Elder Law - Blogs
- The Blog is Temporarily Offline.
We will announce the re-opening on the home page of www.dvanarelli.com very soon. Thank you for your patience.
(August 27, 2008) - The blog is temporarily offline.
We will announce the re-opening on the home page of www.dvanarelli.com very soon Thank you for your patience.
(August 26, 2008) - Pitfalls of Improperly Drafted Will
A number of years ago, I received a call from a potential client who had the following tale to tell. The womanâs husband had died leaving a will and some assets, one of which was a 401k. The marriage was a second for her husband, who had 2 sons from his first marriage. While he was single he had changed the beneficiaries of his life insurance and 401k plan to his sons and had redone his will. After his second marriage, the husband and his new wife bought a new home together. They asked their...
(August 26, 2008) - GAO says CMS should audit Part D sponsors due to fraud and abuse
Summary: The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) established a voluntary outpatient prescription drug benefit, known as Medicare Part D. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with private companies to serve as Part...
(August 26, 2008) - Cincinnati May Drop Nursing Home Inspections
Budget cuts and retirements are threatening Cincinnati's unique inspection of nursing homes and residential facilities. Cincinnati is the only city in Ohio that does its own nursing home inspections. The city believes that this policy allows them to react more quickly and aggressively to problems such as physical or financial abuse. Nursing home inspectors evaluate living conditions and a wide variety of health and safety issues including how drugs are dispensed. The Ohio Department of Health...
(August 25, 2008) - Upcoming conference--A Jewish Approach to End-of-Life
Sent to me by Neil Hendershot, PA Elder, Estate, and Fiduciary Law Blog: "On Sunday, September 14, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Yeshiva University, in New York City, will conduct a seminar entitled "The Sanctity of Life: A...
(August 25, 2008) - Family Files Suit Against Nursing Home Company After Patient Dies as a Result of Not Being ...
The family of a woman who died while being cared for in a nursing home has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home for abuse and neglect. The family is suing because they feel that the nursing home neglected their daughter by not treating her properly and that her not receiving the proper care resulted in her untimely death. Shortly before her death, the family confronted hospital staff telling them that the patient looked uncomfortable and the staff told them that everything...
(August 25, 2008) - Former Nursing Home Aide Sentenced to 15 Years for Sexual Abuse
A former nursing home aide was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing an elderly woman. The man was an employee of the nursing home. The 31 year old employee pleaded guilty to forcible sex abuse for molesting the 85-year-old woman in her nursing home. The distraught family members of the victim asked to Judge to sentence the nursing home employee to the maximum sentence, which he did. At this time, no other nursing home residents have filed sexual abuse charges. Sexual abuse...
(August 25, 2008) - Nursing Home License Downgraded
A nursing home where two patients have recently fallen from their wheelchairs, resulting in one wrongful death and personal injuries to the other, has had their license downgraded. One of the patients that fell out of their wheelchair suffered a fractured neck and ruptured blood vessel in his brain and died as a result of the fall. The other patient suffered multiple personal injuries including head injuries and a possible concussion as a result of his fall. These two incidents happened only...
(August 25, 2008) - Wandering a concern at adult homes
Times Record-Herald had an article about a resident who wandered away from an adult home and froze to death. These kinds of incidents are preventable if the home has well-trained and competent number of staff members supervising the residents. A death from wandering is a sure sign that understaffing, inadequate training, and a lack of supervision exists in that nursing home. The article mentions that Karen Preston walked away from the Roscoe Manor Adult Home. She stumbled into the woods about a...
(August 24, 2008) - Call for book reviews: Pace Law Review, Women and the Law
Call for Book Reviews: Women and the Law Proposals Due September 25, 2008 The editors of Pace Law Review invite proposals from scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals for contributions to a special book review issue to be published in Winter...
(August 24, 2008) - A Jewish Approach to End-of-Life
(August 24, 2008) - Nurse arrested for stealing resident's medications
David Krough wrote, for Portland's kgw.com, an article stating that a nurse assistant at a nursing home was arrested for stealing narcotics from residents in other nursing homes. Nursing assistants provide about 85-90 percent of all the care to residents. The article is informative but does not provide key information such as prior arrests, employment history, knowledge of the mangement of the nursing homes regarding the missing narcotics or her conduct. How could she get hired? Was she a user...
(August 24, 2008) - New Law Brings Big Changes to Reverse Mortgages
Two big changes for reverse mortgages will kick in on October 1st thanks to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. First, the new law thankfully offers enhanced protection for the elderly. Since high fees and aggressive marketing of...
(August 24, 2008) - Virginia Nursing Home Sued for Abuse
A $2.5 million lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District court alleging that the nursing home of Life Care Center of New Market, Virginia provided improper care. The administer of a patient's estate filed the suit stating that the nursing home's employees deviated from a standard of care that is appropriate for a nursing home. The plaintiff claims that the employees failed to prevent avoidable skin breakdown creating bedsores. Furthermore, the bedsores weren't treated properly and no physician...
(August 24, 2008) - Lawsuit filed over gangrenous penis
Okay - I think I'd be filing a lawsuit too. Actually, I think I'd have been raising all sorts of hell prior to filing this lawsuit. I don't have much information on this other than the Complaint, which doesn't have a lot of details (probably because its not required), but I cannot imagine how this happened. The injuries cited are "including but not limited to cellulitis in his scrotum and penis and gangrene in his penis which required the removal of his left testicle." This complaint is against...
(August 24, 2008) - Professor Kenny Heglund:: End of life conversations video now online
A new video on intensive care, hospice and the value of candid family conversations is available online. It will be part of a continuing series on elder law topics designed for the general public, and it is based on the...
(August 24, 2008) - California Nursing Home Operator pays $2 Million to Settle Suit
The operator of 18 Southern California skilled nursing homes is paying former residents $2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging substandard care of elderly patients. Approximately 4,000 people are part of the class and attorneys estimate that only about a fifth of those people are still alive. The lawyers stated that the suit was to improve the care the elderly received at these nursing homes. The homes were allegedly plagued by chronic under-staffing and insufficient training...
(August 24, 2008) - Nursing Home Conference to be Held Regarding Long Term Care Facilities
The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care is holding its annual meeting in October. The meeting is to be held close to Chicago, in a neighboring state. The organization prides itself on make advances in the care received by nursing home residents and works to prevent nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect and nursing home failures to supervise for patients. Organizations like NCCNHR are crucial to help obtain changes in nursing home reforms and to improve the quality of care that...
(August 24, 2008) - Class Action Filed Against Nursing Home
A class action lawsuit was filed in King County, Washington against a company that owns 15 nursing homes. The company, Extendicare Homes, Inc., is a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Extendicare Health Services which owns nursing homes in Milwaukee. The suit claims that customers are lured in with false advertising and charged for services that are not provided. The main focus of the suit is nursing home fraud. The nursing home suit has been filed by The Garcia Law Firm of Long Beach, California...
(August 22, 2008)