Elder Abuse and Neglect Investigations Are Staggeringly Slow in Pennsylvania, often with Tragic Result

Many of Pennsylvania’s agencies responsible for protecting older adults are failing to investigate complaints of elder abuse and neglect within a safe timeframe, says a Spotlight PA article. State regulations mandate that Pennsylvania’s 52 county protective services agencies, called Area Agencies on Aging, which are tasked with investigating allegations of elder abuse, must complete investigations within 20 days. According to data collected by a Spotlight PA investigation, certain of these county agencies have taken as much as five times longer than the 20 days to achieve determinations in abuse and neglect investigations.

What’s more, says the article, is that there has also been an astounding 91 percent increase in deaths of elderly Pennsylvanians during open investigations since 2018, a circumstance that would seem to require the involvement of wrongful death attorneys; however, accountability for these deaths is practically impossible to determine as the Department of Aging, which oversees the state’s agencies, does not track causes of death, and state’s agencies aren’t required to report it.

Reform and transparency are demanded immediately, says the article, especially as the number of adults aged 60 and over in the state continues to grow (projected by 2030 to outnumber every other age group). Apparently some new legislation introduced by State Rep. Lou Schmitt (R., Blair) would require the Department of Aging to make public the compliance status of every Pennsylvania county agency; meanwhile, Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich has told the agencies his office is formulating a plan to publish more performance information about them.

“We as a department have to do better,” said Kavulich.

Suspecting Nursing Home Malpractice and Elder Abuse

If you suspect your loved one living at a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home is the victim of nursing home malpractice in the form of abuse or neglect, it is good practice to inform the nursing home administrator as well as your state’s Department of Health/Ombudsman’s Office, and certainly a state investigator, whose number is required to be made available to you by the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home. It is also imperative to contact a nursing home malpractice attorney immediately. While an investigation of the accusation of nursing home malpractice will be put into motion, having an experienced nursing home malpractice or wrongful death attorney available to you will be indispensible throughout the process, as he or she can inform you of pertinent matters of the law while also working on your behalf to ensure a comprehensive nursing home malpractice investigation is conducted.

Fighting Against Elder Abuse, Nursing Home Malpractice, and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy strives to uphold the safety and the rights of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and New Jersey nursing home residents. Your loved one living in a Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home should live without concern about being subjected to abuse, neglect, or any sort of nursing home malpractice. As an experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy holds accountable those Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes responsible for poor care. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, or if you need guidance in choosing a nursing home, call Brian Murphy today.

The post Pennsylvania Investigations of Elder Abuse and Neglect Are Staggeringly Slow, often with Tragic Results, Report Says appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

New Jersey Nursing Home Residents Sue for Negligence, Hardship, and Wrongful Death after Home Closes without Notice

For months before the sudden shutdown, red flags about Princeton Care Center were apparent, including staffing shortages, unpaid bills, and poor ratings related to nursing home malpractice,

Eleven lawsuits have been brought against a New Jersey nursing home, all of which claim it illegally closed without proper notice, a NJ.com article reports. The lawsuits, brought by residents or their families, claim that the precipitous shuttering of doors at Princeton Care Center caused hardship and wrongful death, necessitating the securing of wrongful death attorneys and constituting a blatant act of nursing home malpractice.

In the state of New Jersey, the law dictates that a nursing home intending to close must submit a closure plan and give 60 days’ notice to residents. According to the article, the 72 residents of Princeton Care were given just hours of notice when Princeton Care announced it was closing last September. After the closure, says the article, the majority of the residents were placed in other nursing homes, where they promptly suffered mental deterioration trying to acclimate to new surroundings. Two of the residents died shortly after being relocated, unfortunately requiring their families to secure a wrongful death attorney.

