Articles Posted in Elder Abuse

In recent months, we’ve often discussed the issue of elder abuse, including the problem of nursing home neglect. These posts contain some truly distressing information about the frequency of abuse and the utter callousness that the perpetrators show. It is good to be reminded that courts and juries are working to hold people responsible for these acts. As a Sacramento elder abuse law firm, we hope these verdicts serve to compensate victims, punish wrongdoers, and warn others that the law will hold them responsible for the mistreatment of our elderly population. In cases of nursing home abuse, we hope these verdicts remind companies that placing profits over care will not be tolerated. We also think it is important to keep in mind that these verdicts are victories, but that each one represents one or more victims of cruel acts who deserve to be remembered.

Boice v. Emeritus Corporation: Case Against Senior Care Corporation Ends in Huge Verdict

Twenty-three million dollars is a verdict people typically associate with corporate litigation, lawsuits between large companies over a business deal gone wrong. On Friday March 21, it was the amount of punitive damages that a Sacramento jury found due in a case of elder abuse. According to the Sacramento Bee, Joan Boice moved to Emeritus at Emerald Hills, an Auburn facility operated by a major senior care corporation, in September 2008. Boice, who already suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, developed bedsores while at the facility. According to the evidence at trial, a caregiver alerted a nurse to the sores, only to be told “just don’t let anybody know” because disclosing the sores would have meant Buice being removed from the facility. This was just one element of a case involving systemic understaffing and inadequate training, practices that placed profits above care. By the time Boice left Emerald Hills in December, the sores had grown serious. She died only three months after leaving the center and bedsores were listed as a significant condition leading to her death.

There are few advances as important to our society as modern prescription medication. It wasn’t long ago that people died from illnesses we now treat with a basic course of antibiotics. Many medications save lives. Others help manage severe pain and other health problems, making life more livable. However, as the news outlets often remind us, there is a huge problem stemming from prescription misuse. Abuse and addiction are followed by crimes associated with obtaining and selling medications. An often under-recognized form of this crime is prescription theft in senior care settings. Our San Francisco nursing home abuse lawyer understands this threat and is working to help victims of nursing home drug theft throughout Northern California.

One Example of a Widespread Threat: Florida Nurse Caught With 126 Pills Stolen from Elderly Patients

Nursing home medication theft is a nationwide problem that strikes communities of all size, as a recent headline demonstrates. On February 24, according to the Crestview Bulletin, the sheriff’s office in Okaloosa County, Florida received a call about a theft at The Manor of Bluewater Bay. The Manor is a 120-bed facility providing both long-term nursing home and short-term rehabilitation services in Niceville, a city of 13,000 on Florida’s panhandle. The Director of Nursing told the responding deputy that he’d observed surveillance video footage showing a nurse stealing prescription medications from patients. When confronted, 32 year-old Renee Lorraine Stern admitted to stealing the drugs. The nurse had 126 pills in her possession belonging to a number of different facility residents, including pain killers and anxiety medication. She reported that the drugs were for her own use to treat pain stemming from a prior surgery. Police charged Stern with larceny and several counts of possessing a controlled substance. They have set a court date of April 9.

As the presence of elder abuse in our society is made more aware to the public, we are finding that the problem may be bigger, and worse, than initially suspected. An increasing number of elderly citizens are put in nursing homes but there has always been a suspected underreporting of elder abuse cases. This may be because there is a lack of training on detecting abuse and the elderly themselves may be reluctant to report abuse due to fear or threat or the inability to do so cognitively. Though statistically, there is an increasing trend in reports of elder abuse, studies estimate that only 1 in 14 cases of elder abuse come to light.

New York Woman Hides Camera to Catch Abuse of Grandmother

Last week, a story came to light of a New York woman who suspected her 89-year-old grandmother Ana Louisa Medina, who suffers from both dementia and Alzheimer’s, was being abused in the Bronx nursing home she was placed in. After noticing unusual markings and bruising on her body, Diana Valentin initially inquired the administrators of Gold Crest Care Center of what was going on. She was told the injuries were incurred when her grandmother banged her hands on the bed railings. Still feeling suspect, Valenin decided to place a hidden camera inside of her grandmother’s room. Valentin says the hidden camera recorded approximately 600 hours of footage and was enough to have her send Medina to an emergency room, and later to a different nursing home.

Bedsores are one of the most common signs that an individual with limited mobility is suffering from neglect. While patients may develop bedsores despite a high level of care, they can also be a warning sign that something is amiss. Such warning signs are especially important when the patient is unable to communicate effectively. In an effort to help people identify mistreatment, our San Francisco nursing home neglect law firm is using today’s blog post to talk about bedsores and how they can indicate abuse.

