California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

The Chicago Tribune recently published a brief article called 5 Things to Know about Psychotropics, which I thought I would pass along to you. Here are the five things:

Your rights: A nursing facility cannot administer a psychotropic drug without a physician's order, which by law requires informed consent and a legitimate diagnosis. The standard of care requires that nursing staff must first try to calm patients, and other possible causes of agitation must be ruled out, such as infection.

The consent: Before psyschtropics can be used consent must be obtained by the "responsible party" of the resident, usually the person with power of attorney. The consent must be in writing.

The drugs: What are psychotropic drugs? Psychotropics generally include antipsychotics, antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. The antipsychotics generally pose the greatest risks to nursing home residents. Remember, antipsychotics are intended to treat serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, but doctors may prescribe them for other uses. They cannot be used as a "chemical restraint."

The risks: As stated, psychotropic drugs are powerful, and can cause drowsiness, dizziness and confusion. This, in turn can lead to falls, dehydration, and extreme lethargy.

To complain: As a first step, contact the nursing home's administrator. If you are not getting the answers you need, contact the local ombudsman's office or the California Department of Public Health. Telephone numbers for the offices of the ombudsman and CDPH in all Southern California counties can be found by clicking here.

Source: Chicago Tribune

The Walton Law Firm represents seniors and dependent adults who have suffered neglect or abuse in the nursing home, residential care, or board-and-care setting. Cases are taken in all Southern California counties. For a free and confidential consultation call (866) 607-1325, or fill out an online form.

If you or a loved one is being threatened by eviction from your assisted living facility (or residential care facility), it is important to know that the law is on your side. Under the California Code of Regulations, an assisted living resident can be eviction for only five reasons:

1. A failure to pay rent within 10 days of its due date;
2. Failing to comply with state or local law (e.g. using illegal drugs, assault/battery, etc);
3. Failing to follow the facilities written policies and procedures (which must be stated in the admissions agreement);
4. After a formal assessment (usually by a doctor), the facility determines that it can no longer meet the resident's needs: or
5. The facility changes its purpose and will no longer be providing assisted living care.

In the event you or a loved on fall into one of the above-reference categories, the facility cannot just throw you out on the streets. Under the law, it must give you 30-days written notice of its intend to evict, unless you've lived there more than one year, at which point it must give 60-days written notice. In addition, that written notice must state clearly, and with factual detail, the reasons for the eviction.

If actions are being taken to evict , and you believe you do not fall into one of the five supporting reasons, it is recommended that you contact the local Ombudsman Program for direction and advice. A list of numbers for the Ombudsman in all Southern California counties can be found on the Walton Law Firm nursing home resource page by clicking here.

Source: California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform

The nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at the Walton Law Firm represent individuals and families who have been abused or neglected in nursing homes and assisted living facilities throughout Southern California. Call (866) 607-1325 for a free consultation.

Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed SB 303, a proposed law that would require doctors to inform residents about the dangers of psychotropic medications, and require nursing homes residents to give consent before such drugs can be given.

According to the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), the use of psychoactive drugs has become an epidemic in California. According to one study, nearly 60% of all California nursing home patients are administered psychoactive narcotics, a huge increase from only a decade earlier.

Governor Schwarzenegger admitted that misuse of antipsychotic drugs is a serious problem in nursing homes when he vetoed the legislation, and even cited a study that found more than have of all residents on psychoactive drugs are in violation of federal guidelines.

“It is shocking that the Governor is protecting doctors and nursing homes that are drugging tens of thousands of elders with dementia into submission,” said Patricia McGinnis, CANHR’s executive director. “Thousands of nursing home residents will continue to die from these deadly drugs.”

SB 303 was sponsored by CANHR and received the support of many statewide organizations, including AARP, Alzheimer’s Association, California Alliance for Retired Americans, California Senior Legislature, Congress of California Seniors, Consumer Attorneys of California, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Advocacy, Inc., Foundation Aiding the Elderly, Gray Panthers Sacramento, and Older Women’s League of California.

Source: CANHR

The nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at the Walton Law Firm represent individuals and families who have been abused or neglected in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Call (866) 607-1325 for a free consultation.

Most plaintiff attorneys who represent elderly injury victims have a nightmare story in dealing with the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. The Act requires any Medicare beneficiary who is injured by a third-party, and then collects money from that third-party, to reimburse Medicare for the money it paid to treat the injured party. Understandable, right? But for most of the injury victims (and their attorneys) the error-prone and painfully slow service provided by the Medicare contractor can cause even the most calm and unexcitable person to pull their hair out.

Mother Jones is out with an article that thoroughly explains this frustrating process (Medicare's Repo Man). The article explains how, in 2006, the various Medicare collection agencies were consolidated into one massive agency, then, under a law that permitted granting no-bid contracts to Native American corporations, awarded the collection contract to the Chickasaw Nation Industries. In the effort to step up collection efforts, however, the confusion and inefficiencies have just gotten worse.

