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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Additional CMS Requirements to Prevent COVID Infections from Under-Vaccinated Nursing Home Staff:

According to Provider Magazine, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has compiled lists of additional precautions beyond the CDC’s Interim IPC Guidance for Nursing Homes  that facilities should take to prevent the occurrence of COVID-19 nursing home infections from unvaccinated workers. While vaccinations for nursing home workers are currently mandated, current staff members who are exempt from receiving the vaccine for medical or religious reasons, or newly-hired workers who have yet to receive both doses of the series, still pose a threat of causing COVID nursing home infections while working with the vulnerable elderly. Since putting residents at unnecessary risk for nursing home infections is tantamount to nursing home neglect, facilities would be wise to implement the most relevant precautions for  their nursing home population.

The precautions are outlined in the following CMS QSO memos: QSO-22-07-LTC, QSO-22-09-LTC, and QSO-22-11-LTC. While not every precaution outlined in the QSO memos is required, nursing homes are urged to form precautionary policies based on these memos according to residents’ vulnerability to COVID-19 nursing home infections. The following list includes a few suggested measures a nursing home might take to stave off COVID nursing home infections by unvaccinated workers:

• Allow less-vulnerable residents to be cared for by unvaccinated staff who wear N95 masks while preventing immunocompromised residents from having direct contact with unvaccinated workers
• Increase the frequency at which unvaccinated workers are tested for COVID-19 (the current testing requirements as posed by CMS and the CDC guidance , which is based on COVID transmission within the wider community, may be exceeded as a facility sees fit)
• Implement social distancing measures
• Reassign unvaccinated staff to non-patient care duties or remote work

Nursing home understaffing issues resulting from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and from the vaccine mandates that followed might pose challenges to facilities attempting to implement certain of the above precautionary measures. For example, staffing shortages might impact a nursing home’s ability to shift crucial but under-vaccinated workers into non-patient care; however, irrespective of the strain placed on staff, precautionary efforts need to be taken such as the additional CMS requirements to prevent COVID infections, or else these homes will have exposed their vulnerable residents to nursing home neglect.

Fighting for Your Loved One

Even in the aftermath of a pandemic, Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are required 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. This includes the prevention of nursing home infections and nursing home understaffing. 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 Shortages Prevent Philadelphia Hospitals from Discharging Patients to Facilities:

The problem of assisted care understaffing came to the fore during January’s omicron COVID-19 surge as Philadelphia hospitals had nowhere to discharge their elderly patients.

In January, staff shortages at nursing homes and home-care companies were among the main issues contributing to an overload of patients in Philadelphia hospitals, says a Philadelphia Inquirer article. Philadelphia-area hospitals were forced to house an accumulation of patients needing nursing-home care when the rapid spread of the omicron variant among nursing home staff worsened the problem of assisted care understaffing in the area’s surrounding nursing homes.

Staffing shortages prevent Philadelphia hospitals from discharging patients which prompted the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a Harrisburg trade group for nursing homes and other long-term care providers, to propose a strategy for increased nursing home staffing levels. The proposal suggested utilizing the Pennsylvania National Guard and federal resources to boost staffing in understaffed nursing homes with available beds.

January’s COVID-19 surge served to exacerbate an ongoing issue, as assisted care understaffing woes have plagued not only Philadelphia area nursing homes, but also the industry as a whole since before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. Striving to increase nursing home staffing levels and working to resolve assisted care understaffing is paramount to the effort of ensuring sufficient resident care and preventing nursing home neglect. A case in point is the difficulty of preventing bedsores in nursing home residents when there is a shortage of nurses and nurse aides to help them. Since preventing bedsores essentially requires every bedsore-prone resident to be frequently repositioned in order to reduce long-term pressure against their skin, a nursing home must be able to scale its staff to meet this need. When a facility fails in preventing bedsores, nursing home neglect most likely has occurred.

Keeping Your Loved One Safe

Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes should take every measure to preserve its residents against nursing home neglect or abuse, including providing adequate, quality staffing. 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. The development and/or deterioration of bed sores is indicative that nursing home neglect has occurred. 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.

