Iowa Nursing Home Cited by State for Resident’s Death from COVID: 

Upon investigating the suspected wrongful death of a male resident of Regency Care Center, state inspectors discovered numerous un-investigated nursing home malpractice complaints against the facility.

An Iowa nursing home has been cited by the state for causing the death of a resident with COVID, says an article on Iowa Capital Dispatch. As per the article, Iowa state inspectors say a male resident of the Regency Care Center in Norwalk, who was suffering from COVID-19, was not properly assessed by staff and later died from respiratory failure as a result of that negligence.

According to state inspectors’ reports, the man, who had just tested positive for COVID-19, was experiencing shortness of breath on Dec. 4 of 2022. Despite a worker’s report to a nurse that the man’s lungs rattled loudly and he “looked like death,” the nurse responded that the symptoms were typical of the illness and took no further action. The next day the resident was taken by ambulance to the emergency room, where he died hours later of a combination of chronic respiratory failure and viral sepsis resulting from COVID-19.

Inspectors reported that negligence on the part of Regency Care’s nursing staff amounted to nursing home malpractice to the extent of causing the wrongful death of the resident; furthermore, this circumstance of negligence and nursing home malpractice placed the other residents of the facility in immediate jeopardy. While performing their investigation of the resident’s death, state inspectors discovered several pending complaints against Regency Care, the large majority of them substantiated.

As was the case at Regency Care, nursing home wrongful deaths often occur when a nursing home fails to monitor the health or the safety of its residents. When a resident dies as the result of abuse, neglect, or other nursing home malpractice, family members ought to secure an experienced wrongful death attorney who can help file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Holding Nursing Homes Responsible for Negligence and Wrongful Death

Attorney Brian P. Murphy is an experienced nursing home malpractice and wrongful death lawyer dedicated to protecting the health, security, and well-being of Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing home residents. Your loved one living in a Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home should trust that he or she can live without fear of being abused or neglected or subjected to any kind of nursing home malpractice; Brian Murphy takes an aggressive stance toward Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing homes for acts of negligence or abuse, especially any incidents of nursing home malpractice that result in 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 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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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.

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DOH Commissioner Defends NJ Nursing Home COVID Response:

Amid ongoing claims that the state’s efforts fell short in combatting the COVID crisis in New Jersey’s long-term care facilities, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli defended the state’s response to the pandemic at a recent budget hearing, speaking to accusations that the NJ Department of Health delayed nursing home inspections during the critical early months of the crisis and forced ill-equipped homes to re-admit COVID-positive residents, two failures which critics feel contributed to the over 8,000 COVID-19-related deaths that occurred at New Jersey nursing homes since the onset of the pandemic.

According to an article on NJ1015.com, DOH commissioner defends NJ nursing home COVID response, during a hearing originally called to discuss the department’s budget, but shifting focus to its pandemic response. Persichilli was prompted to go on the defensive regarding measures taken by the DOH. Regarding last spring’s directive concerning the re-admittance of COVID-positive residents to nursing homes from hospitals, Persichilli argued that the directive was indicated only for those homes that could meet certain requirements, such as those that were able to isolate sick residents, provide adequate staffing, and supply their staff with adequate PPE. Persichilli furthermore stated that alternate arrangements had been made to address facilities that could not meet such requirements, including the creation of three COVID-only facilities that accepted over 3,000 residents between April and June.

A NJ.com article conveyed Persichilli’s response to the criticism of inspection delays. She claimed a lack of PPE initially prevented inspections, but that in the ensuing months numerous nursing home inspections—including over 1,000 infection control inspections—turned up more than 600 violations, which led the DOH to levy $2.2 million in fines against 79 operators. While the health commissioner did not specify which facilities were cited or what the nature of the violations were, Persichilli indicated that numerous failures on the part of the facilities themselves had much to do with the scope of the pandemic’s impact on nursing homes.

“We are dealing in long-term care with an industry that has lacked resiliency for years,” Persichilli said.