The nursing home malpractice lawsuits against the home charge the facility’s owner, administrators, and health care providers with the following:

• Negligence
• Failure to safeguard residents
• Deviating from accepted standards of long-term care
• Failure to comply with federal and state regulations
• Failure to return funds held in residents’ personal needs accounts

Regarding Princeton Care’s sudden shutdown, New Jersey Health Department officials say the move was the legal consequence of emergency circumstances stemming from the collapse of a license transfer deal that would have rescued the financially struggling home; however, court documents and other records indicate the home was in serious financial and operating straits long before the shutdown, a perfect storm of conditions that create circumstances under which nursing home malpractice occurs and vulnerable residents suffer. The red flags were enumerated by the article as the following:

• Consistent poor ratings
• Hundreds of thousands in unpaid bills
• Millions in mounting losses
• Chronic staffing shortages
• Alleged breach of contract concerning lease payments not made for months

According to the Office of the State Comptroller, Princeton Care’s owner, Gail Bogner, has been made to renounce her stake in two other facilities earlier this year rather than risk the forfeiture of millions of dollars in federal funding necessary to keep those sites open. Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh said Bogner’s actions regarding Princeton Care were characterized by “recklessness, neglect, and incredibly poor judgment [that] caused serious harm and trauma to the residents of Princeton Care Center. It presents too serious of a risk to allow them to have influence over any other Medicaid-funded nursing homes.”

Fighting Against Nursing Home Neglect, Abuse, and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy has dedicated his practice to upholding the safety and preserving the rights of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home residents. Your loved one should not fear that the facility he or she is comfortable in will close without notice, leaving him or her reeling. As a seasoned nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy endeavors to hold accountable those Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes responsible for negligence and abuse and every kind of nursing home malpractice. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, or if you need guidance in choosing a nursing home, call Brian Murphy today.

The post New Jersey Nursing Home Residents Sue for Negligence, Hardship, and Wrongful Death after Home Closes without Notice appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

New York Attorney General Sues Nursing Homes for Allegedly Neglecting Residents while Misusing $83M of Taxpayer Money: A lawsuit accuses four New York nursing homes of enriching themselves while ignoring residents and subjecting them to nursing home malpractice.

The New York attorney general has filed a lawsuit against four nursing homes for misusing over $83 million in funds from Medicare and Medicaid and imperiling vulnerable residents, says an ABC News article. In her lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the following facilities of nursing home malpractice and fraud:

• Beth Abraham Center (The Bronx)
• Holliswood Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare (Queens)
• Martine Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (Westchester County)
• Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (Buffalo)

The homes are all owned and operated by Centers Health Care which, along with the facilities’ landlords and affiliated corporations, is accused in the lawsuit of using taxpayer money intended for resident care for personal enrichment and of allowing residents to suffer from a range of maladies as a result of poor care stemming primarily from inadequate staffing.

Nursing homes that attempt to operate with insufficient staffing are incapable of providing adequate care, maintaining hygienic conditions, or preserving safety for nursing home residents. James’s lawsuit enumerates the following alleged examples of nursing home malpractice as a result of low staffing in these nursing homes:

• An inability to assist residents with basic daily needs, such as using the bathroom, getting in and out of bed, eating, and maintaining personal hygiene
• A failure to answer call bells in a timely manner or at all
• A failure to provide timely meals
• An inability to prevent residents’ personal items from being lost or stolen
• A failure to prevent squalid and unsanitary conditions as a result of neglected food trays and residents’ neglected hygiene, resulting in vermin, flies, and a continuous odor of human waste

“Nursing homes are meant to be safe spaces where the most vulnerable members of our community receive the care and dignity they deserve,” James said in a statement. “Instead, the owners of Centers Health Care allegedly used these four nursing homes – and the vulnerable New Yorkers who lived there – to extract millions of dollars for their personal use, leading to elderly residents and those with disabilities suffering unconscionable pain, neglect, degradation, and even death.”

The lawsuit states that residents of these homes suffered from the following problems related to nursing home malpractice as a result of the alleged fraud:

• Dehydration and malnutrition: The suit claims residents suffered from severe dehydration and malnutrition, and, consequently, an increased risk of death. Prolonged nursing home malnutrition can result in drastic weight loss and serious health decline that can lead to death; even mild dehydration can be fatal for elderly residents. Both dehydration and malnutrition are preventable. Their occurrence is a sign of nursing home malpractice, requiring in extreme cases for the intervention of a wrongful death attorney.
• Nursing home neglect: The lawsuit alleges that residents were left to sit in their own urine and feces for long periods, a flagrant example of nursing home malpractice related to neglect.
• Nursing home infections: As a result of untreated bed sores and poor wound care, residents developed serious infections, some of which progressed to sepsis, which can be deadly, unfortunately requiring the services of a wrongful death attorney.
• Nursing home falls: Nursing home neglect allegedly resulted in the occurrence of falls from which residents sustained life-altering injuries or even death, says the lawsuit. Families of nursing home residents who die as a result of having fallen while in the care of a nursing home should contact a wrongful death attorney.

Your Trusted Advocate against Nursing Home Malpractice

Your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home should live content in the knowledge that he or she will receive the quality care guaranteed by law and that every right as a nursing home resident will be upheld. Nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney Brian P. Murphy holds accountable Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing homes for inadequate care, acts of negligence, and elder abuse. As an experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy is dedicated to protecting the health, security, and well-being of Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing home residents. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

The post New York Attorney General Sues Nursing Homes for Allegedly Neglecting Residents while Misusing $83M of Taxpayer Money appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

Biden Administration Calls for Transparency in Nursing Home Ownership and Operation: Research reveals that for-profit and private equity ownership of nursing homes is connected with increased nursing home malpractice and wrongful death.

According to a USA Today article, the Biden administration has proposed a rule calling for nursing homes to reveal if they are owned and operated by private equity firms or real estate investment trusts. The rule calling for transparency of ownership, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services earlier this month, relates to the president’s intention to reform nursing homes.

The complex ownership of certain American nursing home chains can make it unclear who decision makers are and where taxpayer money goes, as well as whether or not nursing homes are profitable. Disclosure of ownership and financial information will directly inform future policies intended to decrease nursing home malpractice related to poor quality of care. But in the meantime, says U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, the information about ownership would be made public as a means of informing consumers. When and how this information will be shared has not yet been decided.

Becerra is quoted in the article as saying that quality of care in nursing homes continues to decrease while costs soar. He also noted that recent studies have shown that ownership has an impact on quality of care in nursing homes.

The White House has previously noted that residents of private equity-owned nursing facilities have a greater likelihood of experiencing serious negative outcomes related to nursing home malpractice, some which necessitate the involvement of a wrongful death attorney. The Biden administration has named the following as negative outcomes more likely for residents of private equity-owned nursing homes:

• More nursing home injuries and illnesses that require hospitalization
• Higher mortality rates
• Higher nursing home infection rates

Nursing homes could be required to give updated information regarding direct and indirect ownership by mid-year.

Fighting Elder Abuse, Nursing Home Malpractice, and Wrongful Death

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy has years of experience holding Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes responsible for nursing home abuse and neglect. Residents of Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes should feel safe and secure and should expect the facilities in which they live to respect every right to which they are guaranteed under federal law.  Having practiced for years as a wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy fearlessly confronts negligent nursing homes and steadfastly pursues the successful resolution of his clients’ cases. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

The post Biden Administration Calls for Transparency in Nursing Home Ownership and Operation appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

For-Profit Nursing Home Neglect Amid Pandemic: Severe understaffing within for-profit nursing home chains led to poor care, nursing home neglect, and a negative impact on the health of residents. About 70% of nursing homes in the US are run by for-profit operators.

According to a report by the House of Representatives’ Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, deplorable conditions amounting to nursing home malpractice persisted inside for‑profit nursing home chains early on in the pandemic. The Select Subcommittee also released documents illuminating how opaque corporate structures used by these nursing home chains possibly helped these companies to cut corners, shirk responsibility, and obscure profits.

Using documents obtained during its investigation of five for-profit chains that had significant Covid outbreaks across 850 homes housing around 80,000 residents, the Select Subcommittee revealed the following four key findings, which are examples of nursing home malpractice:

• As a result of severe shortage of nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) early on in the pandemic, many nursing home residents were subjected to deficient care and nursing home neglect, which negatively impacted their health.
  • Some nursing homes reported staff ratios ranging between 35 and 39 residents to one nurse.
  • Specific examples of the effects of this understaffing included a resident in Nevada who had to wait two days for a shower after vomiting on herself, and an elderly patient who developed a pelvic infection after continued delays in receiving bathroom insistence.

Nursing home understaffing is often tied to negligent care within nursing homes and is considered to be nursing home malpractice.

This for-profit nursing home neglect amid pandemic as the result of understaffing can lead to nursing home illnesses, injuries, and even death, which would require the intervention of a wrongful death attorney.

