February 23, 2012 (Press-News.org) Nursing homes are supposed to provide quality care, but recent studies raise concerns that some of these homes put our elderly population at increased risk of injury and death. The studies, conducted by both the Government Accountability Office and Health Services Research, found well-known nursing home chains often violate federal regulations in ways that can lead to increased risk of nursing home injuries.
Connection Between For-Profit Facilities and Poor Care
The Government Accountability Office published a study in July of 2011, reviewing complaints that for-profit nursing homes provided poor quality care. Many of these claims focused on the growing trend of private investment (PI) firms purchasing large nursing home chains with a focus on monetary output instead of quality of care.
The study compared these PI held homes with other for-profit and nonprofit homes. Results supported other research findings that higher rates of serious deficiencies were present in PI held homes. PI homes also reported lower nurse staff ratios.
The Health Services study corroborates these reports, finding top for-profit nursing homes provide "lower staffing and higher deficiencies than government facilities." The level of nursing staff is repeatedly linked to "quality of care, affecting such measures as the number of resident pressure ulcers, resident functional status, mortality rates and number of regulation violations."
Lower labor costs are used to increase profit. These nursing chains are debt financed and pressured by shareholders and investors to turn a profit, fueling the growing endemic of poor-quality care for the elderly. Specifically, the top ten for-profit homes received 36 percent higher deficiency citations and 41 percent higher serious deficiencies. These deficiencies are issued whenever a facility violates regulations that can lead to injury.
Government Inspections and Citations
The government attempts to reduce the risk of poor care and injuries by overseeing nursing homes at both the state and federal levels. Nursing homes are licensed by state governments, along with federal involvement through the large portion of Medicare and Medicaid dollars used to cover care.
This collaboration includes a contractual obligation for each state to conduct onsite inspections. The inspection includes observation of resident care processes, interactions and the facility's overall environment. States record the information on a federal report form and results of the inspection are available for public view.
If regulations are not met, deficiency citations are issued. There are over 180 regulations, ranging from proper food storage and preparation to inadequate care practices and abuse. The deficiencies are reported on two different levels during federal inspections. A standard deficiency is a violation of federal quality standards while a serious deficiency occurs when a resident is put in harm or jeopardy.
Deficiencies can result in penalties or enforcement actions from the federal government. The state government can also employ enforcement actions for violations. Two common examples are fines and Medicare payment denials. If violations are not addressed the facility may be closed.
How to Recognize Signs of Negligence and Abuse
Not all facilities that pass inspection provide outstanding care. The inspection is designed to ensure only minimum standards are met. The Department of Health and Human Services offers many suggestions on finding a quality nursing home, including relying on referrals from friends, family members and medical professionals.
Even after vigilant research, a chosen nursing home that once provided outstanding care may falter. It is important to continually review the standard of care a patient is receiving, and take complaints seriously. Watch for the following signs when attempting to determine if a complaint warrants further action:
- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- Bed sores
- Frequent falls
- Bruises, cuts, broken bones or other injuries
- Poor overall hygiene
If complaints are filled with the facility and not properly addressed, legal remedies may be available.
Legal Remedies Available
Unfortunately, poor care can lead to more than complaints. CBS News reported residents being "punched, choked or kicked by staff members or other residents." One resident died shortly after a nursing assistant broke her neck and wrist. Another died after a fellow resident with a history of violence threw her against a wall.
Circumstances like these can lead to serious injury and death. Legal remedies are likely available but there are many difficulties associated with legal action in nursing home cases. Most forms of abuse are not reported in a timely manner. A lack of witnesses further reduces chances for successful lawsuit, along with the fact that the abused resident is often unwilling or unable to provide testimony.
Navigating through these complex issues is difficult, and it is important to contact an experienced nursing home injury attorney to discuss legal rights and remedies.