Critics of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s handling of the pandemic have been vocal over perceived shortcomings since the news broke regarding the state-licensed Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in the County of Sussex, where last year 17 bodies were found piled in a makeshift morgue after the facility was overwhelmed by COVID. According to a Patch.com article, requests for public records—from those relating to inspection reports for the Subacute facilities, to those involving the DOH’s communications with Andover Subacute’s legal counsel, to those revealing details regarding Andover Subacute’s PPE inventory—have yet to be provided by the department.

Andover Subacute I and II, since renamed Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation and Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, had a history of deficiencies prior to being ravaged by COVID, and maintained a “much below average” 1-star rating for three years in a row. Following the makeshift morgue incident, an inspection by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), determined that the facility had failed to provide proper infection control, which “caused, or was likely to cause” serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment, and death among residents. In addition to other fines, a Civil Money Penalty of $220,235 was imposed by CMS, with other monetary penalties to follow until “substantial compliance is achieved or termination occurs.”

An Attorney You Can Trust in Uncertain Times

Determining the quality and safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is essential. 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.

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Pandemic Restrictions Relaxed for Fully Vaccinated Nursing Home Residents:

With an eye to supporting residents’ physical, mental, and emotional health, a new DOH directive signals a return to normal.

The continued decline of new COVID cases and hospitalizations and the increase in the numbers of people vaccinated has led the New Jersey Department of Health to release new guidelines for nursing homes, according to articles on nj.com and wobm.com.The new DOH directive, taking its cue from updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, looks to promote more normalcy in residents’ daily lives, provided they are fully vaccinated.

Generally, for those residents who have received full inoculation against COVID, communal dining and group activities can be engaged in without the need for masks or social distancing. The following outlines some of the changes that will happen as a result of the DOH directive:

• Masks—During contact among fully vaccinated persons, masks are no longer required
• Gathering Closely—Residents and visitors can opt to have close contact, including hugging, without needing to wear masks, provided they are fully vaccinated
• Communal Activity and Dining—An activity or dining that involves all fully vaccinated residents can take place without distancing or the wearing of masks
• Staff Testing—Routine COVID testing, a requirement over the past few months, will no longer be necessary for fully vaccinated staff members
• Non-Essential Personnel—The reintroduction of non-essential personnel, such as hair dressers, is permitted if facilities have safety protocols in place and if these workers are screened and wear masks
• Volunteers—Those who volunteer their time entertaining, conducting activities, and coordinating visitation may once again be admitted into facilities, provided they follow protocols

The relaxation of restrictions has been inspired by the effectiveness of vaccines, says state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. Referencing the NJ state database for COVID-19, the nj.com article states that currently 82% of residents and 58% of workers are fully vaccinated. Deaths are down 80% since February, and represent just under 7% of what NJ COVID deaths were in January, when a second wave of the coronavirus hit the state.

More than 8,000 NJ nursing home residents and 144 staff members died from COVID, numbers which accounted for half of the state’s coronavirus deaths. According to nj.com, there are 197 current outbreaks in the state’s facilities, a number the article attributes to stagnant vaccination rates among staff, a number of whom have demonstrated vaccine reluctance.

The pandemic restrictions relaxed for fully vaccinated nursing home residents allows interaction between vaccinated and unvaccinated residents or visitors. The DOH guidance says that, although close contact, and even touching, is permissible, both parties need to be wearing a mask.

Ensuring the Safety of Your Loved One

Determining the quality and safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is essential. 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.

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Investigation on Unvaccinated Workers and Increasing Nursing Home Cases Correspondence: 

Low vaccination rates among American nursing home workers are being linked to a recent rise in nursing home COVID cases and deaths, says an Associated Press article. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently launched an investigation of facilities in areas of Colorado where staff vaccination rates are low and COVID numbers have spiked, leading health experts to worry that the success of COVID vaccines among the vulnerable elderly is being undermined by non-inoculated workers.

American nursing home staff vaccination rates sit at an average of 59% nationally, although in some states rates are as low as about 40%. Despite the dropping numbers of COVID infections and deaths among nursing home workers that resulted from the introduction of vaccinations back in January, recently there has been a rise in cases and deaths among workers. Since infected workers are considered a primary cause of outbreaks in long-term care facilities, concerns about protecting residents are growing, particularly as the highly contagious delta variant spreads across the nation.