• Workers in for-profit nursing home chains were not provided with sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE).
  • As a result of not receiving adequate PPE, numerous nursing home employees were forced to share PPE or craft their own protective equipment out of makeshift supplies.
  • In one Texas facility, residents were denied masks and instead given ill-fitting and ineffective “handkerchiefs.”

The lack of necessary PPE during the coronavirus pandemic placed at risk the health of both staff and residents and amounts to nursing home malpractice. The gross negligence of not protecting elderly residents in fragile health from contracting Covid potentially subjected them to severe illness and even wrongful death, requiring the involvement of a nursing home malpractice attorney.

• Irrespective of having Covid symptoms or even of testing positive, many nursing home workers were pressured to continue working, putting other staff and residents at risk.
  • Examples of sick staff forced to work included a Midwestern nursing home cook instructed to wear a wet rag rather than go home due to a 101 degree fever, and a Virginia employee told to take Tylenol and return to work with a fever.
  • Management at many facilities threatened termination or other punishment for employees who called in sick.
  • Many facilities did not require employees who tested positive to quarantine as per the then-existing CDC guidance; many others refused to give paid sick days to employees who did quarantine.

Forcing employees to work while positive with Covid endangers the health of nursing home residents and amounts to nursing home malpractice. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say that, as of early September, nearly 160,000 nursing-home residents have died of Covid-19. Residents exposed to Covid in this way may wrongfully die from the illness, necessitating the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.

• The obscure corporate structures employed by for-profit nursing homes may have enabled them to avoid legal and regulatory accountability and to obscure profits.
  • Ultimate parent ownership of nursing home facilities are obscured by the presence of one or more operating companies. For example, one Genesis Healthcare, Inc., facility had two corporate entities as owners, but eleven intermediate entities separating the facility from the parent companies. According to the Select Subcommittee, four other companies utilize similar corporate structures to Genesis.
  • Such convoluted structuring shields parent companies from regulatory penalties that tend to be presented at the facility level, and also protects parent companies from the scrutiny of the public. This structuring also can obscure the true financial state of nursing home facilities.

According to the report, for-profit facilities provide a lower quality of care and their residents suffer poorer health outcomes. For-profit homes—in particular, private equity-owned nursing homes—are more likely to warrant investigation for nursing home malpractice or necessitate the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.

Holding Nursing Homes Responsible for Insufficient Care

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy is committed to fighting for the health and safety of Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing home residents. While living as a resident of a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home, your loved one should be confident that his or her needs are met, as protected under federal law.  Brian Murphy’s extensive experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent nursing homes positions him to successfully resolve nursing home malpractice cases. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

The post Residents Endured Appalling Conditions at For-Profit Nursing Homes during the Pandemic, Congress Reports appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

Nursing Homes Having Friends or Family Pay Patients’ Debt

Often using admissions agreements to ensnare friends and family who have no legal responsibility for residents’ debts, nursing homes are ignoring federal debt collection laws as they go after residents’ children, grandchildren, and friends to get nursing home bills paid. In some cases lawsuits against families are in the tens of thousands of dollars.

According to a recent NPR article reporting on a KHN-NPR investigation, the nursing home industry has been targeting family members and friends of nursing home residents for payment of nursing home debts. Using what consumer lawyers and nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorneys across the country consider to be aggressive and malicious tactics, nursing homes have been suing not only residents and their spouses, but also their friends and family members, who often have no meaningful financial ties to their loved ones and are not legally accountable for residents’ debts.

Despite the fact that federal law protects against nursing homes having friends or family pay patients’ debt, the KHN-NPR investigation, conducted in New York’s Monroe County, indicates that nearly two-thirds of the 238 debt collection cases filed by 24 federally licensed nursing homes between 2018 to 2021 targeted a friend or relative. The cases sought nearly $7.6 million. In many of them, friends and family were bullied by the nursing homes, who accused them of hiding their loved one’s assets, an act known as “fraudulent conveyance.” The NPR article claimed that this intimidation tactic was effective enough to get some people—even those who had no way to access residents’ money and therefore no way to hide these assets—to pay bills out of their own pockets. A number of these lawsuits were unsupported by documentation.

