Raleigh Personal Injury Lawyer - Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

Over 4,000 Bad Nursing Homes in the US - THREE in NC

Christina Medlin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:00:44 GMT

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) , formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), is the federal agency responsible for administering the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments), and several other health-related programs.

CMS created the Special Focus Facility (SFF) Initiative to monitor Nursing Homes with irregular compliance histories - meaning facilities that would be in compliance during one inspection of the facility, but major problems re-emerge by the next inspection. Nursing Homes in the SFF Initiative are visited twice as frequently as other nursing homes. The more the problems persist the more stringent the enforcement. Enforcement can range from fines to termination from Medicare and Medicaid.

As of February 12, 2008, 4,000 U.S. nursing homes are providing substandard care, three of which are in NC. These Nursing Homes are on the "Facilities That Have Shown Improvement" Chart of the study, which means that the three NC facilities are improving but CMS is waiting to see if the improvements continue over time. However, the study indicates that Clemmons Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Clemmons, NC has been apart of the SFF Initiative for 17 months! Other Nursing Homes listed include Liberty Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Mecklenburg City (7 months in SFF) ini Charlotte, NC and Universal Health Care/North Raleigh in Raleigh, NC(7 Months in SFF). In order to be removed from this list, the Nursing Home must continue to show significant improvement for 12 months. SFF will update the study in April 2008 and August 2008.

If you are considering admission to Nursing Home, check out "Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home"

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Medlin

Malpractice Defendants Sue Their Lawyers

Brent Adams — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:37:38 GMT

In a case which reports a good example of abuse of our civil justice system by insurance companies, medical doctors who suffered a $217,000,000.00 verdict against them in a malpractice case have sued their own lawyers.

Among the claims against their former lawyers was the fact their lawyers turned down settlement offers of $1,000,000.00 for one doctor and $3,000,000.00 for the other doctor. The doctors claim that the proposed settlements were never adequately explained to them. The doctors say that their attorneys failed to properly advise them, fraudulently concealed information, and failed to respond to settlement demands.

The doctors' new lawyers who are suing their former malpractice defense lawyers state that the case should have never gone to trial, that it should have been settled, and claim that the doctors were "hung out to dry."

The malpractice case against the doctors seems clear. Their patient went to a hospital emergency room complaining of nausea, headache, dizziness, and double vision. The patient was essentially sent home five hours later with a painkiller prescription and a diagnosis of sinusitis.

Although the defendant doctors did not diagnose the condition, the patient in reality was having a stroke. He returned to the hospital with more severe symptoms the next morning, underwent surgery hours later to relieve brain swelling, and ended up in a coma for three months. When he awoke from the coma, he was permanently disabled. The patient, who was 50-years-old at the time was awarded $117,000,000.00 for economic damages, pain, and suffering. The doctors were then ordered to pay $100.1 million dollars in punitive damages. This was the largest jury verdict in Florida ever.

In the doctors' suit against their former malpractice lawyers, they claim that the lawyers who were hired by their malpractice insurance company were protecting the interest of the insurance company and not theirs. One of the doctors said he was pressured by the lawyers to say that he always gave a patient a physical exam and a patient history even if such an examination was previously performed by a physician's assistant. This doctor said he did not perform physicals on patients who had already been seen by a physician's assistant and that he did not remember personally examining the patient who sued him for malpractice. In spite of being informed by the doctors of the truth, the insurance company's lawyers continued denying that anyone except the doctor was involved in the patient's care and treatment.

The patient's attorney made several attempts to settle the case against the doctors but all of these attempts were rejected by the insurance company's lawyers.

Although the conduct of the insurance company's malpractice defense lawyers was reprehensible, they were merely puppets in the hands of the malpractice insurance company which called all the shots. The real culprit in this case was the malpractice insurance company who, as most of them do, followed the industry standard of delay, deny, and defend.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brent Adams

State Investigating Possible Nursing Home Abuse

Christina Cole — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 17:42:14 GMT

A nursing home is being investigated by Police and the state for possible nursing home abuse.

Friday, police took a report regarding a woman whose 89-year old mother is a resident of Georgetown Healthcare Assisted Living. The woman alleges she was visiting with her mother and noticed bruises on her left eye and on her face. Her concerns were passed on to the state and Ombudsman (advocate for residents of nursing homes) whom notified police.

The Ombudsman also talked to some of the facility employees and there were "inconsistencies with the times and what employees were saying in reference to the case."

The report states this is not the first time this has happened to this patient.

The Georgetown Police Captain said that the department's investigators are still interviewing employees and it was unknown Tuesday if any charges will be filed.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole