South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

Through no fault of her own, Maria Arellano had suffered stroke. That stroke left her unable to speak. Communication with anyone became profoundly difficult. She was 71 years old when she began residing at the Florence Convalescent Center in Ventura, California. Maria's family placed her there for professional around-the-clock care to be provided to their loved one. What happened next was horrible, but Maria couldn't tell anyone what was happening. Little did her family know the horrors this woman would endure in her silence.

Family members came to visit her often. Soon, they started noticing strange bruising on Maria’s body. Naturally, this worried them. It worried them enough to talk to the folks in charge of the home. They wanted to know what was causing all the bruising. But according to the family, their inquiries and complaints went unanswered. So they did what any reasonable family would do to protect their loved one. They set up a video camera in her room and hid it on her nightstand. And what they caught on tape was unthinkable.

It showed an employee of the nursing home, Monica Garcia, slapping the helpless Maria, pulling her around by her hair, painfully bending her fingers, neck, and wrists, and shoving and pushing her around in a shower chair. Monica Garcia ended up being charged for criminal battery. Ms. Garcia pled no contest and served only 10 days on work release. Maria’s family filed suit against the facility for hiring and keeping on staff such a person, and a jury of citizens awarded $7.5 million against the facility for the harm done to Maria.

Continue reading "$7.5 million Verdict for damages done by Ventura, California Nursing Home" »

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Sixty-nine year old Raymond Hollingsworth suffered from Crohn’s disease and dementia. On July 22, 1999 he was admitted to the Charleston Nursing Center located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. At the time, he had just a small, dime-sized blister on his left heel. Within 47 days, Mr. Hollingsworth had nine Stage III and IV bedsores. These are pressure sores that have developed to the point where destruction has extended to below the skin tissue, creating a deep cavity. Loss of skin also occurs, along with damage to the muscle, bone, and tendons and joints. He also suffered from contracture of the muscles which is a permanent shortening of muscles or tendons due to extended periods of stress on the muscles or tendons. Once contracture of the muscles occurs, it can only be surgically corrected. Due to the severity and amount of infection in his left leg due to the pressure sore on his heel, Mr. Hollingsworth's left leg ended up being amputated below his knee. After the surgery which removed his lower leg, Mr. Hollingsworth was returned to Charleston Nursing Center. Unfortunately, his care apparently did not improve. He continued to suffer from infections and numerous bed sores there, until the time of his death in October of 2000, barely over a year after he was first admitted. Mr. Hollingsworth’s wife, Jean Hollingsworth, understandably pursued a claim for wrongful death. The nursing home settled the case for $950,000.00.

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When they can no longer care for themselves, elderly people still deserve good care. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Sadly, nursing home corporations frequently do not provide humane treatment to our loved ones. Some of the things that happen inside nursing homes are just appalling. Even so-called “nice” nursing homes can often provide awful care to the residents when the doors close and the family leaves. Fancy carpet and elaborate wallpaper does not indicate that quality care is being provided. The controlling nursing home corporation is often just too cheap to hire enough qualified people to provide good care. These corporate executives are often more interested in padding their profits, than they are in the vulnerable human beings who rely upon them for care.

It is a betrayal of our trust – pure and simple.

Poor treatment causes painful (and even deadly) decubitus ulcers (bedsores), unsanitary conditions, repeated infections, dehydration, dramatic weight loss, falls, broken bones, and sometimes even death.

Continue reading "When Nursing Homes Put Their Profits Above Your Loved One's Care" »

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In May of 2009, while investigating Charlotte Harbor Healthcare, a nursing home in Port Charlotte, Florida, for mold, investigators found much more.

According to press reports, secret cameras were tucked away above several residents’ rooms and above the staffs’ break room. The cameras were set to run 24 hours a day and were fed to a closed-circuit television that was in the administrator’s office. The administrator apparently stated that the system was set up to deter theft and in some cases to prove theft. However, there is no proof that thievery had ever been a problem at the home. It was later discovered that no resident or family member have ever been advised that their privacy was being invaded by the clandestine cameras. To further this nursing home’s woes, the mold investigation proved positive. Mold in a nursing home can be particularly problematic due to the fact that residents are prone to respiratory illnesses.

