Staff Requirements are Falling Short for Most Pennsylvania and New Jersey Nursing Homes, Says Analysis

In 2026, federal staffing minimums will be implemented in an effort to address staffing shortages that contribute to incidences of nursing home malpractice. Few facilities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are close to meeting these minimums, a new report finds.

The majority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes don’t meet the staffing requirements drafted under a new rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a Philly Voice article says. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, under 20 percent of Pennsylvania nursing homes and only 15 percent of New Jersey nursing homes meet certain staffing requirements due to take effect in 2026.

Following the pandemic, during which over 167,000 nursing home residents died, a severe drop in nursing home staff occurred. Subsequent reports of neglect, abuse, and nursing home malpractice followed. The CMS rule, proposed last year and released in finalized form in April, seeks to help resolve the low staffing that results in nursing home malpractice as well as tragic deadly incidents that require the intervention of a wrongful death attorney.

The finalized CMS rule will require a total nurse staffing standard of 3.48 hours per resident day (HPRD), which needs to include 0.55 HPRD for registered nurses and 2.45 HPRD for nurse aides. According to the Philly Voice article, the KFF analysis shows the following data related to Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes vis-à-vis the staffing requirements:

• Pennsylvania – Only 18 percent of nursing homes currently provide the 2.45 HPRD from nurse aids, while 56 percent of homes meet the total nursing standard and under 70 percent meet the 0.55 HPRD for RNs.
• New Jersey – In New Jersey, 19 percent of nursing homes meet the minimum 2.45 HPRD from nurse aides, while 55 percent meet the registered nurse staffing standards, and just over 50 percent meet the total nursing standard.

Low staffing in nursing homes interferes with workers’ and nurses’ ability to adequately perform tasks and give care to vulnerable nursing home residents, which equates to nursing home malpractice in the following forms:

• Malnutrition and dehydration from inadequate provision of food and water
• Poor nursing home hygiene and the development/deterioration of bed sores
• Increased nursing home falls  and medication errors
• Nursing home illnesses
• Nursing home infections
• Nursing home injuries
• Wrongful death, necessitating the involvement of a wrongful death attorney

If you are worried about staffing levels at your loved one’s nursing home, or if you suspect injuries, illnesses, or wrongful death has occurred as a result of poor nursing home staffing, don’t hesistate—contact a nursing home malpractice or wrongful death attorney right away.

Holding Nursing Homes Responsible for Poor Staffing Levels

Your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home should not need to tolerate circumstances of nursing home malpractice related to low staffing, especially those that compromise their health and safety or subject them to the possibility of wrongful death. 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. With extensive experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent nursing homes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Brian Murphy is committed to successfully resolving his clients’ 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.

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Evidence of Fraud and Nursing Home Malpractice Leads New Jersey to Suspend Two Nursing Homes from Medicaid:

In the wake of a New York lawsuit alleging their owners took millions in Medicare funds from their New York nursing homes to enrich themselves, New Jersey has planned to suspend two poor-performing New Jersey nursing homes from receiving Medicare.

New Jersey is planning to suspend two nursing homes from Medicaid in light of evidence of substantial Medicare fraud by their owners and as a result of poor care amounting to nursing home malpractice, says a Philadelphia Inquirer article. Both Deptford Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare and Hammonton Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare will be suspended from Medicaid by the New Jersey Comptroller’s Medicaid Fraud Unit as of May 25.

The owners of the Deptford and Hammonton facilities, Kenneth Rozenberg, Beth Rozenberg, and Daryl Hagler, have been sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly using $83 million in Medicare funds from four of their New York nursing homes for their own personal enrichment. The lawsuit also accuses the owners of subjecting their residents to nursing home malpractice in the form of substandard care as a result of poor staffing. According to the lawsuit, the owners’ New York nursing home residents were victims of nursing home malpractice across the following forms as a consequence of the alleged fraud:

• Prolonged Neglect: Residents were left sitting in their own urine and feces for extended periods of time.
• Nursing home infections: Substandard wound care and neglect of bed sores led certain residents to develop serious infections and even sepsis, a frequently deadly condition that ultimately could require the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.
• Dehydration and malnutrition: As a result of neglect, residents experienced severe dehydration and malnutrition, both of which can be fatal for the vulnerable elderly, demanding the intervention of a wrongful death attorney.
• Nursing home falls: Some residents experienced severe injuries from falls; others died, says the lawsuit. Families whose loved ones suffer a fatal fall in a nursing home should contact a wrongful death attorney.

