spares no expense helping them get the fair and just compensation the deserve. If you know or suspect that someone is suffering any kind of abuse in a nursing home, please call your local police department and report it. If you want to speak with a Florida nursing home abuse attorney to learn more about victims’ rights and legal options, call Mr. Cunningham today at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000 to schedule a free consultation.

Current President and CEO of the American Health Care Association and former Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson cautioned Floridians recently about the effects that planned cuts in Medicaid could have on our state’s nursing home residents. Parkinson recently delivered his address at the Florida Health Care Association conference in Orlando and echoed some of the concerns that Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham has also had regarding how the cuts could endanger seniors in our state’s assisted living facilities. Parkinson told attendees that the average profit margin for a nursing home in Florida is two percent. This is why the planned cuts to Medicare and Medicaid from federal and state agencies could harm seniors as few of them have private insurance to supplement the costs of their care.

Currently, residents in many of Florida’s nursing homes are experiencing cuts in care due to a $230 million or 6.5 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates to nursing homes. Beginning on October 1, the federal government will reduce Medicare payments to nursing homes by another 11.1 percent, which will result in a reduction of $387 million to nursing homes.

Most of the nursing homes in our state are for-profit enterprises, and a cut in state and federal assistance won’t come out of their coffers. It will surely result in fewer services for seniors and reduced quality of care. Mr. Parkinson didn’t come out and say it, but he implies that these reductions are also likely to increase the risks that nursing home residents could suffer from abuse and neglect. Nursing home administrators will probably be forced to cut staff and hire people who are unqualified to provide care to nursing home residents. Staff cuts, when combined with less qualified workers and reduced oversight, have proven to be a recipe for increased incidents in nursing home abuse and patient neglect.

It is everyone’s responsibility to report abuse whenever they witness or suspect it. If you suspect that someone is suffering nursing home abuse, call local police and report it as quickly as possible. If someone in your family has suffered some form of nursing home abuse and you want to take action and learn more about your legal options, call Orlando nursing home abuse attorney James O. Cunningham today at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000 to schedule a free consultation.

CBS News recently reported on a government finding revealing that nine in ten nursing homes in the U.S. employ people with criminal convictions. Investigators conducting the report ran background checks on workers employed at more than 260 nursing homes across the U.S. and found that 92 percent of the facilities had at least one worker on the payroll that had a criminal conviction in the past. This report stunned Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham and is a source of concern for all nursing home attorneys in Florida given the percentage of senior citizens living in our state.
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