Part of the problem is that for many years, Medicare had no systematic way of learning when someone got a settlement or judgment, making its collection efforts hit or miss. For a while, the agency tried to lean on plaintiff lawyers, threatening to sue them if they turned over settlement or insurance money to their clients before paying any Medicare liens. In many cases, though, courts sided with the lawyers who argued that Medicare was exceeding its authority. The issue was headed to the Supreme Court, but in 2003, Congress passed the Medicare drug benefit and included a small provision that officially put the onus on lawyers to make sure Medicare got its money.

The problem with the elderly, though, is that Medicare is frequently paying for medical care that is not related to an underlying accident. For example, if a 72-year-old is in an car accident that results in $10,000 in medical bills, but in the following two years, as the accident claim is being pursued, the person incurs another $10,000 in medical bills unrelated to the accident (not uncommon for someone 72), Medicare can't tell what's caused by the accident, and what's not, and will attempt to collect the entire sum from the personal injury recovery.

While the confusion might be understandable, getting Medicare (through the Chicksaw Nation) can be a ridiculously slow and arduous process. Worse yet, if Medicare thinks you haven't sufficiently paid, the debt-collection efforts against the elderly beneficiaries can be gut-wrenching, as discussed in the article.

Click here to read the entire Mother Jones' article.

The San Diego personal injury lawyers at the Walton Law Firm represent individuals and families who have been injured in all types of accidents and malpractice matters. Call (760) 607-1325 for a free consultation.

The Fallbrook Hospital District Skilled Nursing Facility was fined $90,000 by the California Department of Health in a case involving the fall and subsequent death of a resident. The citation was the most severe of its kind arising from inadequate care leading to the death of the resident. Although the resident was known to have a high risk for falling, the Fallbrook nursing home failed to take adequate measures to prevent the fall. The resident fell, broke his leg, and died four days later as a result of complications from the surgery to repair his leg.

The Walton Law Firm successfully prosecutes cases involving injuries caused by falls in the custodial care setting. If you have questions about falls, please submit your confidential question online, or call Walton Law Firm for a free consultation. We can be reached toll free at (866) 607-1325 or locally at (760) 607-1325

At the end of last week, a Medicare rate adjustment that cuts $16 billion in nursing home funding went into effect. That cut, combined with state cuts, is creating conditions that are likely to put nursing homes in a state of crisis. In fact, the president of the American Health Care Association is predicting the nursing facilities will close their doors.

Already numerous nursing homes have closed their doors because of money problems, and many others have reduced staffing, creating conditions for substandard care. The crisis could not come a worse time, as baby boomers steamroll toward retirement and the need for skilled nursing care. Just last year U.S. nursing homes housed 1.85 million people, about 100,000 more than the previous year.

In Griswold, Conn., the community's only nursing home shut down earlier this year because of rising costs and an inability to pay for $4.9 million in needed renovations for the 90-bed facility."A 92-year-old woman was screaming and crying as she was loaded into the ambulance, saying 'This is my home,'" Griswold First Selectman Philip Anthony said. His 88-year-old mother was a resident of the same home at the time.

Long-term care is enormously expensive, and yet it is not discussed in this American debate about health care. Most of our living clients are on Medi-Cal and costing the state government from $5,000 - $10,000 per month. The long-term care industry has never seen such a crisis, and the prospects for more money for care are dim. While the federal stimulus package included $87 million in Medicaid funding (Medi-Cal in California), much have that has been diverted to alleviate other budgetary problems.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

The elder abuse lawyers at the Walton Law Firm represent individuals and families who have been abused or neglected in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Call (866) 607-1325 for a free consultation.

California should take heed. Illinois has been housing mentally ill felons with the elderly in state nursing homes and the results have not been pretty. An elderly woman was raped by an ex-convict, a frail man had his throat slashed, and in one home a wheelchair-bound man died of massive head injuries that a doctor said it looked like he was hit with a baseball bat.

According to one report, mentally ill patients make up over 15% of Illinois' nursing home patient population, and among them are approximately 3,000 ex-felons with histories of serious crimes. Nursing home owners downplay that numbers of violent attacks, arguing they are miniscule in context to the whole, but there is a growing concern. The states largest nursing home owner's association has advocated an end to the practice, asking state officials to create separate facilities for those residents who may pose a danger to others.

While the population of U.S. residents is aging, those who can afford to do so are opting from home health or assisted living care over traditional nursing home or convalescent hospitals.

Source: Chicago Tribune

The Walton Law Firm represents seniors and dependent adults who have suffered neglect or abuse nursing home, residential care, or board-and-care setting. Cases are taken in all Southern California counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego. For a free and confidential consultation call (866) 607-1325.