Like the New York homes, Deptford Center and Hammonton Center also have histories of substandard care equating to nursing home malpractice. As per the Inquirer article, both facilities have received numerous citations for health and safety violations. Both the Deptford and Hammonton facilities have been given one-star quality ratings on the federal Nursing Home Care Compare web site.

According to the Inquirer, New Jersey’s long-term care ombudsman Laurie Facciarossa Brewer called the suspension of the two nursing homes “richly deserved.” New Jersey State Comptroller Kevin Walsh defended the scheduled plan to suspend the homes in a press release.

“When there is evidence of fraud of this magnitude, and when a judge has acted to prevent further siphoning and self-dealing, we have a duty to act,” said Walsh. “To protect New Jersey Medicaid and the residents who rely on it, we must stop the flow of Medicaid funds to these individuals, and we must require them to step aside.”

Fighting Against Neglectful Care, Elder Abuse, and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy is dedicated to protecting the safety and preserving the rights of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home residents. 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.

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Biden Administration Proposes Minimum Staffing Rule to Combat Nursing Home Malpractice

The Biden administration has released a proposed rule requiring nursing homes to meet a minimum staffing level, a Washington Post article reports. The rule, said Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, is intended to help address the persistent crisis of understaffing in American nursing homes and to ensure residents get a higher level of quality care.

If implemented, the rule, drafted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will require that nursing home residents receive 2.45 hours of care from a nurse aide per day, plus 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse. The rule would also require that nursing homes have a registered nurse on duty at all times. According to the article, CMS estimates that three-quarters of American nursing homes will need to increase staffing to meet the requirements, and one-fifth of nursing homes will need to hire registered nurses.

Understaffing in nursing homes has a direct and negative impact on nursing home residents’ well-being to an extent that amounts to nursing home malpractice. The following are examples of how low staff levels in nursing homes can result in nursing home malpractice:

• Scarce staff may interfere with the timely provision of adequate food and water, leading to nursing home malnutrition and dehydration
• Fewer staff members are available to provide frequent bathing, which can lead to poor nursing home hygiene and the development/deterioration of pressure wounds
• Inconsistent staffing affects staff members’ ability to frequently reposition immobile residents, which can result in bedsores
• Residents stranded by unavailable staff may attempt to get out of bed or use the bathroom by themselves, risking nursing home falls
• Lack of nurses within nursing homes can increase the occurrence of medication errors
• Low nursing levels reduces the number of decision makers regarding medical intervention or sending a resident to the hospital

The above circumstances—in themselves instances of nursing home malpractice—illustrate how understaffing interferes with nursing homes’ ability to properly execute tasks that support elderly residents’ well-being. Ultimately these circumstances of nursing home malpractice can also result in a range of  negative outcomes, such as the following:

• Nursing Home Illnesses
• Nursing home Infections
• Nursing Home Injuries
• And in some cases, even wrongful death, necessitating the involvement of a wrongful death attorney

While nursing home operators claim understaffing is the result of an extreme employee shortage, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, advocates for better quality care in nursing homes say insufficient pay and poor working conditions, which create high staff turnover rates (an average of 50 percent per year), are the real culprits for poorly staffed homes.

“We call it a job quality crisis, not a hireability crisis,” said Sam Brooks, director of public policy at the nonprofit advocacy group National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care. “It’s clear that nursing homes don’t pay workers well, they don’t treat them well, and they don’t provide adequate training.”

