California Injury Blog

What if a mechanism put on the side of your loved one’s sick bed, presumably to protect them, ends up seriously injuring or killing them? Unfortunately, this is what happened to 63-year old Alzheimer patient, Billie Trew due to nursing home neglect. She was strangled to death by the restraints on her bed while sleeping. Her family brought the nursing home and the bed manufacturer to court, and discovered that at least 20 other patients had died and over 60 had been injured by similar bed rails!
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What do you expect when you put a loved one in a nursing home? Do you expect loving, respectful care or do you expect that your loved one will suffer from elder neglect in the forms of malnutrition, dehydration, pressure sores from being left in bed, or worse? According to a recent report from the American Association for Justice, entitled “Standing Up for Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans,” it’s the latter that is far too often the case for our nation’s seniors in nursing homes.
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Rudy was born and raised on a farm in South Dakota. For over 80 years, Rudy lived and worked on that farm. He got married and raised three children there. His children eventually grew up and moved away. After 63 years of marriage, Rudy’s wife Lucille passed away. Rudy lived alone on the farm for a while, but his doctor eventually told him that he should move into a nursing home.
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Do you ever read all the fine print in the long consumer contracts you receive? If so, you’ve probably noticed a “mandatory arbitration” clause buried deep inside the contract. Most consumer contracts now have them — even contacts for nursing homes. By entering in a nursing facility, seniors or their families often have to agree that even if the nursing home harms, neglects, or abuses the senior in its care, the senior has no right to go to court to protest. It means the senior has no right to a judge, a jury, or a right of appeal. Also, the arbitrators do not have to follow the law, and there is no public review of the arbitrator’s decisions to make sure that he got it right. Additionally, forced arbitrations are often more expensive than taking a case to court.
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If you put your beloved parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle into a nursing home, how would you feel if you found out that the nurses and doctors at the home tied them up to a bed or wheel chair? How outraged would you be if you knew that the people you’re paying to look after the well-being of your loved one were physically restraining them just so they would be “less of a bother?” According to a recent report from the American Association for Justice entitled, “Standing Up for Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans,” it turns out that what is happening in nursing homes with increasing frequency is not that far off. Instead of using ropes and chains though, nursing homes are using chemical restraints on seniors — psychotropic drugs that sedate or control behaviors.
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