Article provided by Jaklitsch Law Group
Visit us at www.jaklitschlawgroup.com
For-Profit Nursing Homes Face Scrutiny in New Study
For-profit nursing homes face scrutiny in recent studies finding higher rates of deficiencies compared to government facilities. There are many tools individuals can use to avoid inadequate nursing homes, and to notice if one that provided outstanding care has faltered.
2012-02-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Theory of the 'rotting' Y chromosome dealt a fatal blow
2012-02-23
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 22, 2012) – If you were to discover that a fundamental component of human biology has survived virtually intact for the past 25 million years, you'd be quite confident in saying that it is here to stay.
Such is the case for a team of Whitehead Institute scientists, whose latest research on the evolution of the human Y chromosome confirms that the Y—despite arguments to the contrary—has a long, healthy future ahead of it.
Proponents of the so-called rotting Y theory have been predicting the eventual extinction of the Y chromosome since it was ...
Climate change affects bird migration timing in North America
2012-02-23
Bird migration timing across North America has been affected by climate change, according to a study published Feb. 22 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The results are based on a systematic analysis of observations from amateur birdwatchers. This citizen science approach provided access to data for 18 common North American bird species, including orioles, house wrens, and barn swallows, across an unprecedented geographical region.
The researchers, led by Allen Hurlbert of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found that the average arrival time for all species ...
New York High Court Issues Construction Accident Decision
2012-02-23
Workers face many dangers on construction sites, including falls from heights and unsafe scaffolds or ladders. At any busy worksite, construction workers are also at risk of being struck by falling objects.
A recent New York Court of Appeals opinion, Wilinski v. 334 East 92nd Housing Development Fund, considered a worker's remedies for a Manhattan construction accident that occurred during demolition of a brick wall in a vacant warehouse. The worker suffered serious and lasting injuries when he was struck on the head, shoulder and arm by two ten-foot long, four-inch ...
Chronic stress in elephants can affect long-term behavior
2012-02-23
Stress is known to lead to short-term escape behavior, and new research on elephants in South Africa shows that it can also cause long-term escape behavior, affecting the extent that elephants use their habitat. The work is published Feb. 22 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.
The researchers, led by David Jachowski of the University of Missouri, measured levels of FGM (fecal glucocorticoid metabolite), a proxy of physiological stress, and land use patterns for three different elephant populations, and found that higher FGM was associated with 20-43% lower land usage. ...
Teen Car Accident Study Tracks Hazards of New Drivers
2012-02-23
Like drivers in every other state, South Carolina motorists face their share of hazards that lead to car, truck and motorcycle accidents. From drunk drivers to dangerous roadways and defective tires or brakes, there are often several reasons why an accident occurred and people suffered injuries.
One common factor from coast to coast: inexperienced drivers pose more than their share of risks to themselves and other motorists and passengers as they learn to drive in various types of weather and traffic. A recent study published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety ...
Plastic nanoparticles affect behavior and fat metabolism in fish
2012-02-23
Nanoparticles have many useful applications, but also raise some potential health and ecological concerns. Now, new research shows that plastic nanoparticles are transported through the aquatic food chain and affect fish metabolism and behavior. The full report is published Feb. 22 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.
Exposing fish to nanoparticles slowed their feeding behavior, and also affected metabolic parameters including weight loss and cholesterol levels and distribution. The authors, led by Tommy Cedervall, Lars-Anders Hansson and Sara Linse of Lund University ...
Ancient rock art found in Brazil
2012-02-23
Researchers have discovered an extremely old anthropomorphic figure engraved in rock in Brazil, according to a report published Feb. 22 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The petroglyph, which dates to between 9,000 and 12,000 years old, is the oldest reliably dated instance of such rock art yet found in the Americas.
Art from this time period in the New World is quite rare, so little is known about the diversity of symbolic thinking of the early American settlers. The authors of this study, led by Walter Neves of the University of Sao Paulo, write that their findings ...
