Jacksonville Personal Injury Blog

A Florida legislative study says that there are too many rogue assisted living facilities (ALF) in the state that are abusing and endangering elderly and disabled residents and they need to be shut down and heavily fined. The report, by the state Senate Health Regulation Committee, also calls for tougher qualifications for those who run ALF’s and to better fund oversight which is supposed to be conducted by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Florida’s ALF industry has been regularly criticized for allowing the worst run facilities to stay open. Last May, a Miami Herald investigation found that due to neglect and abuse, nearly one person a month died in a Florida ALF and the worst ones are still open for business.

The investigation also found:

• There are 2,956 ALFs operating in Florida and the state is failing to keep up with inspections.


• Sixty percent of those residents who suffer from severe dementia wander from homes, something caregivers are not equipped to handle.


• One hundred homes with mentally ill residents were found to use illegal restraints, tranquilizers, ropes and locks to keep people in check.


• A dozen deaths were included in the Herald investigation including a 74-year-old woman who died from the restraints that ripped into her skin.


• As the number of new homes grew by 550 in five years, inspections were cut 33 percent.

Florida has always been a mecca for elders and the numbers are expected to grow from 3.3 million today to 4.5 million in ten years, all at a time when government doesn’t think it is important to increase funding for inspecting these new homes. That is a formula for disaster.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/medicine/report-urges-florida-crack-down-on-alfs/1192474

In order to save money, one state lawmaker proposed that nursing home patients spend less time with a certified nurse every day. That proposal became law on July 1 in Florida, designed to save $40 million a year. The reason for the move - state nursing homes will see $187.5 million less in Medicaid money and as a result, direct one-on-one time with a certified nurse will be reduced from 2.7 hours per day to 2.5 hours. Back in 2007 the Legislature mandated 2.9 hours of direct care a day.

At least another hour of direct came is supposed to come from the nursing home staff. It should come as no surprise that staff reductions will occur. The union that represents health care workers said that petitions were delivered to 41 nursing homes last week asking them to maintain their staffing levels, but the reality is that few will be able to withstand the financial blow leveled by this legislative session.

Medicaid pays for 61 percent of billable days in a nursing home, while Medicare pays for 19 percent and the remaining 20 percent is paid by the resident.

One physician told Health News Florida that it’s tough to justify this area for cuts. A University of South Florida study found fewer bedsores for nursing home residents and falls with adequate staffing. And more staff means residents can interact and stay mentally active.

If your loved one has been mistreated or suffered neglect in a Florida nursing home, the nursing home abuse lawyers in Jacksonville at Farah & Farah will not let that continue to occur, not one more minute. The elderly are the people who took care of us when we were children and now it’s our turn to take care of them. Anything less is unacceptable. Contact Farah & Farah for a complimentary consultation if you suspect elder abuse of any sort. Do not let it continue one more day.

Source: http://www.healthnewsflorida.org/top_story/read/nursing_home_staffing_level_drops_today

The Miami Herald has completed a yearlong investigation into Florida’s assisted-living facilities (ALF) and a gruesome picture emerges of abuse, neglect, and inaction by the state agency charged with regulating the industry. There are 2,850 ALFs in the state that are supposed to provide a safe shelter for those who cannot live alone. Some of the residents suffer from dementia, others are mentally disabled.

Unfortunately these are some of the most vulnerable individuals and the investigation finds the state regulatory agency, the Agency for Health Care Administration, does little to monitor, regulate, and shut down the worst offenders. The Miami Herald spent a year examining records from the state, police, and court reports, and autopsy files to expose a lucrative industry that is allowed to be a repeat offender. Among the findings:

• A 75-year-old Alzheimer’s patient wanders away from a Clearwater ALF and is mauled to death by an alligator.
• A man running what was found to be a dangerous facility in 2004 was allowed to renew his license three times, despite breaking the law 51 times.
• Residents were beaten and forced to sleep on urine soaked mattresses without air conditioning.
• A 71-year-old man in a Hialeah ALF was scalded in bath water and left there. He later died.
• A young psychotic woman was raped by a caretaker with a criminal history who gave her an overdose of powerful psychotic drugs. She later died.

