Carol Rosenbloom Associates, LLC | Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPersonal Care Home, Assisted Living and Nursing Home Injury Attorney ● Professional Malpractice Lawyer As one gets older and needs medical care, various options are available, such as, personal care homes, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. HealthCare needs, as well as peace of mind, convenience, and comfort are just some of the advantages of receiving care at these facilities. However, abuse and neglect, which may include pressure sores, persistent pain, restraints and death at the hands of nurses, health care providers, and other caregivers in personal care homes, assisted living facilities and nursing homes is becoming more commonplace. Allegations of abuse and neglect may involve a resident who died from a head injury after falling out of bed. Neglect may be involved with starvation and dehydration of a resident. The abuse may occur as blatantly as a staff member, who knocks a resident to the shower floor breaking the resident’s hip. Such abuse and neglect deprives its victims, many of whom are already vulnerable, elderly, or disabled, of a safe and secure home. When a loved one enters a personal care home, assisted living facility or a nursing home, admitting papers need to be signed. The papers usually include an agreement to arbitrate disputes or an arbitration clause. The personal care homes, assisted living facility and nursing homes have been raising these agreements and clauses to bar lawsuits for personal injuries. Sometimes these clauses have been enforced. Sometimes they have not been enforced. Some courts have examined who signed the documents and in what capacity that person was agreeing to arbitrate disputes. An elderly wife was admitted to an assisted living facility. At the time of her admission she suffered a stroke and had no memory recall. She had not executed a power of attorney. Her husband signed the admission forms, including the agreement to arbitrate disputes. The wife later died, apparently from an infection caused by bed sores. Her family brought a wrongful death action against the assisted living facility. The assisted living facility argued that the lawsuit was barred because she agreed to arbitrate disputes. Judge Wettick of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in a March 31, 2008 opinion in the Estate of Hickman v Woodhaven Care Center LLC rejected that argument. He stated that a husband could not bind a wife to arbitration solely on the basis of a marital relationship. For a husband to bind a wife, she would have to authorize him to waive her right to sue in court or have taken steps to cause a third party to believe that she authorized her husband to waive her rights. An elderly mother was admitted to a nursing home. At the time of her admission, her son had a general power of attorney under Pennsylvania law that specifically authorized him to admit her to a nursing home. However, the Power of Attorney did not authorize the son to sign the arbitration agreement. Judge Wettick of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in a June 25, 2008 opinion in Freeman-Whitted v Beverly Enterprises-Pennsylvania, Inc. ruled that the power of attorney did not allow the son to sign the arbitration agreement because the arbitration agreement was not a condition of admission. However, an important limitation on this decision is the type of power of attorney. In Pennsylvania, the legislature has created one set of statutes for a general power of attorney and created another set of statutes for healthcare power of attorneys. The Judge in a footnote noted the case did not involve the healthcare power of attorney. It is possible that a different result may occur with a healthcare power of attorney. It is a very difficult area. As the Pensylvania Supreme Court has not ruled on these issues, judges are free to follow their own reasoning and come to a different result from Judge Wettick's. After a patient has agreed to arbitrate some disputes, some specific clause may be struck down. In such circumstances the court may recognize that the contracts are signed under a take it or leave it basis and are not freely negotiated. Judge Wettick of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in a March 5, 2009 opinion in Fetterman v. ManorCare Health Services, Inc. ruled that while the arbitration agreement could be enforced the provisions limiting discovery and capping damages were unconscionable and would not be enforced. As the Pensylvania Supreme Court has not ruled on these issues, judges are free to follow their own reasoning and come to a different result from Judge Wettick’s. With so many different results possible in this area, a unified approach is necessary. Legislation has been introduced in both houses to end this practice. The Nursing Home Arbitration Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Linda Sanchez (HR 1237) and in the Senate by Sen. Mel Martinez (S. 512). These bills would prohibit mandatory arbitration in nursing home contacts. Hopefully each of these bills will pass in the current session. The Welfare Department of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has begun making inspection reports available on the “personal care home directory” page of its Web site. www.dpw.state.pa.us. Concerns have also arisen over the increasingly common acquisition of nursing home chains by financial companies with more experience in profit seeking than patient care. An example is the purchase of ManorCare, Inc. by the Carlyle Group which operates 46 nursing homes in Pennsylvania. Another business oriented patient care company is the Milwaukee-based Extendicare Health Services Inc., which operates more than 20 nursing homes in the state. The owner of a Mississippi nursing home has been ordered to pay $1 million, including punitive damages, to an elderly woman who was sexually assaulted by a fellow resident. The jury trial in Vicksburg, Miss., centered on allegations that the patient was sexually assaulted by a mentally handicapped male resident while both resided at the nursing home. During the trial, the jury heard that the assailant, who had the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, was improperly admitted to the facility as a result of a pattern of inadequate screenings, according to one of the patient’s attorneys. The patient’s attorney said the decision to admit the assailant was the result of the nursing home placing revenues above resident safety. He added that this appeared to be a case of "absentee ownership" because the owners reportedly are located in Japan. The patient’s attorney said the incident, which occurred March 7, 2002, was witnessed by a facility employee, but it was never reported to the state, nor was the patient ever sent out for treatment. Ultimately, the state fined the nursing home $100 for the incident, Thompson said. The evidence at trial also suggested that the nursing home neglected the patient and failed to provide her with a safe environment due to chronic understaffing. In particular, the patient’s attorney said