Maryland Accident Law Blog

This week, in Washington DC, a US Senate committee is scheduled to hear about a case involving the family of William Kurth, who sustained a number of pressure ulcers and fractured his leg and up while staying at a nursing home. Kurth’s family, however, was unable to sue for nursing home negligence because Kurth’s wife, Elaine, had agreed, when admitting her husband to the home, that all complaints would go through an arbitrator.

Elaine was reportedly on medication and under extreme duress when she signed papers giving Kurth, a stroke victim, permission to stay at a nursing home. Family members say that Kurth died because urine and excrement had not been cleaned off his bedsores for several days.

Kindred Healthcare says that the Kurth family says that the arbitration agreement was offered as an option and not a condition for admission into the nursing home.

The Senate panel is investigating the nursing homes’ use of binding arbitration agreements that gets patients to sign away their right to file a nursing home abuse or negligence lawsuit. Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl, who is the chairman of the Senate Aging Committee expressed concern that many residents are not in the proper state to realize that they are signing away their right to sue.

Over the past five years, over 100 lawsuits have been filed to challenge these kinds of agreements.

While some lawmakers, trial lawyers, and consumer advocacy groups want to put in place legislation that makes these agreements unenforceable, others say that the lower costs for arbitration make it easier for patients with smaller cases to receive compensation.

In Maryland and Washington DC, our nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers represent families with whose loved ones have suffered because of abuse or neglect at a nursing home or residential care facility.

Patients signing away right to sue nursing homes, AP, June 17, 2008

Nursing homes prefer arbitration over courts, Azcentral.com, June 17, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Arbitration Agreements: Why They Should Be Prohibited In Admission Agreement, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform

Continue reading "US Senate Committee To Hear Case of Family That Signed Away Right to Sue Nursing Home For Neglect" »

Rosewood Center, a Maryland facility for the developmentally disabled located in Baltimore County, will close in the next year and a half. The decision by the state to shut down the facility comes in the wake of reports of serious cases of abuse and neglect over the past several years. The decision to shut down Rosewood was announced by Maryland’s Governor Martin O'Malley on January 15.

In December, Maryland’s Office of Health Care Quality reported 130 cases of neglect, abuse, mistreatment, and injuries at the center over an 8-week period. Unnecessary restraints, wrong medication doses, missed feedings of residents that were intubated, and assaults between residents are some of the abusive and neglectful incidents that reportedly occurred.

About 150 people live at Rosewood, which opened in 1888 as the Asylum and Training School for the Feeble Minded. At one point, the center had 3,700 residents.

Last year, however, new admissions were banned at Rosewood three times. Poor conditions at the center have placed it at risk of losing its federal funding.

In February 2007, the Maryland Disability Law Center issued a report about Rosewood that included information about injuries, neglect, and the unnecessary and lengthy isolation of some of its residents.

Workers at Rosewood claim the abuse reports are exaggerated. They worry that residents will be traumatized because they have to leave the facility. Patients will be placed in group homes or released to guardians over the next 18 months.

Nursing home abuse and Neglect
State residential homes are supposed to provide its residents with proper medical and residential care. A failure to do so violates the law and can also be grounds for a nursing home abuse lawsuit.

If you believe that someone you love has been abused or neglected while staying at a residential care facility, you should talk to a Washington D.C. or Maryland nursing home abuse law firm right away. Physical and emotional injuries and even death can result because of the abuse or neglect and the law entitles your injured loved one to nursing abuse compensation.

State to Shutter Home for Disabled, Baltimore Sun.com, January 15, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Rosewood Center: A Demand for Closure, Maryland Disability Law Center, February 1, 2007 (PDF)

Rosewood Center, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Continue reading "Maryland to Close Rosewood Center After Multiple Reports of Neglect and Abuse" »

A Baltimore woman says she has video footage of the caretaker she hired to care for her 90-year-old father abusing him on at least four different occasions.

Jaki Taylor says she hired Anastasia Olouch to take care of her father John Taylor at home after he had suffered a number of strokes. Taylor says that security cameras recorded Olouch, 54, striking her father on the arm, chest, head, and stomach. John is not able to communicate or defend himself.

Police in Maryland arrested Olouch and she was indicted on multiple counts of assault, reckless endangerment, and abuse of a vulnerable adult.

Her trial was scheduled to begin on August 8 but she did not appear in court. The State Attorney’s office requested that a warrant be issued against her.

John Taylor has experienced a number of brain seizures since the arrest. Doctors say they cannot confirm whether the seizures were caused by the beatings. Jaki Taylor, however, claims that her father’s health has gotten worse since the incidents of elder abuse.

Last year, Adult Protective Services investigated close to 5,000 elder abuse cases in Maryland. More than 1,000 of the cases took place in Baltimore.

Dr. Dan Sheridan, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a forensic nurse, says that elder abuse perpetrators tend to hit their elderly victims as a means of controlling them and that they choose older victims because they are easily confused and vulnerable.

The Senate Committee on Aging says that about 5 million incidents of elder neglect and abuse are taking place in the U.S. right now but that many of these incidents are not reported.

