Elder Abuse & Neglect Law Blog : Seattle Elder Abuse Lawyer & Attorney : Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Coluccio Law Firm : WA Neglect, Insurance Bad Faith

The Associated Press is telling the harrowing tale of some of Haiti's most vulnerable. In the recent earthquake endured by the impoverished country, residents of one nursing home were left to fend for themselves:

On the grounds of the Municipal home for the elderly Thursday, old people lay listlessly in beds out in the open with sheets smeared with excrement, surrounded by hundreds of people living in makeshift tents. One man wore just a T-shirt, his private parts exposed. A woman, just skin and bones, held her head. A body lay in the debris of the nearby nursing home.

The aid that is starting to trickle in isn't getting to the nations most vulnerable nearly fast enough:

On the grounds of the Municipal home for the elderly Thursday, old people lay listlessly in beds out in the open with sheets smeared with excrement, surrounded by hundreds of people living in makeshift tents. One man wore just a T-shirt, his private parts exposed. A woman, just skin and bones, held her head. A body lay in the debris of the nearby nursing home.

The quick end to lives in these nursing homes only highlights what a lack of proper nutrition and hydration can do to an elderly person's body, with people passing from a lack of food of just 3 days.

I often decry the conditions at for-profit nursing homes. But I have to admit that the situation in Haiti is far worse. If you can, please donate a couple of dollars to the American Red Cross. You can do so by texting the word GIVE to 24357 (2HELP). You may give up to 5 $5 donations using that method. 

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Medicare's website provides an excellent resource for those making the tough decision of whether and where to place a loved one in a nursing home. The Official U.S. Government Site for People with Medicare, www.medicare.gov provides useful and detailed information. If you are struggling with the decision, the site provides alternatives to a Nursing home for you and your family to consider.

Other useful information on the site includes:

• A nursing home rating system;
• An easy way to find medical equipment suppliers;
• A comparative tool for nursing homes;
• Medical nutrition therapy; and 
• Caregiver stories.

If selecting a nursing home is, indeed, the option you have chosen, follow the steps set forth on the website and take both the time and care to consider where you will being placing your loved one. This is an important decision, so take great care in obtaining as much information as possible. Look at ratings, heath inspection results, staff data, and quality measures.

Once you have narrowed your list of homes to a few, take the time to visit the homes, wander the hallways and to observe the nature of the care and the appearance of the residents. If possible, talk to families who have their loved ones at the home. Visit a few times, as each visit may provide you with new information. Some of the less reputable homes put on a facade for a sales visit. Only by coming in armed with information and taking the time to conduct a thorough investigation on your own can you break down that wall and see if the home is right for your loved one.

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New York Nurse Home Abuse Lawyer Blog recent reported on a $1,500,000 verdict for a nursing home resident fall. 

In July 2004, an Erie County jury awarded plaintiffs, Thomas S. Kolbert and the Estate of Victoria Poielski, $1,500,000 in damages in a lawsuit brought under the New York Public Health Law for nursing home negligence. The plaintiffs alleged that Ms. Poielski, an 80 year-old resident suffering from dementia, fell while unattended in her bathroom and suffered a fractured right elbow.

Apparently, the resident was left alone on the toilet for a three hour period. When no staff member came to her assistance, she tried to move from the toilet to her wheelchair and suffered a fall. Pressure sores (bedsores, decubiti) also developed on her heels after the fall.

While the verdict itself is not surprising, I still find that the post offers something important to talk about -- Nursing homes focusing on profits to such an extent that it places the residents of their homes in real danger.

In most businesses, when you want to cut down on overhead, one of the things you look towards is cutting staff. I can't tell you how many companies I've worked for where, as soon as you feel some financial tension, line level workers are cut, units consolidated, and so on and so forth.

But when you are talking about helping the elderly, the sick, those who can't care for themselves, cutting staff (or not hiring enough staff) placed people at peril. This poor woman was sitting on the toilet for THREE HOURS waiting for someone to help her back to her bed. It was either stay there and wonder if someone would ever come to help her, or try to make her way back. Though unsteady, she attempted it, resulting in her fall. 

Unfortunately, I have seen story on top of story of residents using their call lights and having to wait hours for assistance. Often it involves going to or coming from the bathroom, a basic human need. The failure to respond often results in falls, fractures, or soiling themselves. Those things can further lead to infections and decubitis ulcers (pressure sore wounds). Its sad to say that with just a few more staff, most nursing homes would be able to adequately respond to those lights and a plethora of injuries could be avoided.

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