Although symptoms are mild in most fully vaccinated persons who contract the delta variant, vaccinated elderly persons might be less protected against variants of the coronavirus. The concern has led some to consider the vaccination of nursing home staff a national emergency, including policy experts who are pressing the government to require vaccinations for workers. But no such move has yet been made by the Biden administration; as reluctance to vaccination remains high in certain areas of the country, the fear is that a vaccination mandate for nursing home staff might result in a host of workers quitting their jobs.

Several nursing homes in Mesa County, Colorado—an area considered to be a COVID hot spot—were part of the recent CDC investigation.  While the agency has yet to publicly release its investigation findings, a CDC slide anonymously released to the Associated Press describes fully vaccinated residents becoming infected and dying from the delta variant. In one Mesa County home experiencing outbreaks, only 58% of the staff were vaccinated.

States other than Colorado are experiencing nursing home outbreaks where staff vaccinations remain low, including in Indiana, where recently five fully-vaccinated residents became infected and one died in one facility where only 44% of workers were fully vaccinated.

According to the article,

the investigation on unvaccinated workers and increasing nursing home cases correspondence resulted in a fear of side effects and mistrust of nursing home management remaining as leading reasons behind workers’ vaccine reluctance.

Fighting to Keep Your Loved One Safe

As the pandemic persists, it is important to ensure the safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives. At all times, Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required to meet specific health and safety requirements and to protect the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. This includes ensuring adequate, quality staffing. Should you have concerns about a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home during COVID-19, 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.

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Nursing Home Staffing Issues May Worsen with Federal Vaccine Mandate:

Low staffing, a common cause of nursing home neglect, could increase in the wake of mandate enforcement.

As announced in a CNN article, on Jan. 13 the U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold a federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers employed at facilities that receive Medicaid or Medicare funding. While intended to protect the health of vulnerable citizens, the decision nevertheless could, by forcing the resignation or firing of non-vaccinated nursing home workers, escalate the ongoing worker shortage crisis that impairs nursing home care and leads to nursing home neglect.

In a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the federal vaccine mandate’s final rule requiring all healthcare workers without religious or medical exemptions to be fully vaccinated. For facilities in those states that sued late last year to block the mandate, the deadline to be fully vaccinated will be March 15. The remainder state facilities must have staffs fully vaccinated by Feb. 28. Pennsylvania and New Jersey facilities are among the states that did not challenge the mandate and must meet the earlier deadline.

The penalty for a facility’s non-compliance will be the loss of Medicare and/or Medicaid funding. Striving to be compliant will put nursing homes across the nation in the position of needing to let go of those employees who are unwilling to be vaccinated or who cannot prove medical or religious exemptions to the mandate. The result, in the short term, will be the cropping up of simultaneous nursing home job vacancies—staffing shortages that could be viewed as fallout from the vaccine mandate. But nursing home staffing issues are neither a new, nor a short-term, problem.

Although nursing home staffing issues may worsen with federal vaccine mandate, long before the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic, staffing woes have plagued the nursing home industry. Whether occurring as a result of understaffing by nursing home owners to save money, or as a result of worker shortages due to low wages, low staffing is a common issue that impacts efficiency and quality of care, with troubling consequences for elderly residents: nursing home neglect.

A reduced workforce means that the job of providing sufficient care so as to avoid nursing home neglect falls to a facility’s remaining staff members. When overloaded with duties, nursing home employees cannot meet every requirement of the elderly residents in their care; as a result, residents’ needs fall through the cracks, setting the stage for nursing home neglect. Nursing home neglect resulting from low staffing reveals itself through a range of serious circumstances involving nursing home injuries, including but not limited to the following:

• Medication Errors—Overburdened staff members are prone to mistakes, and medication errors are among the more serious consequences of low staffing. Handing out the wrong medication or the improper dose of a medication can lead to such nursing home injuries as fractures, head injuries, and choking.
• Nursing Home Falls—Neglected residents, particularly those who need help in and out of bed or onto the toilet, can suffer falls that lead to a range of nursing home injuries like fractured bones and head injuries.
• Malnutrition and Dehydration—Insufficient attention paid to a resident’s nutritional or hydration needs can result in malnutrition and dehydration. Both malnutrition and dehydration are considered types of preventable nursing home injuries.
• Bedsores—Also known as pressure wounds, bedsores develop when immobile residents are left too long in a single position. If not promptly addressed, bedsores can become infected and rapidly advance into serious wounds. Bedsores are common nursing home injuries. Severe, neglected bedsores can result in death.