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PA Dementia Patients Disproportionately Impacted by COVID:

Pennsylvania nursing home residents suffering from dementia were among the most severely impacted during the coronavirus pandemic, says an article on nbcphiladelphia.com.  The combination of insufficiently staffed and inadequately trained workers and a lack of measures to ensure homes met minimal requirements left many dementia patients especially unprotected during the most crucial days of the crisis.

While the havoc wrought by the virus upon long-term care facilities is common knowledge, its impact on those residents suffering from dementia is less well-known. According to nbcphiladelphia.com, even though PA homes with designated dementia units total less than a third of all Pennsylvania long-term care facilities, these homes account for 70% of all such facilities that had five or more deaths from COVID. In southwestern PA alone, 17 of 34 long-term care homes with dementia wards suffered five or more deaths from COVID.

The article also referenced a February study reviewing over 60 million medical records from across the nation that showed that people with dementia were found to be twice as likely as those without the impairment to be infected with COVID-19 and almost four times as likely to die from it.

While whether or not dementia patients are more physically susceptible to COVID (e.g. if the condition’s damage to the blood-brain barrier facilitates the virus’s entry into the brain) is a question that has yet to be answered, it is agreed these patients’ memory impairment puts them at a disadvantage in terms of protecting themselves from the virus. Among the basic and necessary preventative measures that prove difficult for those suffering from dementia includes:

• Remembering to wear a mask
• Staying cognizant of proper social distancing
• Maintaining hand hygiene
• Practicing cough etiquette

These issues were compounded in personal care homes by the lack of state infection control regulations, the dearth of medically trained staff, and the low—and rarely state-monitored— minimal requirement of just two hours of care per day per dementia patient.

Increasing staffing has long been a challenge in U.S. nursing homes, and as the number of Pennsylvanians living with dementia continues to grow, the staffing problem will only become more dire. Since 2015 the number of dementia units in PA homes has grown by 22 percent. Even in the past year the need for greater dementia care has exploded, which NBC Philadelphia attributes to the isolation experienced by many nursing home residents during the shutdown.

With PA dementia patients disproportionately impacted by COVID, recommendations to make regulation changes regarding training and other aspects of PA long-term care were suggested by the state’s Alzheimer’s Association last summer. Jen Ebersole, the association’s director of state government affairs, said she feared that, unless changes are made, problems will only worsen.

Making Your Loved One’s Safety a Priority

Determining the quality and safety of the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives is essential. Meeting health and safety standards and to ensuring the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents is a requirement to which Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes must adhere. 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 PA Dementia Patients Disproportionately Impacted by COVID appeared first on The Law Firm of Brian P. Murphy, PC.

Data Reveals Deadliness of Pandemic in PA Veterans Homes:

Recently published data shows that the coronavirus pandemic took the lives of at least 40 military veterans in Pennsylvania VA nursing homes, says an article on WITF.org. Due to privacy reasons, the exact number of veteran nursing home deaths from COVID remains unknown.

As per the law passed nearly a year ago directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to publish COVID-19 data regarding the impact of the pandemic in its nursing homes, recent published data by the VA reveals case numbers and deaths across the nation between the months of May 2020 and August 2021. In Pennsylvania within that timeframe, over 300 veteran residents were infected with COVID-19 across the six VA homes in the state; at least 40 of these elderly veterans died. Additionally, records indicate that 500 Pennsylvania VA nursing home workers also contracted COVID-19.

In nearly every one of the VA homes, the number of nursing home worker cases exceeded the number of resident infections—at the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home in Blair County, for example, there were 157 staff member cases versus 61 elderly veterans who got COVID-19; however, while there were zero VA staff deaths in Pennsylvania, 37 veteran deaths from COVID were confirmed in two of the state’s VA homes (19 at Hollidaysburg). Between one and 10 veterans died in each of the four other VA homes in Pennsylvania, bringing the number of deaths from COVID to at least 40.

Details regarding what measures were taken by PA veteran nursing home workers to prevent the virus from spreading to residents remain unknown, as does information regarding the timeframe of deaths. The article does note that, upon the wide availability of vaccines for elderly Americans in January, many VA residents were vaccinated in Pennsylvania homes.