Beyond this, said Brooks, is the financial opacity of nursing homes, which increasingly are operated by owners that utilize multiple companies that service their facilities and direct profits away from resident care, resulting in conditions that often advance nursing home malpractice.

The majority of the staffing rule will kick in within three years for urban facilities and five years for rural facilities.

Protecting Your Loved One against Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy has dedicated his law practice to protecting the health, security, and well-being of Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing home residents. Your loved one living in a Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home has the right to expect a high level of quality care and not fear that situations of nursing home malpractice will occur as a result of low staffing levels within the home. As an experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy holds accountable Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes for acts of negligence or elder abuse. Should you find yourself needing to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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Pennsylvania Nursing Home Owner and Administrators Charged with Falsifying Staffing Records: Federal Trial Begins: 

Years of Medicaid and Medicare fraud has been alleged at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness and Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness, two Pennsylvania facilities that repeatedly have been cited for violations amounting to nursing home malpractice.

The criminal trial has begun for a co-owner of two Pennsylvania nursing homes and several of his former administrators who were indicted last year for multiple charges of nursing home malpractice related to federal fraud, says a McKnight’s Long-Term Care News article.

Sam Halper, co-owner of Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness and Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness, was charged last year by then-Pennsylvania Attorney General (now Governor) Josh Shapiro on multiple counts of nursing home malpractice, including conspiracy, fraud, falsification of records related to health care matters, and falsification of records in a federal investigation. Charged alongside Halper are the following now-dismissed administrators: the Brighton director of nursing, the Brighton director of social services, the Mt. Lebanon administrator, and two corporate managers.

Harper allegedly masterminded a multifaceted scheme of fraud and record falsification at both facilities to reduce costs and boost revenue. Involved in the plan were the following alleged nursing home malpractice schemes:

• At Brighton: Staffing Falsification—Despite knowing that it would produce negative health consequences for residents, Halper insisted that Brighton staffing levels be kept low to trim costs. This scheme involved keeping one false, and one accurate, record of staffing levels. Documents for federally mandated inspections were also falsified.

The consequences of understaffing, an all-too-common sort of nursing home malpractice, include the following:

• an increase in nursing home falls and injuries
• more frequent and more severe bedsores
• dangerous medication errors
• increased potential for accidental resident death, necessitating the involvement of a wrongful death

• At Mt. Lebanon: Time Sheet Falsification—By having workers clock in and receive payment for shifts they did not work, this nursing home malpractice scheme allegedly attempted to make the home appear to meet Medicare and Medicaid staffing requirements. Additionally, care logs were allegedly falsified to show facility managers giving direct patient care that never occurred. Reportedly those Mt. Lebanon employees who participated in this scheme were compensated with bonuses.

• Patient Treatment/Medical Record Falsification—A third criminal plot named in the indictment involved the nursing home malpractice scheme of attempting to gain a larger federal reimbursement than was owed to the nursing homes. This was allegedly achieved by amplifying patient files with false ailments.

Both Brighton and Mt. Lebanon have been previously beleaguered with nursing home malpractice issues.

Opening arguments for the trial began in mid-November. According to the McKnight’s article, the trial could potentially go on for weeks.

Holding Nursing Homes Accountable for Fraud, Understaffing, Abuse, and Neglect

Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death Attorney Brian P. Murphy is dedicated to protecting Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing home residents from neglect and abuse within the homes where they live. Your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home should expect their facility to meet legally required health and safety standards, including upholding staffing requirements and ensuring that negligent and dangerous practices like falsifying records do not occur. An experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy takes on Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and New Jersey nursing homes for egregious acts of elder abuse, especially any incidence of nursing home malpractice that causes wrongful death. Attorney Brian Murphy is ready to discuss your legal options. If you or your loved one needs to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today.

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Nursing Homes are Failing to Report Falls and Bedsores:

A recent study shows that nursing homes are underreporting serious falls and bedsores, top indicators of nursing home malpractice.

According to a U.S. News & World Report article, a study indicates that U.S. nursing homes are failing to report a large percentage of bed sores and nursing home falls, which is skewing public data on nursing home performance and nursing home malpractice. The false data impairs the ability for people to choose quality nursing homes. According to the article, the study further indicates that the underreporting of incidents is often motivated by race.

After studying Medicare claims data on serious nursing home hospitalizations, researchers found that about 40% of falls and 32% of bedsore hospitalizations were not reflected on Nursing Home Care Compare, a website created by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help people choose the best nursing home. The website relies on self-reported data from nursing homes to provide the public with information on safety, care, and issues of nursing home malpractice in U.S. nursing homes.

Accurate information on nursing home falls and pressure ulcer hospitalization is important for people choosing a nursing home, as these are two prominent indicators of nursing home malpractice in a prospective facility.

• Bed Sores—Hospitalizations for the treatment of bedsores indicate that residents’ pressure ulcers have been allowed to deteriorate into severe wounds that require surgery or other emergency attention. When bedsores develop into late stage wounds or become infected, this is an indication nursing home malpractice has occurred. Severe bed sores can be deadly, necessitating the intervention of a wrongful death attorney.
• Falls—Like bedsores, nursing home falls are often preventable and their occurrence frequently indicates nursing home malpractice has occurred. Severe falls can result in serious injuries like limb or facial fractures, extensive bruising, sprains and strains, and sometimes can even result in death, leading to the family’s need to secure a wrongful death attorney.

The study compared the CMS data against medical claims filed to medicare by hospitals seeking reimbursement for treatment for bedsores or falls. The findings not only revealed a disparity of data, but also indicated that underreporting skewed along racial lines. Emphasizing that U.S. nursing homes are frequently segregated, lead researcher and assistant professor of public health sciences at the University of Chicago Prachi Sanghavi reported that nursing homes with more white residents reported more fall injuries and fewer bedsore injuries, while reporting rates from nursing homes with more black residents showed the opposite.

The report posited that alternative methods of measuring nursing home quality outside of self-reported data ought to be considered by CMS, such as objective data from Medicare and Medicaid claims. Having the most accurate information possible is crucial in choosing a nursing home, particularly since it can be complicated to change nursing homes only after discovering a home’s likelihood of committing nursing home malpractice. When choosing a nursing home, it’s prudent to use a range of sources and research methods (such as this guide) to research prospective homes for yourself or a loved one. Beyond the CMS website, the following methods are helpful in choosing a nursing home:

• Contact Your State DOH: The state Departments of Health in Pennsylvania and New Jersey make available their investigative records of every nursing home malpractice complaint in their respective states.
• Tour Prospective Homes: While a tour itself will not reveal the likelihood of nursing home malpractice, you can be alert for indicators. For example, since a top cause of nursing home malpractice is understaffing, you can use your tour to observe the number of staff members or to inquire about nurse-to-resident ratio and turnover rates.
• Contact a Nursing Home Attorney: Wrongful death and nursing home malpractice are matters highly familiar to nursing home lawyers. To learn about choosing a safe nursing home for your loved one, you should contact a trusted nursing home malpractice or wrongful death attorney.

Holding Homes Responsible for Neglect, Abuse, and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy is dedicated to upholding the rights of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home residents and ensuring their health and safety. As an experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy has made it his mission to hold negligent Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes accountable for preventable falls and bedsores and other incidents 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 to discuss your legal options.

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‘Horrific’ Care Incidents Place Residents in Jeopardy at Iowa Nursing Home Numerous Times:

Following a series of complaints of deficient care, the Genesis Senior Living nursing home in Iowa was cited for several federal and state citations related to nursing home malpractice.

State inspectors found residents of an Iowa nursing home to be in immediate jeopardy as a result of actions consistent with nursing home malpractice, according to an Iowa Capital Dispatch article. As per the news story, a former staff nurse at the home called the quality-of-care standards there “horrific.”

