Early one morning in late August, an 82-year-old woman wandered away from her Batesburg, SC, nursing home. She was found nearly eight hours later; fortunately, she was unharmed. If this incident had occurred during winter weather, or if she had wandered into the path of a vehicle, the outcome could…
In 1791, James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights to provide constitutional protection for individual liberties and prevent the abuse of governmental power. Nearly 200 years later, in 1987, the federal Nursing Home Reform Law was written to include the guarantee of certain rights to some of our country’s most…
When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I’d been out ’til quarter to three, would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four?…
Bed rails are metal bars used on the sides of beds to keep sleeping people from rolling out onto the floor. They’re most often used by parents of small children or families and caregivers of the elderly. While they may help prevent a rude awakening, they can also inflict injuries…
An August 4 article in the New York Times brings to light the danger many nursing home patients face as a result of inadequate dental hygiene. It quotes Dr. Sarah J. Dirks, a San Antonio dentist who treats nursing home residents, who says that the lack of daily oral care…
A Pickens County nursing home is back in the news again – and not in a good way. Thirty-six elderly patients at Majesty Health and Rehab in Easley were forced from their rooms in the middle of the night because of a gas leak. Each year there are more than…
Too many U.S. nursing homes are using dangerously strong antipsychotic drugs to keep patients with dementia drugged, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In fact, 2010 data shows that 17 percent of nursing home patients had daily doses above recommended levels. Claire Curry, a consumer…
Columbia, S.C., March 01, 2012 – Reacting to a Charleston TV station’s recent report, South Carolina nursing home abuse attorney Bert Louthian said today that the state’s nursing homes should alert residents and their families when a registered sex offender moves into the facility. Louthian also said that nursing home…
The family of an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and several other conditions, received $91.5 million in damages from a Charleston, West Virginia nursing home. The elderly woman was a patient for just three weeks at Heartland of Charleston nursing home where the workers failed to feed…
A 92-year-old man died at what was previously known as Harborside of Madisonville Nursing Home after being a resident for only nine days. His family alleged he died of complications from dehydration and pressure ulcers which were caused by neglect.