At least 70 people have died from abuse or neglect at assisted-living facilities since 2002. Criminal charges have been filed in two incidents. Homes were caught using illegal restraints such as cages, ropes, and drugs like tranquilizers 1,732 times since 2002. Yet, only 26 facilities have been closed down by AHCA since 2005, even though some homes have had more than 1,000 reports of complaints of abuse. And instead of fining offending facilities, which would have brought the state more than $6 million in fines, fines collected totaled just $650,000.

While ALFs in Florida are inspected once every two years, other states such as Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Illinois conduct annual inspections. Florida slashed investigation funding by 90 percent between 2002 and 2008 and cut the number of inspectors. With nearly one resident dying every month from abuse and neglect this investigation is long overdue as is state action.

If you or a loved one is involved in an assisted-living facility and need to talk to someone about unacceptable living conditions or abuse, the Florida nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Farah & Farah have an open door policy. Call us at 1-800-533-3555 for a complimentary consultation today.

In what should accurately be called an assault on a citizen’s right to a remedy through the courts, Florida lawmakers are considering capping the amount of money an attorney can receive if they successfully represent a victim of a negligent nursing home, reports The St. Augustine Record. The proposal, (HB 661, SB 1396) caps pain and suffering (non-economic damages) at $250,000, even if it costs that much to bring a successful case to trial. It would also make it tougher to obtain punitive damages to make sure the nursing home never commits the crime of negligence again. The bills also do not allow the injured to name the owner of a nursing home in a lawsuit if they live outside the area or are strictly an investor.

The lines in this debate are drawn with lobbyists for the nursing home industry, the Florida Health Care Association interested in cutting down on “opportunistic lawsuits”, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which represents business, facing off with the AARP and Florida Justice Association, which represents trial attorneys. Debra Henley, the executive director, points out that there is nothing in the bills that would help nursing home residents and nothing that makes homes accountable for their actions that lead to injury and death.

The Florida nursing home abuse attorneys at Farah & Farah find that nursing home litigation holds nursing homes accountable for negligence when state law fails to do so. There is currently no cap on a wrongful death at a nursing home, but capping pain and suffering is a disincentive designed to discourage Florida law firms from tackling these types of costly cases. We understand there are deserving nursing home residents who have been victimized by facilities that put profits over people. These victims are the people we will continue to represent until they nail shut the courtroom doors.

Some people writing into News4Jax.com say it is about time. The Glenwood Nursing Center, in the Arlington section of Jacksonville, has lost its license to operate after receiving poor reviews from the state. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration revoked the license after years of poor reviews. That means 106 residents will need to find a new place to live by the time the facility closes its doors for good on August 26.

A report card from May gave the center poor grades for quality of care, quality of life, and dignity. The report card says the center doesn’t do a good enough job of preventing residents from hurting other patients and themselves. Lawyers representing the owner of Glenwood have filed an appeal to extend the deadline.

Relatives of the residents who talked to News4 seemed surprised that the doors will close and said they never saw any problems. Lois Craig says she never felt her husband, Gordon, was in any danger at all. “To move him would be awful because I don’t know what to do next.”

Florida residents have a right to be protected from harm, both mental and physical, according to Florida Statute 440.022(O). The facility must do more than provide care. Some of the duties of a nursing home include protecting patients from other patients who tend to act out. That can be one unfortunate result of dementia.

Reportedly over the years, the facility has not removed the violent offenders from the general population. In some cases, patients acting out have been reported to use their wheelchairs to hurt others. A failure to intervene is an indication of negligence in the training of employees which usually begins at the top. The state was also alarmed at the number of falls some of the elderly experienced, including multiple falls, which can lead to broken bones and a lifetime of pain and disability.

Thankfully the state has finally agreed to intervene. If you or a loved one believe that abuse and neglect is occurring in a nursing facility, and especially if the owners or supervisors don’t seem to be responsive, an experienced Florida nursing home abuse attorney may be your best avenue to have an unacceptable situation resolved. It is important to speak with us as soon as you suspect a loved one might be in danger to get them out of harm’s way. You are also advised to gather whatever evidence you can. Our doors are always open for a comprehensive and complimentary consultation.

A lawsuit filed against a Lake Worth nursing home accuses it of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid while it provided inadequate treatment to residents. The suit is filed on behalf of a former 83-year-old patient by her son and attorney. They hope to gain class action status and have included the names of more than two dozen other patients.