Thanks to the low wages currently offered to nursing home employees, nursing homes will continue to struggle to staff post-mandate vacancies, particularly while higher paying and less demanding jobs outside of nursing home care exist. Speaking in a Kaiser Health News article, Brian McGarry, a University of Rochester professor who studies long-term care, said nursing assistants “can typically find a job with better pay that is less physically and emotionally demanding. Somebody’s life and dignity is in your hands, and it’s a huge responsibility, and you are not getting paid commensurate with that responsibility.”

Fighting for Your Loved One

Ensuring adequate, quality staffing is among the measures Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes should take to preserve its residents against nursing home neglect or abuse. Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes are required by law to meet specific health and safety requirements and to provide such care as to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. Should you have concerns about 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.

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Nursing Home Residents Suffer as Overly Strict Covid Restrictions Persist:

Social distancing and limited visitation amount to continued isolation for lonely and infirm residents.

Despite a significantly lower risk for transmitting COVID-19 following the vaccination of 75% of American nursing home residents, pandemic restrictions inside homes continue to be enforced, says an Associated Press article, a measure that family members say does more harm than good.

While pandemic rules around the nation are being loosened, mask-wearing and social distancing within many nursing homes continues to be the norm, even as the numbers of COVID infections and deaths in homes have dropped dramatically. Frustrated family members say that the distanced activities, the near-isolation during dining, and, in some homes, the prohibition of hugs, does not meaningfully differ from the pandemic isolation that took a substantial mental and emotional toll on lonely and sick elderly residents—particularly those suffering from dementia—during imposed lockdowns. Especially difficult for residents and their families alike is the limited visitation that is still required in many homes. In some cases, visits are restricted to once or twice a week or even less frequently, with visitation times ranging from two hours down to just 15 minutes. Visitation ceases entirely if someone in the home tests positive for COVID.

According to the article, some Pennsylvania nursing homes’ COVID-19 restrictions, such as the limits on visitation, exceed state and federal requirements. While these measures seek to protect the vulnerable elderly, families claim they are not only unnecessary, but harmful, in some cases contributing to the mental and physical decline of nursing home residents.

While nursing home residents suffer as overly strict COVID restrictions persist, advocacy groups concerned about residents’ suffering and decline as a result of limited visitation have reached out to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and requested that full visitation rights be restored. These groups also seek a change in federal guidance regarding what measures should be taken in the event of new COVID-19 cases. While federal guidance requires a suspension of visits for at least 14 days, advocates and family members argue that this is excessive when only a case or two crop up in a home.

The coronavirus pandemic led to over 650,000 COVID-19 infections of long-term care residents and the death of more than 130,000 in the country’s nursing homes, harrowing numbers that explain the extreme limitations put into place during the height of the crisis. But family members and advocates dispute the continued necessity of certain safety restrictions, when the focus should be shifted to improving the mental and emotional health of vulnerable elderly residents

Ensuring Your Loved One’s Needs Are Met

The Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is required not only to meet health and safety standards, but also to secure 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 Nursing Home Residents Suffer as Overly Strict Covid Restrictions Persist appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers Blocked by Federal Judge: 

On November 30, President’ Biden’s mandate requiring hospital and nursing home workers to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 was blocked by a federal judge, according to a New York Times article. With his issuing of a preliminary injunction, Judge Terry A. Doughty of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, has taken a preliminary legal step toward ending the national mandate.

“There is no question that mandating a vaccine to 10.3 million health care workers is something that should be done by Congress, not a government agency,” said Doughty. “It is not clear that even an act of Congress mandating a vaccine would be constitutional.” The judge added that the plaintiffs had an interest in preventing the loss of jobs and tax revenue that may result from the mandate.