After complaints against the facility accumulated, inspectors made an examination of the Genesis Senior Living nursing home in Des Moines in April and determined that 13 federal and two state citations related to nursing home malpractice were warranted against the home. Among the citations of nursing home malpractice were the following:

• Failure to meet quality-of-care standards
• Failure to protect residents from abuse and neglect
• Failure to investigate or respond to alleged violations
• Failure to adequately protect residents from infections
• Failure to notify family members of residents’ worsening conditions

The former staff nurse, who reportedly left the facility at the end of last year as a result of the shoddy care there, gave state inspectors multiple examples of incidents of “horrific” care equaling nursing home malpractice. Among these examples, and others discovered by inspectors, were the following:

• Neglected Infection: Last December the nurse discovered the dressing on a resident’s open foot wound had not been changed since its application eight days earlier. In changing the dressing, the nurse found the wound to be oozing and extremely foul-smelling. Despite the ordering of an antibiotic, the wound worsened in severity and odor, eventually landing the resident in the hospital, where it was determined that exposed bone within the wound had become infected, requiring four surgeries with bone grafts and a ten week hospital stay. As evidenced in this situation, nursing home infections that go untreated can be dangerous, and even deadly, potentially requiring the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.
• Medication Errors: When the nurse would begin her night shift, she would frequently discover that the day-shift medications had not been distributed to patients. Nursing home medication errors often are the result of poor care or insufficient staffing and thereby indicate nursing home malpractice has occurred.
• Poor Hygiene Care Given to Residents: At times, Genesis residents requiring two showers per week went seven days without being bathed. One resident requesting daily bathing went two weeks without a shower. Hygiene care is paramount in nursing homes, particularly for residents prone to bedsores, and failure to do is a sign of nursing home malpractice.
• Unsafe Mechanical-Lift Transfers: Inspectors found that in six of seven incidents wherein residents were injured during mechanical-lift transfers, Genesis did not ensure residents’ safety and thereby placed residents in immediate jeopardy during the time period of those incidents (Jan. 9 through April 26). Nursing home injuries are frequently indicative of neglectful care and nursing home malpractice.
• Neglect and Abuse by CNAs: Residents reported to the inspectors a range of incidents of neglect and abuse by certified nurse aides. Incidents of neglect included aides shirking work by hiding in closets or talking on their phones. Those of abuse involved treating residents rudely. One particular incident involved an aide telling a resident who’d been waiting for an undergarment change to “F—ing change yourself.” Any incidence of nursing home abuse and neglect should be looked into by a nursing home malpractice or wrongful death attorney.

The fines imposed by the state are currently suspended while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determine if federal penalties are necessary. According to the article, CMS has fined Genesis 10 times in the past two years.

Fighting Nursing Home Neglect, Elder Abuse, and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy is dedicated to ensuring negligent Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes be held responsible for incidents of nursing home malpractice. As an experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian Murphy fights untiringly to uphold the rights and preserve the health and safety 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.

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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.

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Federal Government Targets Nursing Homes for Alleged Inappropriate Antipsychotic Drugs Use:

CMS has announced it will conduct investigations into certain nursing homes in an effort to uncover illegitimate schizophrenia diagnoses and any accompanying inappropriate antipsychotic drug use that amounts to nursing home malpractice.

The federal government will be conducting audits of nursing homes and requesting documentation demonstrating authentic schizophrenia diagnoses, says a recent Forbes article. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a press release in mid-January announcing the intention to investigate nursing homes across the country to curb the abuse of antipsychotic drugs, which potentially exposes residents to dangerous side effects and is therefore consistent with nursing home malpractice.

The act comes as another step in the federal government’s initiative against the increased tendency of nursing homes to use antipsychotic drugs as a means of calming, and thereby more easily controlling, dementia patients. A New York Times investigation into inappropriate antipsychotic use in nursing homes revealed that about 21 percent of nursing homes use the drugs, equaling about 225,000 elderly residents presently receiving them; moreover, the Times reported that, although only  one in 150 people in the general population are diagnosed with schizophrenia, one in nine elderly nursing home residents receive the diagnosis, even though schizophrenia is rarely diagnosed after age 40.