Professor Linda M. Woolf, from Webster University, cites a number of signs of physical abuse of the elderly:

• Overt signs of physical trauma (e.g. scratches, bruises, cuts, burns, punctures, choke marks)
• Signs of restraint trauma (e.g. rope burns, gag marks, welts)
• Injury - particularly if repeated (e.g. sprains, fractures, detached retina, dislocation, paralysis)
• Additional physical indicators - hypothermia, abnormal chemistry values, pain upon being touched
• Repeated "unexplained" injuries
• Inconsistent explanations of the injuries
• A physical examination reveals that the older person has injuries which the caregiver has failed to disclose
• A history of doctor or emergency room "shopping"
• Repeated time lags between the time of any "injury or fall" and medical treatment

Elder abuse is a crime.

A person who is the victim of elder abuse has a right to seek personal injury compensation for the injuries that they have sustained because a doctor, nurse, or caregiver acted negligently.

Woman Says Caregiver Beat Her 90-year-old Father, WLTX.com, August 16, 2007

Caught On Tape: Alleged Abuse Of 90-Year-Old, NBC10.com, August 15, 2007

Finding the Red Flags for Elder Abuse, ABC2news.com, August 24, 2007

Elder Abuse and Neglect, Webster.edu

Related Web Resources:

National Center on Elder Abuse

Elder Rights & Resources, Administration on Aging

Continue reading "90-Year-Old Maryland Victim of Alleged Caretaker Abuse Has Suffered Seizures Since Beatings " »

A Maryland woman is suing the Guardian Elder Care at the Peterson Rehabilitation Hospital and Geriatric Center in Wheeling, West Virginia for nursing home negligence. Emily Kay Goddard Young filed the lawsuit in Ohio County on behalf of her father, the late Elwood M. Goddard.

In December 2004, Goddard had been living on property run that was owned by Peterson. According to the lawsuit, Goddard suffered from a number of illnesses that left him in a wheelchair and physically weak. Young says that her father was left without an attendant in a wheelchair that had a broken strap. He then proceeded to fall violently as a result.The fall caused internal and external injuries that he later died from.

Young says that it was Peterson’s responsibility to maintain, inspect, and repair the wheelchair. In the lawsuit, she claims negligence that "Peterson owed a duty to its patients ... to provide a wheelchair that was reasonable safe for its intended use and not unreasonable dangerous when put to its reasonable anticipated use." She is seeking compensatory damages to cover funeral expenses, burial costs, court fees, medical expenses, and other damages.

Two major problem in managed-care facilities that can lead to abuse in a nursing home are overcrowding and an overworked staff that is not trained properly. It is the facility’s responsibility to eliminate the opportunity for nursing home negligence by hiring professional care providers and medical workers that are trained correctly. It is also up to the facility to create a safe, caring, and sanitary environment for its residents.

The United States Congress has passed laws demanding that every state create regulations to protect nursing home residents. Nursing homes are required to follow these regulations. Nursing home negligence is a criminal and civil offense.

If a person has been a victim of nursing home negligence but they are unable to report the abuse for any reason, loved ones and family members may file the claim for them.

Indications that a person may be experiencing abuse in a nursing home:

· Ulcers
· Bed sores
· Dehydration
· Emaciation
· Injuries from falls
· Change in the resident’s personality.

If you suspect a case of negligence, it is important that you report the incident immediately. You may also want to consider moving your loved one to another facility.

Each year, thousands of senior citizens are abused, neglected and exploited in nursing homes and other elder care facilities. Many victims are frail and vulnerable and cannot help themselves, and they depend on others to meet their most basic needs.

Continue reading "Maryland Woman Sues Nursing Home For Negligent Care Of Her Now-Deceased Father" »

Interrogatories are written questions sent to the opposing party in a personal injury lawsuit. Like a deposition, an interrogatory gives each side the opportunity to pose questions to the opposing party. Although the party who is served the interrogatory does not have to appear in court to respond, they are required to respond to the questions in writing as if they were under oath and under penalty of perjury.

In the state of Maryland, each party in a personal injury lawsuit can serve up to thirty interrogatories to the opposing side.

Below is a sample of an interrogatory that we, the personal injury law firm of Lebowitz and Mzhen, filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County on behalf of our client, the plaintiff, who fell down a stairwell while staying at a nursing home facility. We have redacted the names of those involved for purposes of confidentiality.

Download The Interrogatories Form Filed In A Nursing Home Negligence Case.

According to Nursinghomecare.com:

-Over 1.6 million Americans receive nursing home care.
-30 % of all nursing home care facilities commit an act of medical malpractice against their patients each year.

Nursing homes are required to care for each patient in a way that takes into account their individual needs. Each patient’s care program must include a plan that makes sure that the following injuries are prevented:

-Bedsores
-Dehydration
-Malnutrition
-Slip and fall-related injuries
-Injuries caused by unnecessary physical or chemical restraint

Each year, thousands of senior citizens are abused, neglected, and exploited in nursing homes and other elder care facilities.

If you are a concerned relative or friend of an elderly person that you believe is suffering from nursing home abuse or nursing home negligence in the State of Maryland or the Washington, D.C. area, we'd like to hear from you. Please contact Jack Lebowitz or Vadim Mzhen by e-mail or toll free at 1-888-311-HURT (4878) to set up a FREE, no obligation consultation.

Related Web Resource:
Nursinghomecare.com