In other cases, nursing homes pointed to signed admission agreements as proof that friends or relatives agreed to take on financial responsibility for their loved ones—a strategy that should not come as a surprise to any nursing home malpractice attorney or wrongful death attorney. Since nursing home admission agreements consist of many pages and can be tough for incoming residents and their families to understand, it is easy for many nursing homes to include illegal or otherwise deceptive provisions in these agreements. Often times, clauses are included that make family members the “responsible party” for bill payment. By law, facilities cannot request third party guarantees of financial payment, but some do so anyway; as a result, without a careful reading or the help of a nursing home malpractice attorney, families are signing agreements without realizing what their signature means. Even when friends and family members are reluctant, some nursing homes insist that the admission agreement be signed. Making such a demand is also a violation of federal law, but without the advice of a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, families feel coerced into signing. For this reason it is advisable that family members not only to refuse to sign admission agreements that contain any terms that are illegal or violate a resident’s rights, but also to have a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney go through the admission agreement beforehand to ensure it is safe to sign.

While Beth Martino, a spokesperson for the American Health Care Association, claimed that lawsuits against families are “not a common occurrence,” consumer attorneys in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and California told NPR that debt collection lawsuits against family and friends are a common occurrence.

Get a Nursing Home Malpractice Attorney’s Advice before Signing Admission Agreements

If your loved one is entering a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home and you have questions about admission agreements, arbitration agreements, or resident rights, you should have a knowledgeable nursing home malpractice attorney ready to advise you. Brian P. Murphy is a seasoned Philadelphia/PA and NJ malpractice and wrongful death attorney, and is dedicated to preserving the rights of your loved ones and protecting friends and family from being targeted in unlawful debt collection cases. If you have concerns about nursing home malpractice at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, or if someone you love has suffered a wrongful death as the result of nursing home neglect, please contact nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

The post Nursing Homes Are Bullying Friends and Family to Pay Patients’ Debt appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

New Jersey limits nursing home profits to boost quality of care; New York and Massachusetts are also implementing accountability measures.

New Jersey is one of three states to set requirements on how nursing homes spend the payments they receive from government programs and residents, says an article on fortune.com. Set in motion by the staffing and infection control issues exposed by the impact of the pandemic on nursing homes, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts have set mandates that seek to improve the quality of care elderly residents receive by directing how funds are appropriated. These mandates, which will go into effect next year, will dictate how much must be spent on direct care and will limit how much revenue can be used by homes for executive salaries, administrative costs, and profits. Homes that go over these set limits must pay back the difference to the state or have that amount deducted from future payments.

As New Jersey limits nursing home profits to boost quality of care, there are positive and negative reactions.

Proponents of New Jersey’s mandate, like 1199SEIU executive president Molly Silva, applaud the efforts toward setting a focus on patient care. “Nursing homes are primarily funded by public tax dollars, Medicaid, or Medicare—and the public has a reason to care about how our dollars are being spent,” said Silva, who backed the legislation in New York and New Jersey.

Critics of the mandate, like Health Care Association of New Jersey President and CEO Andrew Aronson, believe the move will backfire. “By trying to force providers to put more money into direct care, you’re creating a disincentive for people to invest in their buildings,” said Aronson,  “which is going to drive the quality down.”

While New York and Massachusetts require that a percentage of total revenue be spent on resident care (70% and 75% respectively for New York and Massachusetts nursing facilities), New Jersey has yet to determine if its requirement (90% toward patient care) will come from total revenue or only from Medicaid funding. Aronson argues that Medicaid does not pay enough to cover the cost of care, which currently amounts to a shortfall of $40 a day per resident in New Jersey. “Ninety percent of facilities are losing money,” said Aronson.

According to Fortune, all three states promise Medicaid payment increases to homes that remain in compliance with the laws.

Beyond the issue of which funds will count as revenue to be used toward direct care, a few other matters remain in question, including how regulators will define what constitutes direct care and how it will determine the accuracy of reports.

Fighting for the Rights of Your Loved One

It’s important to ensure that the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives avoids any poor care that results in nursing home neglect or abuse [https://www.thenursinghomeattorneys.com/nursing-home-abuse-and-neglect/]. Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required to meet health and safety standards requirements and to ensure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. Should you have concerns about the quality of care in a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home, or if you suspect neglect, abuse, or fraud has occurred at the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home where your loved one lives, please contact nursing home abuse attorney Brian P. Murphy to discover your legal rights and options.

The post New Jersey Aims to Boost Quality of Care by Limiting Nursing Home Profits appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.