the evidence showed that Allen had eloped from the facility 11 times and had suffered five falls during her stay, which lasted from July 1999 to April 2002. At the close of evidence, the trial court entered a directed verdict in Allen's favor on the issue of liability. The trial judge reportedly said he had never seen a case of such clear liability. The jury then deliberated for about four hours before agreeing on a compensatory damages award of $700,000. Thereafter, the case proceeded to the punitive damages phase, with the jury ultimately awarding Allen an additional $300,000. While the elderly reside at a personal care home, assisted living facility or a nursing home, that person’s primary care physician, family doctor or attending physician still has a duty to implement an appropriate treatment plan for the patient. When a patient is suffering from a serious problem, such as, repeated dislodgement of the trachea tube, it may not be sufficient for a physician to rely on the personal care home, assisted living facility and nursing home staff to correct the problem. The physician should come in and manage the treatment at the facility. Another concern that a patient should be aware of is, that as of today, there is no requirement that these nursing homes, small personal care homes or assisted living facilities have insurance. Sometimes, after a claim is made on behalf of a seriously injured or deceased patient, the facilities simply go out of business. In that case, even if a patient’s claim is successful, the patient is left pursuing collection of the judgment against an out of business defendant. It is an extremely tough decision to choose the right nursing home for a loved one and it often has to be done on short notice. The website www.medicare.gov/NHCOMPARE is an excellent tool to find and compare nursing homes across the country. The website contains the newly implemented Five-Star Quality Rating System for nursing homes. The Five-Star System provides nursing home ratings based upon three sources:
The system then provides a star rating for each category and a combined score in the form of an overall rating. The website is also extremely helpful in that you can identify nursing homes by state, county, or city. You can research the Five-Star Quality Rating for all nursing homes in a particular geographic area. Once a person has those ratings they can conduct their own-person inspection of the nursing home. One can actually print out a “Nursing Home Checklist” which provides information about what to look for and what questions to ask when visiting a prospective nursing home. Along with this information, persons seeking a good, safe nursing home should be able to make an informed decision about the level of care offered by a facility. If you believe that your loved one has been mistreated, seriously injured or died as a result of conduct, such as, unanswered call lights, undiagnosed maladies or other tales of frustrating mediocrity by a personal care home, assisted living facility or nursing home, contact the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health (1-800-254-5164) or the county Area Agencies on Aging (Allegheny, 412-350-6905; Beaver, 724-847-2262; Butler, 724-282-3008: Fayette, 724-430-4855: Greene, 877-814-0788, ext. 543; Washington, 888-301-1836; Westmoreland, 724-837-3437). You should also contact an attorney. A study by the National Senior Citizens Law Center ( http://www.nsclc.org/) has found that some admission agreements ignore the laws in some states, as well as federal laws and mislead consumes about the care they can expect. The residents’ families are induced to sign away critical consumer protections. Elderly consumers and their families should be wary signing long and often complex nursing home agreements, according to the new study. If you or someone you know is a victim of improper personal care, neglect or abuse at a personal care home, assisted living facility or nursing home, contact a personal Care Home, Assisted Living Facility and Nursing Home Injury lawyer at Carol Rosenbloom Associates, LLC, today to schedule a free initial consultation. At Carol Rosenbloom Associates, LLC, we respect the trust our clients place in us and work diligently to provide efficient and effective legal services to people and families in the Pittsburgh metro area and throughout west-central Pennsylvania. Personal Care Home, Assisted Living Facility and Nursing Home neglect and abuse include:
A Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County Pennsylvania has ruled that liability may be imposed on a nursing home based upon staffing decisions that directly and detrimentally affected the care and treatment of the patient and ultimately caused the patient’s decline and demise.
An assisted-living home and the State of Alabama must pay $1.5 million in damages for the first and second degree burns a mentally disabled man suffered when he was placed in a tub of scalding water.
A patient was admitted to a health care center upon suffering a fractured leg. She subsequently developed pressure ulcers and was not given adequate treatment, such as daily skin checks. The patient died as a result of the pressure ulcers. The jury returned a verdict of $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.
A patient died just two weeks after falling out of bed and breaking her hip. Despite learning that the patient could escape from a soft-belt restraint - and considering her pattern of frequently trying to get out of bed to go to the bathroom - the nursing home continued to rely on the inadequate restraint. A patient was admitted to a hospital for treatment of sciatica pain. Upon discharge, a nurse inappropriately tripled the patient’s morphine order on the medication transfer form. When admitted to nursing home, staff provided the incorrect dose of morphine to the patient and then ignored the patient’s signs and symptoms of morphine intoxication. The Pima County Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be acute morphine intoxication. The jury returned a verdict of $6 million, holding the hospital 10% responsible and the nursing home 90% responsible for the death of the patient. If you think that someone you love is not receiving proper care at a personal care home, assisted living facility or nursing home, it is important to hire an attorney and to start documenting facts and observations about the case as soon as possible. Our personal injury and wrongful death attorneys have more than 40 years of combined legal experience and can start working to protect the rights of you or your loved one today. We offer free initial consultations |
With Carol and her firm, anyone can stand up to the largest corporation, insurance company or hospital. Hear what Howard Stern has to say about Carol Rosenbloom Associates, LLC.
Carol Rosenbloom Associates LLC
Address: 5530 Walnut St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
Phone: (412) 687-1700
Toll Free:1 (800) 511-2411
Fax: (412) 687-6513
E-mail: Contact Us
Personal Care Home, Assisted Living Facility & Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
