Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect

Larry Hoover used to be one of the managers of the Leisure Pointe Retirement Center in San BERNARDINO, and he lived at the complex with his wife. But on January 31st Hoover resigned his job and left Leisure Pointe, after admitting that he had used his master key to enter the apartments of two elderly women-then sexually assaulting them, as reported by The Press Enterprise.

Two lawsuits, which stem from Hoover’s despicable behavior, have been filed. The lawsuits are against a Salem, Oregon based company, Holiday Retirement Corporation, and allege that company knew that Hoover had been harming two elderly women-one 87 and one 101 years of age since December of 2005. And, while it is utterly unbelievable, no one called the police regarding Hoover’s abuse of these women until February 6th a full 6 days after Hoover resigned his job on January 31st. In fact, after complaints by the women’s care givers to another one of the managers, that manager failed to do anything but order Hoover to stay in his own apartment-he did not call the police! While San BERNARDINO police are still investigating these cases, Hoover has not been charged.

Now Leisure Pointe Retirement Center has also been issued a type ‘A’ citation, the most serious type of citation, but not for the sexual abuse, but because officials allege that Leisure Pointe Retirement Center is caring for residents without a license, according to The Press Enterprise.
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The California Department of Health Services has been negligently slow to respond to complaints regarding nursing home safety and has been understating the severity of the problems they do find, according to a state auditor report released last week. The audit, which looked at about 17,000 complaints lodged over a recent two-year period, found that the department failed to respond within legal time limits to almost half, and failed to complete about six in 10 investigations promptly, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Auditors also cited instances where state health investigators did not take safety violations seriously. For example, in one case, the inspectors issued a low-level citation to a home that failed to provide oxygen to residents with breathing problems. Auditors pointed out that the home should have faced a much higher penalty for putting its residents in immediate jeopardy, the article stated. According to the auditor in 20% of the cases reviewed in which the state inspectors cited a nursing home for violations, the penalty imposed was too light.

Our California Department of Health is sick. It is under a San Francisco Superior Court order to improve its speed in response to complaints. Advocates filed a lawsuit last year, alleging that the department was too slow in processing and investigating complaints and the Court agreed.

The article also cites a recent report by the California Health Care Foundation that found the total number of complaints against nursing homes rose from about 8,000 in the year 2000 to 12,000 in the year 2005. But at the same time, the portion of complaints that were substantiated by investigators fell dramatically, from 41 percent to 16 percent. The report cited the slow response time as a factor hampering investigators’ ability to determine what happened. Last year, the federal Government Accountability Office also issued a report saying that California’s inspectors often overlooked or downplayed serious safety violations.
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A 90-year-old dementia patient was found last month alone in his Mission Viejo care facility room with a dead rat lodged in his mouth, according to an article published in The Orange County Register Friday.

Attorneys for plaintiff Sigmund Bock filed the lawsuit Thursday in Orange County Superior Court against Paragon Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care facility for the elderly. The suit also alleged that the facility’s staff ignored Bock’s needs by allowing a rat infestation and then failed to supervise the mentally incapacitated patient.

“The defendants so literally ignored the needs of their residents, and most specifically Sigmund Bock, as to allow vermin in the form of a rat to become lodged in the mouth of Sigmund Block and die therein,'” the lawsuit read.

Nobody at Paragon was available for comment Thursday afternoon. An attorney for Paragon did not respond to a request for comment, the article said.
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A Riverside nursing home, which is being sued on allegations of elder abuse and negligence, was understaffed and offers substandard care to its elders and their families, according to an attorney for the plaintiff quoted in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Pleasant Care Convalescent of Riverside was sued last week by the granddaughter of 81-year-old Ida Mae Davis. The suit alleges that during the three years she lived there, Davis suffered multiple falls, bed sores, malnutrition and at one point, was being prescribed physical therapy when she had an undiagnosed hip fracture.

The article by Patricia Jiayi Ho, quotes Davis’ attorney Michael Young.

“It’s our theory they are understaffed – the put their profits ahead of people. They make these representations that they’re doing good to take care of grandma and grandpa and they don’t.”

Young said the most serious problem occurred in February 2006 when Davis underwent 10 or more days of physical therapy for nurses notes indicate was “right knee pain.”

Subsequent X-rays revealed that Davis had actually fractured her hip during one of her falls. She was then taken to Riverside Community Hospital for hip surgery, where staff notes numerous bed sores and malnutrition.

The attorney also talks about an issue that has bothered me for a long time – understaffing.
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