Data reveals deadliness of pandemic in PA veterans homes and nationwide, 1,498 veteran residents and 54 VA staff died.

The breakdown of the COVID-19 case and death data is as follows:

• Southwestern Veterans’ Center: 76 staff COVID infections; 26 resident COVID infections; 1-10 resident deaths
• Hollidaysburg Veterans Home: 157 staff COVID infections; 61 resident COVID infections; 19 resident deaths
• Southeastern Pennsylvania Veterans’ Center: 78 staff COVID infections; 37 resident COVID infections; 1-10 resident deaths
• Delaware Valley Veterans’ Home: 76 staff COVID infections; 51 resident COVID infections; 1-10 resident deaths
• Gino J. Merli Veterans’ Center: 65 staff COVID infections; 68 resident COVID infections; 18 resident deaths
• Pennsylvania Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Home: 65 staff COVID infections; 63 resident COVID infections; 1-10 resident deaths

Working to Keep Your Loved One Safe

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. To meet these standards, the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives must be equipped to avoid the kind of substandard care that amounts to nursing home neglect or abuse. 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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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.

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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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Philadelphia to Begin Enforcing Nursing Home Vaccine Mandate:

With the deadline come and gone for employees to be vaccinated, Philadelphia will begin enforcing the vaccine mandate for nursing home workers, says a Philadelphia Inquirer article.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health set Oct. 15 as the deadline for city hospitals, nursing homes, and higher-education institutions to ensure their employees had gotten at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Partially vaccinated employees need to get their second shot by Nov. 15 and must wear either an N95 mask or two regular masks and be tested regularly in the interim.  Employees who had not received even the first vaccine shot by Oct. 15 were prohibited from working after that date.

With the deadline past, the city sent out surveys to nursing homes to collect vaccination data. These surveys were required to be completed by Oct 24. Homes that fail to meet the requirements of the mandate face potential closure and fines ranging up to $2,000 per violation. Going forward, according to the Inquirer, the health department plans to conduct both scheduled and unannounced audits (both in-person and electronic) of vaccination records. Such audits could come as a result of data supplied by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or because of complaints.

The latest available data (from Oct. 3) shows the employee vaccination rate for Philadelphia’s 47 nursing homes as having climbed three percentage points from the previous week to reach 79%.  For twelve Philadelphia nursing homes, vaccination rates were under 70%. Two homes reported rates as below 50%.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA) recently reached out to acting Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole with a letter warning that complying with the mandate could mean nursing homes will need to let go of as many as 2,400 employees.

According to the Inquirer article, some facilities are gearing up for the possibility of new staff shortages. Even prior to the virus, staff turnover was a problem in the nursing-home industry, and the pandemic led to a worsening of staffing problems. Applications for positions at some facilities have fallen dramatically. Some facilities are making plans to use workers from staffing agencies if positions are left empty. No plans have been made for the city to help nursing homes with staff shortages.

President and CEO of PHCA Eric Heisler said it may take some time to get a clear idea of new staffing issues as a result of the mandate. He stated that nursing homes continue to endeavor to educate employees about the vaccine and to ensure the vaccine is easily accessible to workers.

Philadelphia to begin enforcing nursing home vaccine mandate could lead to staffing shortages which often translate to decreased quality of care within nursing homes, resulting in such instances of nursing home neglect as the following:

• Bedsores—When staffing levels drop, the repositioning of at-risk residents in their beds or chairs does not happen frequently enough, resulting in patients developing pressure ulcers.
• Nursing Home Falls—In understaffed homes, fewer staff members are available to help elderly residents move, resulting in falls from beds, wheelchairs, the toilet, and in the bath.
• Medication Errors—Overwhelmed workers in understaffed facilities can make mistakes regarding the type and amount of medication a patient requires.

Ensuring the Safety of Your Loved One

Pennsylvania and New Jersey nursing homes are at all times required to secure the physical, mental, and psycho/social well-being of their residents by meeting certain health and safety requirements and providing adequate care. To meet these standards, the Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing home where your loved one lives must be equipped to avoid the kind of substandard care that amounts to nursing home neglect or abuse. 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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