Providing the wrong medication to elderly nursing home residents, which qualifies as nursing home malpractice, can result in serious, and even life-threatening, conditions. For example, the sedative properties of antipsychotic drugs can lead to increased nursing home falls and bedsores, which can result from residents remaining unmoving in beds or chairs for prolonged periods. Beyond this, anti-psychotics have been linked to heart problems in people who suffer with dementia; furthermore, according to clinical trials, the risk of wrongful death nearly doubles for dementia patients using antipsychotics, necessitating the involvement of a wrongful death attorney.

According to Forbes, CMS declared that any audit that reveals a false diagnosis of a resident having schizophrenia will result in the loss of a star from the nursing home’s rating on the agency’s Five-Star Quality Rating System for nursing homes.

Protecting Your Loved One’s Dignity, Quality of Life, and Safety

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy is committed to fighting to uphold the health and safety of nursing home residents  in Philadelphia/PA and New Jersey. You should feel confident that your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home is secure from the possibility of being subjected to nursing home malpractice or the possibility of wrongful death. With his wide-ranging experience as a wrongful death attorney taking on negligent nursing homes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Brian Murphy has had repeat success resolving his clients’ nursing home malpractice cases. If you need to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today to discuss your legal options.

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Nursing Home Residents Yet to Receive Vaccine Boosters

According to a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article, tens of thousands of Pennsylvania nursing home residents are behind on their COVID-19 booster shots. While the latest bivalent booster shot was developed to better protect against the most recent and prevalent COVID strains, and while elderly nursing home residents rank among the most vulnerable to developing serious, and even deadly, symptoms with COVID, Pennsylvania nursing home resident vaccination rates rank lower than 25 other states and territories in the nation.

According to the article, federal data shows the following for Pennsylvania’s nursing home residents with respect to COVD protections:

• Percentage of Pennsylvania nursing homes where the majority of residents have not received the latest booster shot: 40
• Percentage of Pennsylvania nursing homes in which 75 percent of residents are fully current with vaccines: 30
• Number of Philadelphia nursing homes in which 75 percent of residents are fully current with vaccines: 25

According to a CNBC article, the national percentage of nursing home residents who have received an omicron booster is not much higher: fewer than 50 percent. While 86 percent of nursing home residents are fully current with primary COVID vaccines, just 47  percent of them have received all of their recommended boosters. Dr. Ashish Jha, White House Covid taskforce leader, says the majority of current COVID deaths include elderly persons who are not up to date on their vaccinations and don’t receive treatments like Paxlovid in circumstances of breakthrough infections.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows COVID cases as rising by 65 percent in nursing homes from mid-November to early December, and then dropping by 11 percent the next week. Nursing home COVID deaths rose 25 percent nationwide. According to the Inquirer article, 200 to 300 nursing home residents nationwide have died from COVID each week since the end of October.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services report that, since the start of the pandemic, over 161,000 nursing home residents have succumbed to COVID. Nearly three-quarters of the nation’s COVID deaths have been among seniors aged 65 or older. With thousands of nursing home residents yet to receive vaccine boosters and an impending winter COVID wave, residents should prioritize getting booster shots to avoid another high wave of nursing home deaths.

During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, various issues amounting to nursing home malpractice—some that have plagued the industry since long before COVID—prevented nursing homes from protecting fragile nursing home residents, including the following problems:

