Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse

Last year, Gov. Rick Scott appointed The Assisted Living Workgroup in an attempt to reform Florida’s assisted living facilities after a Miami Herald investigation revealed numerous deaths stemming from neglect and abuse. The Workgroup, which is comprised of seven assisted living facility owners and three elder advocates, was created to debate recommendations designed to improve quality of life for facility residents. However, when the Workgroup met in late July, it was unable to come to any type of conclusion regarding the recommendations; the Workgroup rejected or tabled almost “every measure that ran afoul of the industry.”

Rep. Matt Hudson and Sen. Rene Garcia labeled one specific proposal that called for banning administrators who had previously lost a license due to egregious cases of abuse or death “exceptionally onerous”. Owners argued that they are the mercy of their staff members, whether they are in the building or not. The discussion on the ban was tabled; elder advocates stated that they allowed the matter to be tabled because they knew the measure would fail if it were put to a vote.

Owners blamed social workers for the bad image their industry has been plagued with. Yet, one elder advocate stated that she often found residents left in front of the television for hours with nothing to do and claimed this constituted abuse. She added that residents rarely complain about their living conditions because they fear that administrators will discharge them with nowhere to go.

One of the main issues the Workgroup faced was determining the amount of responsibility that should rest on owners and administrators regarding resident safety. Elder advocated believe that “administrations are ultimately responsible for conditions in their homes, whether they were on site or not,” while administrators feel that there are some things that are just entirely out of their control and they should not be liable for those instances. The group did agree on one thing–that they do not want bad providers representing their profession. Steven P. Schrunk, representing the Florida Health Care Association, stated, “We don’t want these characters, these repeat offenders, exploiting our elders or neglecting our elders or mistreating them in this profession, period.” The group did approve a plan to create an assisted living facility “council” to regularly meet and set new policies.

Proposals to reform ALFs hit resistance, www.miamiherald.com July 27, 2012.

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In the largest crackdown in the last decade, Florida state agents shut down over three dozen nursing home and assisted living facilities. State regulators found some of the worst conditions ever reported, including a Vero Beach assisted-living facility where a 300-pound caretaker ripped an 89-year old frail woman from a wheelchair and threw her on a bed, which shattered her hip and a Miami facility where a caregiver refused to call police after a mentally ill resident said she was raped by another resident in her room. Both of the facilities were shut down. Also discovered was a man in a Port Charlotte facility who had been left in bed for two weeks, to the point where “his body was ravaged by bedsores so deep and infected he died from the wounds.”

The crackdown came after a Miami Herald investigation uncovered the state’s refusal to shut down bad homes. “State inspectors have been sweeping across Florida to investigate a wave of complaints, including caretakers starving residents, failing to give them crucial drugs and in one case, beating them.” Since the state’s investigation began five months ago, the state has stripped the licenses of over thirty homes, more than double the rate than before the crackdown. In almost every case in which a license was pulled, inspectors found major violations, which often included leaving frail elders in danger.

Since the state began investigating the homes, inspectors have found that caregivers violating safety laws, stealing from mentally ill residents, altering medical records, failing to give residents necessary medication and working in homes “so filthy and decrepit they were unsafe.” In one instance, investigators found a frail woman roaming the facility’s halls soaked in urine. However, the revocation of the licenses could take months and some wonder whether the cases will be settled. “In five homes now being targeted, state agencies had filed notices to strip the homes’ licenses in prior years, but backed off, letting them keep their doors open.” In 2008 and 2009, inspectors found enough violations to close seventy facilities, yet only closed seven. Families of the victims are pushing for bad owners to be criminally charged, but as of right now no such law exists.

Finding more filth, abuse, state moves to shut ALFs, www.miamiherald.com October 30, 2011.

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The Munne Center has finally closed. After years of abuse allegations and succumbing to pressure from the state, the Munne Center turned over its license and its frail residents will be moved to other facilities. The Munne Center has been the assisted living facility in Miami-Dade County with the most fines and is what some consider “a symbol of Florida’s struggles to shutter troubled homes, despite pleas that people were in danger.” Among other claims, residents of the Munne Center have been raped, beaten and left with life-threatening injuries while at the facility.

Investigators inspected the Munne Center in April and discovered residents living in filthy rooms, some with deep and oozing bedsores, while mentally ill residents were left wandering around. Some residents had ant bites while others were suffering from “sweltering temperatures.” The shutdown comes after years of violations and “bickering between state agencies over the safety of the residents in the home’s two wings.” The Munne Center had once been labeled an unsafe environment and has been fined over $70,000 for violations, yet remained open. In 2010, Miami-Dade police were called over 35 times for emergencies. “‘No one deserved to live like the people in Munne were living,'” said a veteran Miami-Dade ombudsman, who was helping residents this week to find new homes.” Now that the center is closed, seventy of the ninety residents have been relocated.

The facility is the latest “casualty” of a statewide crackdown on assisted living facilities and nursing homes that was sparked by a recent Miami Herald investigation. The investigation uncovered that the state consistently failed to shut down assisted living facilities with the most horrid and dangerous conditions. Since the beginning of the investigation, nine facilities have closed their doors and at least a dozen more have lost their state funding and are not allowed to accept any new residents.

Troubled Miami-Dade ALF finally shut down, www.miamiherald.com September 22, 2011.

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Three Miami Herald reporters recently opened an investigation into Florida’s assisted living facilities. The results of their investigation were horrifying. As described by the Miami Herald’s Fred Grimm, “The maddening thing is that the horrors–and they were gut wrenching–have gone unpunished.” The investigation uncovered that some assisted living facilities tie their residents to beds with ropes or locked residents in closets, while others use powerful tranquilizers to subdue their residents. The reporters found residents living in sordid conditions, many suffering from physical neglect, lack of medications and untreated wounds. Many of the residents were beaten, terrorized or raped by staff and other residents of the assisted living facilities. Many of the residents’ wounds went untreated. The investigators discovered that one man had scalded himself so badly in a bathtub that he later died from his untreated burns, while another staff member stood by as residents smacked each other with two-by-fours.

“But the most disturbing findings…was that so much of the negligence and abuse and shoddy treatment and outright cruelty and cover-ups went unpunished.” Florida law limits the legal liability of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and as a result, the number of nursing homes and assisted living facilities has skyrocketed. The investigators found a number of reports from state and local agencies noting negligence, abuse and horrid conditions, but the facilities have not suffered any repercussions, only warnings. The states only look into the facilities every two years.

Many nursing homes have been caught putting false causes of death on their residents’ death certificates. In one instance, a ninety-three year old woman passed away and the facility listed her cause of death as “failure to thrive.” The funeral home was suspicious of the listed cause after seeing sores and injuries on her body. The medical examiner concluded that the resident died of “pneumonia brought on by traumatic injuries, including a fractured neck.” The investigators also discovered that many doctors simply declare a cause of death over the phone without ever examining the patient. The reporters concluded that staff negligence–“often utter obliviousness”–directly caused many of the deaths in the facilities.

Fred Grimm: Assisted living facility horrors have gone unpunished , www.miamiherald.com May 04, 2011.

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