Two teenage girls who worked at a nursing home have been charged with abuse, accused of taunting, spitting on and groping residents who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.According to the criminal complaint, filed Monday, 19-year-old Brianna Broitzman and 18-year-old Ashton Larson laughed earlier this year as they spit in residents’ mouths, poked and groped their breasts and genitals, and at times mocked them until they screamed.Broitzman and Larson, who worked as part-time aides at the home, have been charged as adults.

Four other teens who worked with them at the Good Samaritan Society were charged as juveniles for failing to report the incidents.
A total of eight teens were allegedly involved in the incidents, but there was no record of criminal charges being filed against two of them.

Broitzman and Larson are charged with assault, abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, abuse of a vulnerable adult with sexual contact, disorderly conduct and failing to report suspected maltreatment. All are gross misdemeanors.

The Minnesota Department of Health released a report in August showing that 15 residents with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia disorders were abused at the facility between Jan. 1 and May 1.

According to the complaint filed Monday, one of the aides said the group gathered at work or school to “talk and laugh about the incidents.”

Mark Anderson, administrator at the Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, told WCCO-TV that the past few months have been difficult for the staff, the home’s residents and their families.”We are just really thankful that the proceedings are moving forward and hopefully can see some closure to this whole process,” Anderson said.

The report, which was released this week, found that more than 90% of the nation’s nursing homes were cited for federal violations last year. While Georgia state officials say they agree with HHS’ assessment, they argue that the numbers look worse than they really are. A total 88% of Georgia’s nursing homes were cited, according to HHS. But speaking to Atlanta’s public radio station WABE 90.1 FM, a Georgia state health official said that most of those infractions were for minor offenses, like housekeeping and maintenance issues, or food issues.

Idaho health officials share much the same view of the HHS report. All of Idaho’s homes received a citation, according to the report. A CBS affiliate in Boise spoke to one Idaho health official who said that his state reports even the tiniest infractions, unlike other states. He notes that, while an average of 17% of nursing homes nationwide were cited for deficiencies that caused harm or danger to residents, that number was only 3% in Idaho.

Rhode Island fared much better than some other states, the report found. Some 76% of its nursing homes were cited for an infraction. And the average number of citations per home was 2.5, far lower than any other state in the union.

“It was gratifying to see that our state did better than anyone else with respect to the number and percentage of deficiencies,” Virginia Burke, president of the Rhode Island Health Care Association told McKnight’s.

But Burke, like her counterparts in other states, also doesn’t feel the survey process is entirely fair. It’s not a very good stand-alone measure of quality care, and a lot of it is arbitrary, she says.

“You have to look at a number of quality measures before you can make a broad statement about the quality of care in one state versus another,” Burke said.

More than 90 percent of nursing homes were cited for violations of U.S. health and safety standards last year, and for-profit homes were more likely to have problems than other types of nursing homes, federal investigators say in a report issued on Monday.

About 17 percent of nursing homes had deficiencies that caused “actual harm or immediate jeopardy” to patients, said the report, by Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Problems included infected bedsores, medication mix-ups, poor nutrition and abuse and neglect of patients.

Inspectors received 37,150 complaints about conditions in nursing homes last year, and they substantiated 39 percent of them, the report said. About one-fifth of the complaints verified by federal and state authorities involved the abuse or neglect of patients.

About two-thirds of nursing homes are owned by for-profit companies, while 27 percent are owned by nonprofit organizations and 6 percent by government entities, the report said.

Source: International Resource Report

Two years after Kelly “Buck” Whitesides disappeared from Unique Living, an assisted living facility he called home for only a week another resident is missing.Eight days after he was reported missing, Whitesides, 59, a diabetic with a history of strokes and heart problems, was found dead less than 300 yards from the facility.

History appeared to be repeating itself Wednesday when another Unique Living resident vanished.Officials set up shop in the parking lot of Burns High School - less than two miles from the assisted living facility - Wednesday evening and canvassed the 1.7 mile stretch between the two buildings.It was in there, according to Cleveland County Assistant Fire Marshal Perry Davis, that they hoped to find Tang Mouy, 46.

With a N.C. Highway Patrol helicopter flying overhead, Lawndale and Fallston firemen, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office and K-9 division and the fire marshal’s office took part in the search for the native of Cambodia.

According to the missing person’s report, Mouy was last seen around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday after refusing to take her medication. A short time later, the report read, a teacher at Burns High called and asked if they were missing an Asian resident. A staff member was sent to the student parking lot, where Mouy was last seen, but could not find her.

“Mr. (Gregory) Oates (supervisor at Unique Living) stated that Ms. Mouy was capable of living a normal life,” read the report by Deputy J.M. Bradley. “He stated she did have an illness but managed it well.”

The report read that Oates expected Mouy to return on her own. But, 12 hours after she was reported missing, the search continued.

Calls were made Wednesday to the facility but there was no answer.

source:gastsongazzette.com

If you are looking for nursing home abuse and neglect report you should visit : http://www.nursing-homes-ratings.com/. Nursing Home Ratings. com hosts information about nursing homes in your area. They provide data on the each nursing home’s inspections and resident ratings. The only downfall with the site is that it is not up to date in every state. It does provide with with a list of many homes.

Good luck with your search.

Nursing Home Aduse is a serious crime. Most states have laws that include criminal penalties for different types of elder abuse. Often, nursing home abuse is not reported  because the individual homes do not take elderly abuse seriously. Residents are afraid they will be embarrassed, hurt or declared incapacitated if they tell.

Who to Report Abuse to

If you or someone you love has been the victim of nursing home abuse, contact legal counsel to find out what your rights are. If someone is in immediate, life-threatening danger, call 9-1-1 immediately.

If the danger is not immediate, but abuse is suspected, you must tell someone. Contact:

• A doctor

• A family member you trust

• Local adult protective services

• Long-term care ombudsman for the appropriate state

• Local police

How to Report Abuse

It is everyone’s personal responsibility to report any suspected case of elderly abuse to the authorities. When making a call to report nursing home or senior living abuse, you should be ready to give the elder’s name, address, contact information and details about your concerns.

Some questions you may need to answer include:

• Does the elderly person have any known medical problems?

• What kinds of family or other social support system does the elderly person have?

• Have you witnessed any incidents of hitting, yelling or other abusive behavior?
If you are reporting abuse but are not related to the victim, calling a nursing home abuse hotline is your smartest choice. Each state has organizations that monitor these hotlines and can offer help.

If you are making a formal complaint against a nursing home or specific staff member, you should find a sitter to monitor them in your absence or remove them from the nursing home right away.
 

A jury Thursday awarded $1 million in punitive damages to the family of a 104-year-old woman who died after a short stay at Villa Valencia Nursing Home in Laguna Hills.

The judgment against the center’s owner, Virginia-based Sunrise Senior Living, comes two days after the same Orange County Superior Court panel rendered a separate $1 million verdict for negligence in the March 2005 death of Mary Kathleen Adams of Laguna Hills.

Sunrise Senior Living operates 440 senior homes in the U.S. and abroad – says it will appeal the decision.

The trial, which began in March, revolved around the physical decline of Adams, a retired teacher who admitted herself to the home after fracturing her leg.

Adams then developed pressure ulcers and was not given adequate treatment, such as daily skin checks, according to the lawsuit. She left the home after about two months, on Feb. 25, 2005, and died about two weeks later because of the ulcers, the lawsuit says.