The lawsuit claims that patients were kept until they developed other diseases and then the nursing home, Lake Worth Manor, would use those ailments to restart government payments. Millennium Management LLC and Horizon Staffing are also named as defendants in the action which was filed in U.S. District Court in Miami. Also named was the head nurse, who was arrested last October for operating an unlicensed assisted living facility elsewhere in Florida. The 83-year-old woman allegedly developed disfiguring ulcers on her heels before she was taken out of the facility.

Nursing Homes
Lake Worth Manor is a for-profit nursing home with a one-star rating. That ranking is given by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and puts it at the bottom 20 percent of all nursing home in the state for safety and health compliance with regulations. Lake Worth Manor has also reportedly spent 31 days on a Florida watch list. Medicare ranks the home with two out of five stars.

The best star ranking in the state is five, which means the facility is ranked 81 percent to 100 percent of all the facilities in the region. When considering a nursing home for your loved one, look at whether it is for profit or not-for profit. The latter category tends to have a higher level of care.

Continue reading "Lake Worth Nursing Home Accused of Racketeering, Inadequate Resident Care" »

This is an incredible story and sounds like it could result in a lawsuit for violating the rights of the elderly.

A St. Augustine, Florida man says that on Christmas Eve, his 65-year-old wife was moved to an Illinois nursing care center in Elmwood, without his approval or knowledge. Viola Jane White, 65, has been a patient at Kindred Hospital in Green Cove Springs, west of Jacksonville. She needs dialysis and a ventilator to live. Christmas eve, William White got a call from the hospital that his wife had been flown to Illinois.

What angers him is that the hospital staff decided that they didn’t need her husband’s approval to go.

"They said she agreed to it. She can't even sign her name. She don't know what day it is," White said to First Coast News. White got a letter last September stating that his wife’s Medicaid and Medicare benefits would be exhausted by mid-November. In order to stay at Kindred Hospital, White would have to come up with $1,000 a day.

But a federal program to serve the elderly should not be dictated by state. White says he was told the only option for his wife was to move out-of-state so she could receive Medicaid and Medicare.

"I said I don't agree to send my wife 1,000 miles away. I'm 72 years old!" White said, adding that he doesn't know when he'll get to see her again.

Professional intervention is needed here. Patients and their families express their wishes in writing to a nursing home or care facility and to violate those wishes, whether they be end of life issues or basic rights to fair and decent treatment cannot and should not be violated without consequences.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of nursing home abuse in Florida, contact the experienced attorneys at Farah and Farah today for a free consultation of your case.

Frequently our Florida Elder Neglect attorneys are asked whether hiring a home health aide to watch over an elderly loved one, in our home or theirs, is a good idea and what should someone look for.

You should treat the hiring of a home health care person with the same scrutiny as you would for your child.

First – consider what the home health care person is doing for your loved one.

If this person will be responsible for medically-related duties, he or she should be a licensed, certified nursing assistant, or CAN, who will be regulated by a state agency.

A CNA can work for a home health agency. Find out more about their qualifications: or call 850-245-4567.

However, if this person is hired to provide housekeeping, cooking and non-medical services, you may need to conduct your own background check.

In Florida, California, Connecticut, and at least 19 other states, non-medical home health care aides are not required to be licensed, certified nor regulated by a state agency. Criminal background checks are not required.

And that’s where the problems have come in. Stories of nursing home abuse in Florida and neglect of elderly patients in Jacksonville have been in the news, as have stories of identity theft or the theft of personal belongings, drugs or cash.

Be aware that most abuse and neglect cases involve non-medical aides hired to help around the house and that most victims are afraid to report the abuse.

If you are looking for a reputable, reliable home health care person, it’s probably a safer bet to go through an agency; however, be sure to ask the agency what background checks have been done and be sure they include, at a minimum, a state police criminal background check.

Make sure that the agency has run a national criminal database check to the extent it is possible. Some agencies do not have that authorization.

A Medicare or Medicaid home health agency requires training of at least 75 hours and an evaluation program. A licensed-only agency may require additional training above at least 40 hours or a competency test given by the agency.

Continue reading "Choosing Home Health Care Aides" »