What are Bedsores?

The Mayo Clinic explains that bedsores, also known as pressure sores or pressure ulcers, are injuries to the skin and tissues resulting from prolonged pressure. They most often arise on skin that covers bony areas including the hips, buttocks, heels, ankles, and under or around the head in bedridden individuals. Bedsores are categorized by four stages of severity. In Stage One, the skin is intact but may be discolored (may not occur with darker skin) and the area can become painful or feel either warmer or cooler than surrounding skin. Stage Two is characterized by an open wound and damage to or loss of the outer and underlying layers of skin. Stage Three is marked by a deep wound that has a crater-like appearance, exposing some fat, and may involve damage beyond the primary wound. Stage Four is the most serious and involves a large-scale loss of tissue that may expose muscle, bone, or tendon. These stages are illustrated on the bedsore page of Apparelyzed, a spinal cord support forum.

Medicine can improve, and save, lives. Medicine can also be dangerous. In recent years, the media has called attention to the recreational abuse of both prescription and over-the-counter medications. However, much less attention has been paid to another medication-related threat – the misuse of medication to sedate or restrain elderly individuals. As an experienced San Francisco nursing home abuse lawyer, Attorney Brod believes it is crucial that people become aware of this dangerous form of elder abuse. We can only prevent nursing home abuse when we as a community stay informed about the threat.

California Nurse Sentenced to Three Years in Nursing Home Drugging Case

Attorney General Kamela Harris recently issued a press release announcing the criminal conviction and sentencing of a nurse for misusing drugs to chemically restrain nursing home residents. Gwen Hughes previously served as the Director of Nursing for a hospital-based skilled nursing facility in the Kern Valley Healthcare District. According to the evidence, Hughes ordered that psychotropic medications be administered to twenty-three elderly nursing facility residents. The medication was not given for therapeutic purposes but rather intended to quiet and control the patients for the convenience of the facility’s staff. The patients who received the medications were considered noisy, argumentative, prone to wandering, and had been known to complain about conditions in the home. Investigators concluded the medicines hastened three patients’ deaths and caused some form of adverse reaction to all twenty-three patients, many of whom were being treated for dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Modern medicine and an awareness of the public to important steps of living out a healthy lifestyle have helped life expectancy rates rise. As more and more people live well into old age, family members get a chance to enjoy their elderly relatives for a longer period of time. However, as these elderly citizens age, their ability to care for themselves, their mental capacity, and their sound decision making skills deteriorate. This makes them vulnerable to being taken advantage of by virtually anyone, from family members, to nursing home workers and even in some cases, public service officers.

Pinole Elder Abuse by Police Officer

When the phrase “elder abuse” is heard, most people think of physical abuse committed on an elderly individual. However, elder abuse does not only pertain to physical abuse. Often, elder abuse refers to when someone takes advantage of an elderly citizen for financial gain. This exploitation includes “illegal taking, misuse, or concealment of funds, property, or assets“. This is what happened to an 82 year-old woman, Jean Phyllis Jones by former Pinole police commander and his wife, Matthew Messier and Elizabeth Regalado. Messier was a neighbor of Jones’s who beginning in January of 2012, began taking control of Jones’s financial assets. Messier drafted documents that gave him control of Jones’s estate and placed himself as the sole beneficiary if and when Jones passed. Ms. Jones was noted to have diminished mental capacity and an inability to make financial decisions. She was unable to identify the legal documents concerning this matter and could not even recall Messier’s name.

Pleasanton police were alerted to the possible case of abuse and after months of investigation, have now charged both Matthew Messier and Elizabeth Regalado with defrauding the 82 year old. Messier had used his position as an officer of the law to gain Ms. Jones’s trust, eventually taking control of bank accounts, cars, and safety deposit boxes amounting to the sum of $750,000.
In this particular case, the type of elder abuse ranged from grand theft to the practicing of law without a license as Messier drafted the legal documents himself that gave him control of Jones’s estate. Fortunately, the Alameda County Adult Protective Services agency became aware of the situation and was able to alert police to investigate the matter. If you believe someone is sustaining elder abuse, here are some signs to look for:

• Physical o Bruises,
o pressure marks,
o broken bones,
o abrasions,
o burns
• Emotional
o Withdrawal from normal activities o Unusual depressed • Financial o Sudden changes in financial situation o Unauthorized use of property or assets
Please note that this list is not a comprehensive or guaranteed list of abuse. For a more comprehensive list, visit the National Center on Elder Abuse.

Sources:
Newly-Launched Elder-Abuse.net Focuses on Silent Epidemic in United States
Cop, Wife Charged in Elder Abuse Case
Former Pinole police commander arrested for ripping off 82-year-old
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