Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

There appears to be a correlation between antidepressant drugs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSSIs) and falling injuries in nursing home patients who have dementia. The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology released the results of a study that should make people take pause when approving certain medication for their loved ones who have dementia.

SSRIs are mostly used to treat clinical depression. There is a lot of debate over whether they are even effective—some studies show them to be no more reliable than placebos. (I think they probably work for some, but probably a minority, of patients.) SSRI antidepressants include:

• Paxil
• Luvox
• Zoloft
• Prozac
• Lexapro

The study showed that nursing home residents with dementia who take SSRIs are three times as likely to suffer falls. What’s more, the fall risk increases as the SSRI dosage increases. The data used is impressive—the study’s authors examined 248 nursing homes for two years, which resulted in 85,074 person-days.

Though the data does not strictly show cause-and-effect, it does raise some interesting concerns. Nursing homes in particular need to pay attention—if there is a cause-and-effect relationship, even if it can’t be proven legally, their best interest is in finding alternatives to SSRI’s for depression. Not all nursing home falls lead to lawsuits but some do. Why not make sure we are creating an environment that is as safe as possible?

Continue reading "Antidepressants Causing Nursing Home Falls?" »

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in Texas after a nursing home resident fell from her bed and suffered severe and eventually fatal neurological injuries.

The facts are awful. A woman was found on the floor, next to her bed, yelling for help. She was neurologically alert and coherent, but bleeding from head trauma, and in severe pain. According to the lawsuit, the woman was placed back in bed, where she was later discovered nonresponsive, taken to the hospital, and died from her injuries.

Plaintiff's lawsuit alleges that contrary to the doctor's orders, the woman's bed was not in a low position, and floor mats and a bed alarm were not being used. Though she was a high fall risk resident, a care plan and nursing interventions (to prevent a fall) weren't followed. The lawsuit further claims that the nursing home's nurses were not adequately trained or apprised of the resident's care plan.

If the article I read is to be believed (reporters do screw these things up, sometimes), the discovery battle is beyond odd. The doctors have refused to produce the decedent's health care medical chart, on the basis that its lawyer had the chart... and they refuse to provide the lawyer's identity and contact information. As a result, the plaintiffs' malpractice lawyers have had to ask for a temporary restraining order against the center, preventing them from destroying or altering the chart. A hearing is scheduled for this week on the restraining order.

I would love to see the doctors' motions in that case. What could they possibly argue?

If you think you have been a victim of nursing home medical malpractice in Maryland, call 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.

Why aren't nursing home residents recovering?

A new study, published in the Annals of Surgery, has determined that elderly nursing home residents may suffer more complications from major operations than other people their age.

Based on more than 70,000 nursing home residents, and 1 million non-institutionalized Medicare enrollees 65 years and older, it is being reported that the elderly "are frail and often have advanced medical problems, which puts them at higher risk of dying after surgery." An example cited states that 12 out of 100 nursing home residents who had their appendix removed died within a month of the procedure, as compared to 2 out of 100 elderly people living on their own.

The study revealed that the death rates were consistently higher among people in nursing homes. Why is this? Researchers have said that we may be too aggressive with surgery in nursing home residents, that they are frail and often have advanced medical problems. This puts them at a higher risk of dying after surgery.

Continue reading "Elderly Nursing Home Residents May Suffer More Surgical Complications" »

Are Maryland nursing home lawsuits a part of the solution or a part of the problem?

Over 36 million Americans are currently over the age of 65. By 2050, that number is expected to raise to 86.7 million. We have an estimated 1.4 million residents living in 16,000 nursing homes in the United States. Incredible statistics.

This problem did not sneak up on us. We all knew that our population was aging. It is a great thing. People are living longer and more productive lives. Today, 80 is the new 60. But there are byproducts of civilization's leap forward. We keep saying we realize there is a problem with nursing home abuse and neglect. But the problem is getting better, not worse.

Continue reading "Why Maryland Nursing Home Suits Improve Care" »

A new study in the American Journal of Infection Control found that 15% of our nursing homes received poor marks for controlling infection.

Things are a little dirty. Okay. So what? The "so what?" answer makes you do a double take: infections kill 400,000 nursing home residents each year.

It is important to make clear that due diligence from the nursing home would not have changed the outcome for the vast majority of these people. Still. That is an incredible stat. The Internet provides so much great information but one of the great downsides is statistics are more meaningless than ever, even good statistics. If an unassailable study came out that said kids who have first names starting with the letter "S" scored 200 points higher on the SATs, people would start naming their kids Sarah and Steve for a few weeks and then everyone would forget about it.