Posted by Michael Jeffcoat | Permalink | Email This Post

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In May of 2009, while investigating Charlotte Harbor Healthcare, a nursing home in Port Charlotte, Florida, for mold, investigators found much more.

According to press reports, secret cameras were tucked away above several residents’ rooms and above the staff break room. The cameras were set to run 24 hours a day and were fed to a closed-circuit television that was in the administrator’s office. The administrator apparently stated that the system was set up to deter theft and in some cases to prove theft. However, there is no proof that thievery had ever been a problem at the home. It was later discovered that no resident or family member have ever been advised that their privacy was being invaded by the clandestine cameras. To further this nursing home’s woes, the mold investigation proved positive. Mold in a nursing home can be particularly problematic due to the fact that residents are prone to respiratory illnesses.

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Constantinha Charron of Richland County, South Carolina, was arrested and charged with swindling, exploitation of a vulnerable adult and perjury. Ms. Charron operated through a company called Caring Hearts and Hands. According to reports, Ms. Charron told clients that she was a certified care giver to elderly people. One client gave Ms. Charron a blank check with the express instructions that it was not to be cashed until certain Medicaid claims had been processed. Apparently Ms. Charron never processed the claims, then went ahead and cashed the check in the amount of $780.00 to her benefit.

Continue reading "Beware of Nursing Care Scams" »

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82 year old Elaine Stinson was suffering the effects of Alzheimer’s disease as well as recovering from hip surgery. Her 92 year old husband, Alvin, couldn't care for her so he placed her in Leisure Palms, a small six bed facility in Fallbrook, California.

About three months later, on one of his regular visits to see his wife, Alvin found his wife unresponsive. He immediately called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. She was found to have bruising on her head and broken ribs, as well as punctured lung.

Eventually, after much effort, Alvin found out that Elaine had fallen the night before, but the nursing home decided that all she required was to be put back in bed. No one called her family nor was any doctor called in to check on her after the fall.

It took nearly a year for Elaine to recover from her fall. Although he was 92 years old, Alvin was no pushover when it came to Elaine. Alvin went to court because of how the nursing home had treated his sweetheart. After a long battle, the jury members determined that Elaine's medical bills and the harm to her should be valued at $1.3 million. Sadly, Alvin did not live to see justice done.

Continue reading "$1.3 million Verdict against California Nursing Home" »

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Wyvonne Fuqua suffered from dementia. She was placed in the Heritage Western Hills Nursing Home in Fort Worth, Texas. She stayed there for just two years. Although her family visited her frequently, the dementia she suffered caused Wyvonne never to complain about the treatment she was receiving or the pain she was in. When she was finally transferred to another facility, it became clear that she had become severely dehydrated and malnourished at Heritage Western Hills. Even worse, she also had 16 bedsores covering her body that revealed fatty tissue and rotting skin that in some cases went all the way to the bone. She died within two months of her removal from Heritage Western Hills. Her family would later find out that the nursing home had been cited twice by the Texas Department of Human Services before for neglecting Wyvonne. (The nursing home had failed to inform the family as required by law). When Ms. Fuqua’s family took the nursing home to court, the jury was so outraged by the games the nursing home played, they awarded $10 million in punitive damages over and above what the family had asked for in the complaint. The total verdict was for $312.8 million.

Continue reading "Texas Nursing Home Neglects Resident, Causes Death" »

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In December of 2004, Lori Keith was preparing for her mother to come home from the nursing home. Barbara Barber had only one week left at ManorCare's Camino Vista nursing home in Albuquerque, New Mexico and then she would be back in the comfort of her daughter’s house. Unfortunately she never made it. She died in a puddle of blood, vomit and dirty sheets. Right after her death, the staff at ManorCare immediately scrambled to clean up the scene of her death disposing of any evidence of how Barbara really died. ManorCare then altered Barbara’s medical records to make it appear that she was well cared for over the course of her stay. ManorCare acknowledged that there were some time discrepancies in the medical records but insisted that understaffing was not an issue in Barbara’s case. After seeing the real truth and the evidence, a jury wasn’t buying ManorCare's story. In June, 2007, they awarded $54,000,000 for her mother’s pain and suffering.