Circadian rhythms linked to sudden cardiac death, study finds
2012-02-23
A fundamental discovery reported in the March 1st issue of the journal Nature, uncovers the first molecular evidence linking the body's natural circadian rhythms to sudden cardiac death (SCD). Ventricular arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, are the most common cause of sudden cardiac death: the primary cause of death from heart disease. They occur most frequently in the morning waking hours, followed by a smaller peak in the evening hours. While scientists have observed this tendency for many years, prior to this breakthrough, the molecular basis for these daily patterns ...
Ads Aim to Decrease Florida Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities
2012-02-23
Florida is the deadliest state in the nation for pedestrians and is extremely dangerous for cyclists, according to a national study in USA Today.
The Miami area is especially prone to many of the accidents and injuries associated with high density pedestrian, cyclist and motorist traffic. The Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) is bringing awareness and a sense of urgency to the issue through its new public bicycle and pedestrian accident campaign.
Important Statistics Regarding Cyclist and Pedestrian Injuries and Fatalities
According to a national study ...
The heart beats to the rhythm of a circadian clock
2012-02-23
HOUSTON -- (Feb. 23, 2012) – Sudden cardiac death –catastrophic and unexpected fatal heart stoppage – is more likely to occur shortly after waking in the morning and in the late night.
In a report in the journal Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html), an international consortium of researchers that includes Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (http://casemed.case.edu/) in Cleveland and Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) explains the molecular linkage between the circadian clock and the deadly heart rhythms that lead to sudden death.
The ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Development of a novel modified selective medium cefixime–tellurite-phosphate-xylose-rhamnose MacConkey agar for isolation of Escherichia albertii and its evaluation with food samples
KIST develops full-color-emitting upconversion nanoparticle technology for color displays with ultra-high color reproducibility
Towards a fully automated approach for assessing English proficiency
Increase in alcohol deaths in England an ‘acute crisis’
Government urged to tackle inequality in ‘low-carbon tech’ like solar panels and electric cars
Moffitt-led international study finds new drug delivery system effective against rare eye cancer
Boston stroke neurologist elected new American Academy of Neurology president
Center for Open Science launches collaborative health research replication initiative
Crystal L. Mackall, MD, FAACR, recognized with the 2025 AACR-Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology
A novel strategy for detecting trace-level nanoplastics in aquatic environments: Multi-feature machine learning-enhanced SERS quantification leveraging the coffee ring effect
Blending the old and the new: Phase-change perovskite enable traditional VCSEL to achieve low-threshold, tunable single-mode lasers
Enhanced photoacoustic microscopy with physics-embedded degeneration learning
Light boosts exciton transport in organic molecular crystal
On-chip multi-channel near-far field terahertz vortices with parity breaking and active modulation
The generation of avoided-mode-crossing soliton microcombs
Unlocking the vibrant photonic realm: A new horizon for structural colors
Integrated photonic polarizers with 2D reduced graphene oxide
Shouldering the burden of how to treat shoulder pain
Stevens researchers put glycemic response modeling on a data diet
Genotype-to-phenotype map of human pelvis illuminates evolutionary tradeoffs between walking and childbirth
Pleistocene-age Denisovan male identified in Taiwan
KATRIN experiment sets most precise upper limit on neutrino mass: 0.45 eV
How the cerebellum controls tongue movements to grab food
It’s not you—it’s cancer
Drug pollution alters migration behavior in salmon
Scientists decode citrus greening resistance and develop AI-assisted treatment
Venom characteristics of a deadly snake can be predicted from local climate
Brain pathway links inflammation to loss of motivation, energy in advanced cancer
Researchers discover large dormant virus can be reactivated in model green alga
New phase of the immune response uncovered
[Press-News.org] For-Profit Nursing Homes Face Scrutiny in New StudyFor-profit nursing homes face scrutiny in recent studies finding higher rates of deficiencies compared to government facilities. There are many tools individuals can use to avoid inadequate nursing homes, and to notice if one that provided outstanding care has faltered.