The study concluded that this is a problem that causes real human suffering, finding a strong correlation between low staffing levels at these nursing homes and the receipt of an infection control deficiency citation. Trying to run a nursing home on the cheap, then, is correlated with a higher infection risk.

Of course, this statistic is one that nursing home lawyers representing nursing homes can pull out to defend infection lawsuits. "Sure the woman got an infection. But 400,000 nursing home residents die from infections every year."

There is some truth to this argument. But it is also true that some portion - a portion that is just too high - of this 400,000 died as the result of nursing homes that did not properly focus on the need to keep their living facility clean.

The Baltimore County Department of Aging has put out a nice summary of the Maryland COMAR regulations covering nursing homes. COMAR is the official compilation of all administrative regulations issued by Maryland state agencies.

If you think you have been a victim of nursing home medical malpractice in Maryland, call 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.

Maryland Family Law Code §§14-101-14-309 provides statutory regulations for Adult Protective Service.

One interesting feature of the law is that it provides legal protection for those who in good faith initiate or participate in a nursing home investigation. It other words, you have immunity for reporting an elder abuse situation even if you end up being wrong.

Honestly, I think this just repeats Maryland law. The following concerns deserve attention: abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Although it has nothing to do with potential nursing home lawsuits, another huge concern that needs to be reported is self-abuse, the inability of a vulnerable adult to provide for his/her physical or mental health and well-being.

You can find more information about Adult Protective Services in Maryland from the Maryland Department of Human Resources

This is another "anywhere else than Maryland" wrongful death nursing home verdict. A jury in Kentucky awarded $42.75 million to a 92 year-old man's family who claimed neglect during a nine day stay at a nursing home, saying the home's neglect led to the man's death, according to court documents.

Put this in context. In Maryland, the maximum recovery in this case - excluding any medical bills - would have been $812,500.

A new American Association of Justice report entitled "Standing Up for Seniors" underscores that nursing home lawsuits help improve nursing home care for the 1.5 million Americans who are in nursing homes.

No one is surprised that a significant number of our nursing homes are disaster areas, the antithesis of the environment in which people should spend their final years. Nursing homes have become big business in this country and less care equals more profits. The general public gets this and we are taking steps to try to improve the nursing home problem in this country. There are many laws and regulations aimed at protecting nursing home residents.

But the problem with nursing homes and laws that restrict them is analogous to the arms race between police and drivers with radar and radar detectors. Maryland comes up with a new nursing home law to restrain and monitor nursing homes and the nursing homes come up with some sort of way to technically comply outside of the spirit of the law. (This is not just a shot at nursing homes but at capitalism in general. Capitalism is the best economic system in the history of the world but it is not perfect and it has byproducts.)

Not only does the effectiveness of nursing home legislation wax and wane, but the penalties are usually not significant and the government is often not motivated to do the heavy lifting required to enforce the laws. This is why Maryland nursing home and neglect victims and their families turn to nursing home lawyers. The "penalties" of a lawsuit get the attention of nursing homes more than government oversight. AAJ provides a telling quote from geriatrician and bioethicist Steven Miles of the University of Minnesota: “Government sanctions cost a couple of thousand bucks. A lawsuit can cost $500,000 to a million; it gets much more attention.”

It goes against the grain for many to agree that nursing home lawyers and lawsuits are a part of the solution to the nursing home care crisis we have in this country. We would all prefer to live in a world where nursing homes did the right thing because it was the right thing. Moreover, the threat of nursing home lawsuits is not a panacea and it does not protect nursing home residents from acts of neglect and abuse that don't carry with them the risk of serious injury or death. Nursing home lawyers are not bringing claims for generalized mistreatment and substandard care. But when it comes to making sure nursing homes provide care that avoids serious injuries and fatalities, nursing home lawyers have the ability to cut through the bureaucracy that ties down our regulatory and legislative schemes to protect patients and motivate the workforce to keep nursing homes from mistreating their residents.

If you think you have been a victim of nursing home medical malpractice in Maryland, call 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.

Bedsores in nursing homes almost invariably result from the negligence of the nursing home in their failure to properly care for their residents. Usually, these injuries occur in residents who are partially or completely incapacitated. These patients need care and adjustment to avoid the formation of bedsores.

Obviously, we know the cost of bedsores to the neglected patient: awful pain that can be permanent and even fatal. According to a new study, bedsores are the most costly injury to society, resulting in medical costs of almost $3.9 billion. That's the lifetime income for your 2,000 best friends.