• Staffing Shortages: Poor staff-to-resident ratios are illustrative of nursing home malpractice as staffing directly impacts a home’s ability to manage the spread of infection and disease. Nursing home staffing was low long before the pandemic, plummeted further during the pandemic, and continues to be a problem in the industry today.
• Poor Infection Prevention, Response, and Mitigation: From a lack of adequate PPE and COVID tests, to not properly isolating infected individuals, to poor pandemic hygiene and disinfection practices and contract tracing failures, nursing home infection practices during the pandemic reflected repeated instances of nursing home malpractice.
• Poor Regulation: In 2020 the federal government cut facility inspections, reduced health violation fines, and replaced certified aides with lower-trained temporary nursing assistants.
• Private-Equity Ownership: For-profit companies run 70 percent of American nursing homes, and are known to engage in acts of nursing home malpractice that have resulted in poor quality care. A New Jersey study of COVID-19 in private equity-owned nursing homes found that COVID nursing home infection rates were 30 percent higher, and COVID deaths 40 percent higher, than the state average. And the White House recently declared that residents of private equity-owned nursing facilities have a greater likelihood of experiencing nursing home malpractice and wrongful death.

Even properly implemented protective measures were insufficient to fully protect vulnerable elderly residents living in close proximity to one another during the worst months of the pandemic, says the Inquirer. Only the introduction of the vaccine in late 2020 caused death rates among nursing home residents to begin dropping. And considering the quickly waning immunity of elderly residents, boosters should be prioritized for them to prevent the risk of serious illness.

Defending Against Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death

As a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, Brian P. Murphy tirelessly fights to protect the health and safety of residents living in Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing homes. Years of experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes has led Brian Murphy to successfully resolve numerous 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.

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Nursing Home SWAT Team Descends on Veterans Home:

Following an inspection that revealed residents of a New Jersey veterans home were in “immediate jeopardy,” a team of “mission-critical” long-term care professionals was sent by the Gov. Phil Murphy administration to address serious issues of abuse and safety violations that amount to nursing home malpractice, says a NJ.com article.

The Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park, a state-run nursing home in Edison, NJ, was found by state health inspectors to be deficient both in resident care and pandemic infection control following inspections in August and September. Among the findings of nursing home malpractice were the following incidents:

• Catheter Incident: A registered nurse severed a resident’s Foley catheter rather than properly remove it, which required an emergency room removal of the remainder of the tube and eventually resulted in hospitalization for the resident, who developed a urinary tract infection. Although almost always preventable, urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common nursing home infections. If left untreated, UTIs can worsen and spread and even develop into urosepsis, a blood infection, which can be deadly, leading to the unfortunate involvement of a wrongful death attorney.
• Nursing Home Abuse Incident: Another resident, left to repeatedly call for his medication, allegedly was subjected to chastisement by an enraged nurse and an aide; according to the article, the inspection report described the confrontation as both physically and psychologically abusive. This incident of nursing home abuse represents a shocking occurrence of nursing home malpractice.
• Contact Tracing Failure: According to the article, inspectors found that Menlo Park failed to perform the necessary contact tracing to address an outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility last November; the negligence in following federal and state infection control guidelines led to an eruption of cases throughout the home. During the height of the pandemic, Menlo Park reported some of the highest COVID-related deaths in the country.

In response to the above incidents of nursing home malpractice, Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, Adjutant General of New Jersey and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which manages Menlo Park and two other veterans homes in New Jersey, dispatched a team consisting of a nurse consultant, a long-term care facility administrative expert, and an infection control preventionist.

“The Department sent this team to collaborate with leaders and staff to improve and sustain the quality of care in the veterans home,” said New Jersey state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. “The team has already begun their assessment and collaboration with onsite staff to make needed improvements. The care and safety of our residents who call Menlo Park home remain our priority.”

As nursing home SWAT team descends on veterans home in recent news, refinements are being considered for New Jersey nursing homes.Earlier this month the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) declared it would consider withholding funding for new admissions in New Jersey nursing homes if glaring deficiencies related to pandemic infection control and resident care were not corrected. CMS declared Menlo Park to be out of compliance and under review, with pending fines and penalties.

Protecting Your Loved One from Neglect, Abuse, and Wrongful Death

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. You should feel confident that your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home will not have to be confronted with nursing home abuse and neglect.  With extensive experience as a wrongful death attorney fighting negligent nursing homes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Brian Murphy is committed to successfully resolving his clients’ 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.

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