Dan Frith

The Philadelphia Inquirer is running a series of articles on the abuses which befall residents in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. These same problems exist in our fair state of Virginia.Read the first installment of the article here.

Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, is one of the most devastating conditions of older age. Currently affecting nearly 7 million individuals in the United States and 24 million worldwide, dementia leads to total loss of memory and the inability to function independently—making it one of people’s greatest fears of aging.Delirium is…

Talk about an unnecessary tragedy! A 76 year old Alzheimer’s patient wandered away from an Indiana nursing home and was found last week …frozen to death. The nursing home, Bradner Village Health Care, is located near Marion, Indiana. The primary cause of the resident’s death was hypothermia. Read the fully…

The Bush Administration is proposing cuts to programs that benefit or protect long term care beneficiaries, including almost $25 billion from Medicaid over the next five years and $1 million from the long term care ombudsman program. The Administration’s FY 2008 budget proposal also asks Congress to cut Medicare rate…

Colonoscopy is the preferred and most effective strategy for colorectal cancer screening. However, the benefit of any procedure must be weighed against the potential risks. This is particularly important as it relates to screening exams, which for the most part are done in otherwise healthy individuals.A retrospective study was conducted…

1. Know your rights. If a hospital tells you your loved one must be discharged within 24 hours, you have appeal rights under Medicare that can extend your relative’s stay by two days and give you time to research nursing homes. Ask the hospital for a copy of “An Important…

I have written here before about the dangers of signing an arbitration agreement when you admit your family member to a nursing home. The effect of this legal document is that the home can sue the resident for non-payment of fees, etc. but the resident (or resident’s family if they…

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper, when state officials learned a Hampton Roads physician was convicted of felony child-pornography charges, the Board of Medicine suspended the doctor’s medical license right away. The doctor, Lawrence Brielman Ryan, was in the U.S. Naval Reserve medical corps when he was court-martialed in…