Law Firm Resources & News

A nursing home abuse bill, the Elder Justice Act, has been under consideration in Congress for the past five years but has received scant attention and has yet to be passed. Although nursing home and elder abuse are serious and growing problems in this country, the nursing home abuse bill has never even been voted…

A newly released study reveals that 13% of healthy adults have abnormalities in their brains without even knowing it, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study analyzed the MRI scans of 2,000 healthy individuals with an average age of 63 with no signs of brain problems. It found that…

In my family, when you make a mistake, tell a lie, hurt someone, you apologize for it.In Massachusetts, the legislature is trying to create a law that allows doctors to do the same thing, without fear the apology will end up before a jury as an admission. We have similar legislation in Virginia – but…

In our experience almost 80% of all cases against nursing homes for inadequate and negligent care arise from the facility not having enough trained and competent staff on duty. Far too many nursing homes have one or two CNAs taking care of 20 or more residents – an impossible task! In Kentucky this problem has…

The Maryland Office of Health Care Quality has asked the U.S. government to cut off federal payments to a Bethesda nursing home, under fire for six months over deficiencies in care. The nursing home, Bethesda Health and Rehabilitation, has been faulted in several inspections. Two elderly women, one a tracheotomy patient, have died and a…

I often listen to a radio show on National Public Radio – called the people’s pharmacy. The show features many members of the medical community, discussing relevant health issues.Yesterday, the show had a feature on pharmacy errors. The hosts reported that more pharmacy errors occur in the beginning of the month because that is when…

We see it everyday – nursing home resident’s poor nutrition causes significant decline, or wound cannot heal because resident does not have calories needed. It appears that some facilities are trying to be creative in their approach to resident nutrition. We receive a publication entitled “Nursing Homes, Long Term Care Management” written for nursing home…

The weather is starting to turn cold (finally) and folks have started thinking about taking a little cruise during the winter months to enjoy the warmth and clear waters of the Caribbean. Those sound like great plans – but you better not get sick on your trip! First, many of these doctors are not board-certified…

The local and national news has been full of stories about wide-spread MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA is a variation of a common bacterium which has evolved the ability to survive treatment with antibiotics, including penicillin and methicillin. The organism is especially troublesome in nursing homes where residents may be found who have open wounds…

Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, a surgeon, had a troubling history even before he was hired at a Marion, Illinois Veterans Administration (VA) hospital. The doctor was hired by the Illinois VA hospital even though he was barred from practicing in Massachusetts the previous year after accusations of “grossly” substandard care. And just what happened as soon…