What I hope, more than anything here, is that ManorCare learned a lesson, and that they will hire enough qualified staff to care for all their residents. All of them. ManorCare is a giant corporation, and thousands and thousands of lives are at stake.

Continue reading "Poor Care Causes $54 million Verdict against a New Mexico Nursing Home Corporation" »

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Seventy-seven year old Gloria Baral was dying. She had cancer. She didn’t have much time left. But imagine her family’s shock when they walked into her room at the Orchard Ridge Care and Rehabilitation Center in New Port Richey, Florida, to find her slumped over in her wheelchair, dead. What was even worse was that she had been dead for quite some time.

When her daughter first walked into Gloria's room, she just thought that she was slumped over. Gloria's daughter immediately ran to her side to help Gloria up, only to notice that her mother’s body was no longer warm. In fact, her body was cold. How long had her mother gone unnoticed in this condition? Gloria’s daughter also noticed that there was no call button within reach of her mother. The nursing home informed the daughter that they had just recently checked on her mother. And according to the funeral home, Gloria’s time of death is listed as 9:00 a.m. on June 21, 2009. But Gloria’s daughter disputes that finding. She arrived at the nursing home about 9:30. How could a body get that cold in just under half an hour? No one will ever know what happened in the last hours of Gloria Baral’s life. They will never know if she suffered or passed peacefully. Gloria’s family has filed an official complaint against the nursing home and may well pursue legal recourse, to ensure that no other resident or family member will suffer in the same way.

Thanks go to our local CBS affiliate, WLTX, for picking up this story. It is critically important that the public be made aware of what is really going on inside our communities' nursing homes.

Continue reading "A Disturbing Story From Florida: Nursing Home Resident’s Death Goes Unnoticed by Staff in Florida Nursing Home" »

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Mr. Loren Richards was 84 years old and a resident of the Beverly Health and Rehabilitation nursing facility located just outside of Lexington, Kentucky. On March 2, 2002 he died. In the days leading up to his death, he had constantly cried out for help because he had terrible pains in his stomach. He anguished pleas were ignored and untreated by the nursing home staff. He was finally told that he was suffering from an impacted bowel. By then was too late. He soon died as a result of the nursing home's culture of negligent lack of care. His family filed suit against the nursing home for the staff's knowing disregard of Mr. Richards. A local jury carefully considered all the evidence from both sides, and awarded compensation of $20 million.

Continue reading "Verdict Report: Family Awarded $20 million Against Negligent Lexington, Kentucky Nursing Home" »

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Azalea Court, a nursing home in West Palm Beach, Florida, is accruing fines left and right. An August, 2008, report shows that a resident was found hurt on the floor of the nursing home. Maggots crawling out of the resident's leg cast. The resident had been admitted to the nursing facility with a detailed care plan which included instructions that the cast and the wound needed to be changed and cleaned every three days. According to reports, Azalea Court could not provide adequate records detailing their care of the cast and wound and could only provide documented proof that they cared for the wound about once a week.

In April, 2008 a state inspector was making a routine visit to the facility, when he found a resident who was a bilateral amputee, outside, asleep with a smoldering cigarette burning a hole into a towel that was covering his left stump. According to this inspector, there was smoke rising from the hole in the towel and the edge of the hole was still burning bright red. The resident had been labeled a safe smoker despite the fact that he had been found previously with a lit cigarette in his mouth and he was fast asleep. The resident was also found to have bedsores covering his amputated limbs and buttocks. The State had initially fined the nursing home $41,000 for both incidents but a settlement was later reached.

The nursing home only had to pay $16,000.

Continue reading "Troubled West Palm Beach, Florida Nursing Home is Racking Up Fines" »

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