My Elder Advocate

Assault With A Deadly Weapon

On February 18, 2009, Attorney General Jerry Brown announced the arrest of a nurse, physician and a pharmacist of a skilled nursing facility operated by the Kern Valley Healthcare District in Lake Isabella, Kern County. All were charged with elder abuse for forcibly administering psychoactive medications for their own convenience and for causing the deaths of three residents.

Murder, She Writes

Read this comment by a reader of My Elder Advocate Blog. Hospitals are complicit in the murder and destruction of our elderly nursing home patient's. WHEN WILL THIS HOLOCAUST END!

A new comment from “Carmen ” was received on the post “A Typical Monday Afternoon at Sheepshead Nursing Home” of the weblog “My Elder Advocate”.

Calfornia Nursing Homes Kill Residents

That is correct...it is not a misstatement. I did not mean to say that two residents died as a result of neglect or abuse.

The nursing homes at issue are located near Sacramento, California. The nursing homes at fault are English Oaks and Marysville Care Center and here is what happened. At English Oaks a 91-year-old resident was choking on fruit and no one at the home provided the Heimlich maneuver - he died! At the Marysville Care Center an 84-year-old resident's head became stuck between the bed and a railing - she died. Both reports come from the California Department of Public Health. English Oaks also was fined in 2001 for not monitoring the feeding tube of a patient who got an infection and died. These facilities have a long history of serious violations.

Both facilities were owned by the same company, which received a "double citation" for these tragedies. A double citation...you have got to be kiddin me...someone needs to go to jail!
SEE NEWS STORY

Nursing home patients restrained, greed is not

By Saul Friedman-Newsday

Politicians and other soothsayers tell us how as a nation we honor and care for the oldest generation, our parents and grandparents, many of whom are ill or frail and need some comfort, security and dignity in their last years.

A Typical Monday Afternoon at Sheepshead Nursing Home

By Jack Halpern

I recently came to know a nice elderly woman, who we shall call Mrs. Rothman. Her husband, Alan was placed in Sheepshead Nursing Home in Brooklyn after a recent hospitalization. This nursing home, although mediocre at best is near Mrs. Rothman’s home. Sadie is in her eighties and very frail herself. I had the opportunity to place her husband in a better home, but she would not get the opportunity to visit him.

Staten Island Hospital Neglects an Elderly Patient and Then Files a False Government Form to Cover it Up.

By Jack Halpern

Richmond University Medical Center neglected an elderly patient so badly, that he developed a Stage Four Decubitus Ulcer (most severe), in a matter of weeks. The hospital then falsified an official New York State Department of Health document to cover it up

Elder Abuse Video

Staffing Ratios At Nursing Homes Must Be Mandated

In 2003, two nursing home residents were admitted to a nursing home in New York with pressure sores.  Both residents were given care plans that included regular skin assessment, turning and positioning. 

Within months, the residents developed multiple pressure sores and one resident developed renal failure partly caused by skin breakdown.  The state inspector attributed the failure to administer care plans to a “systems breakdown” caused by staffing issues including lack of communication, high turnover and use of agency staffing.

Nursing Home Indicted in Elderly Woman's Death

Ageism: The Path to Elder Abuse

By Jack Halpern, MPS, LNHA

The number of Americans 60 and older is growing, but society still isn't embracing the aging population, geropsychologists say. Whether battling "old geezer" stereotypes or trying to obtain equal standing in the workplace, those who are 60 or older may all too often find themselves the victims of ageism. Fueling the problem is the media's portrayal of older adults.