Despite many being in favor of workers receiving COVID-19 vaccinations in order to protect residents, from the time the mandate was announced in August, nursing homes already coping with staff shortages feared the regulation would impel vaccine hesitant nursing home employees to find employment elsewhere in healthcare not covered by the mandate. But with the loss of federal Medicare and Medicaid funding on the line for facilities not in compliance with the mandate—a loss that would be crippling for most homes—many nursing homes felt they had little choice but to comply.

With this past summer’s surge of the Delta variant in nursing homes, many states and cities across the nation had set their own mandates for healthcare workers. Philadelphia’s mandate prompted a 30.3 percent increase in healthcare worker vaccinations so that, as of November, the vaccination rate among Philadelphia healthcare workers stood at 90.8 percent. The Times puts the national immunization rate for nursing home workers at 74 percent, although certain regions of the country have much lower rates.

The Biden Administration’s mandate was met with opposition by various states fearing its impact on state budgets and the potential to intensify health care worker shortages, including a lawsuit brought by Louisiana and 13 other states. Just prior to the vaccine mandate for health care workers being blocked by federal judge Doughty, a federal court in Missouri issued a similar order relating to a 10-state lawsuit against the mandate.

Responding to the court decisions, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid stated, “While we cannot comment on the litigation, CMS has remained committed to protecting the health and safety of beneficiaries and health care workers. The vaccine requirement for health care workers addresses the risk of unvaccinated health care staff to patient safety and provides stability and uniformity across the nation’s health care system.”

Fighting for Your Loved One

Ensuring adequate, quality staffing is among the measures Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes should take to preserve its residents against nursing home neglect or abuse . Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes are required by law to meet specific health and safety requirements and to provide such care as to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. Should you have concerns about a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home during COVID-19, 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 Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers Blocked by Federal Judge appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

Mandate Gets Vaccine Results in Philadelphia Nursing Homes:

The vaccine mandate for Philadelphia healthcare workers has succeeded in prompting 46 of the city’s 47 nursing homes to ensure the full vaccination of all non-exempted staff workers, says a Nov. 6 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Based on a report compiled from a survey sent to Philadelphia nursing homes on Oct. 15, 90.8% of the city’s nursing home workers are now fully vaccinated, an increase of over 30% since the mandate was announced for healthcare workers three months ago. Beyond those fully vaccinated, 4.8%  of workers have received at least the first of their shots.

Despite its extremely high vaccination rates (94.8% fully vaccinated and 1.3% partially vaccinated as of Oct. 24), the Delaware Valley Veteran’s Home is listed as not having satisfied the city’s mandate. According to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, this Northeast Philadelphia home, a 171-bed facility run by the Pennsylvania Department of Veteran’s Affairs, was considered not in compliance with the mandate only due to its failure to put into place any formal exemptions. According to the article, Philadelphia officials remain confident that the home is striving to meet the city’s requirements as quickly as possible.

The mandate gets vaccine results in Philadelphia nursing homes, aside from the religious or medically exempt. The report lists 286 Philadelphia nursing home workers as being exempt from COVID-19 vaccine requirements. The majority of these workers—230—received religious exemptions from the city, while medical exemptions accounted for the remaining 56 people. Workers with approved exemptions are able to continue working in homes, provided they wear two masks and get tested twice weekly. By contrast, those workers with unvaccinated or unknown statuses are not permitted to work until proof of vaccination is shown, says the city. As of the time of the report, 75 workers were unvaccinated, and 66 were recorded as unknown.

The question remains as to how vaccine mandates across the state and nation might impact an industry already plagued by staff shortages and high turnover. In Philadelphia, those workers listed as “no longer employed” number fewer than 200. The report does not indicate whether these workers chose to quit their job rather than receive a vaccination or were fired for not getting one.

Fighting for a Safe Environment for Your Loved One

Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required by law to meet specific health and safety requirements and to provide such care as to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents. To meet these standards, the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives must be equipped to avoid the poor care that amounts to nursing home neglect or abuse [https://www.thenursinghomeattorneys.com/nursing-home-abuse-and-neglect/]. This includes ensuring adequate, quality staffing. Should you have concerns about a Pennsylvania or New Jersey nursing home during COVID-19, 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.

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