Nursing Home Abuse

J

JustMeinOhio

New Member
Jurisdiction
Ohio
I am in a state of shock right now. My wife is in a nursing home with dementia. I am her guardian. There have been problems with her care. The nursing home has been bought out 1 year ago and has been making positive changes. Last Wednesday I visited her just after dinner and the aid said she didn't want to eat for her and gave me the tray to feed her. The aid hadn't even taken the tray out of the cart they are brought in. I sat with my wife and she ate without any problems. Afterward it just didn't make sense. I went back Friday one aid was there who is really good, wife ate no problems I went back just after dinner Sunday, same aid as Wednesday Same situation. I took pictures of the tray when she gave it to me and videoed my wife eating everything as well as ice cream and a banana I brought I also made an audio recording of the entire visit. . Both Wed and Sunday my wife would not have had any dinner if I had not been there. The aid knew something was up because she saw me recording it. I'm guessing my wife has been losing 5 lbs or more a month. My wife has aphasia and cannot talk has FTD dementia and is 58yo This is just the last step in a long line of problems with her care. My wife is in a locked memory unit in a maybe 60 bed nursing home.
The aid not feeding my wife is the daughter of the memory unit manager and I have had some differences with her. I think this problem involves a couple of employees. I'm going through the grief process since my wife's Dx and have had a business failure because she was part of the business. I can't move her to another nursing home with a locked unit because it would be over an hour away. The nursing home contract has a binding arbitration section so I'm not sure I can sue I'm more concerned about her care. I realize how serious this is. The company who bought the nursing home has been improving it and the care and bringing in some good people. They were responsive to another problem I had.
I have a couple of other situations that are potential lawsuits I would pursue not directly involving the nursing home. I'm not the type to sue for millions.

My thought right now is to talk to the DON let her know what is going on and have her higher ups investigate and to take care of the problem. I'm not going to give her all the evidence I have but do want her to weigh my wife and get her records for "my records". I think the unit manager has been fudging my wife's weight records. It would get the situation corrected asap. The company owns many nursing homes and seems to run a tight ship. The few people involved in the problem are part of the local professional culture with low standards.

I'm not stupid but am a dumb farmboy when it comes to some things.

Ideally, I would have a lawyer right now but the atty I used for the guardianship is on the board of a hospital where there was a serious problem with a dr.

Any thoughts on how to proceed?
 
JustMeinOhio said:
Any thoughts on how to proceed?
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Yes, you could file a complaint with the state agency responsible for licensing and overseeing nursing homes.

Ohio Department of Health

Telephone:
1-800-342-0553

The complaint process is revealed:

Complaints - Health Care Facilities and Nursing Homes
The Complaint Unit located within the Bureau of Survey and Certification, is available to receive complaints against nursing homes and other health care facilities for processing and investigation.

The Bureau of Survey and Certification -Complaint Unit, is the centralized contact point and a coordinated information source for allegations of non-compliance with state and/or federal rules and regulations.

Includes:

Nursing homes, skilled nursing and nursing facilities.

Hospitals.

Residential homes, intermediate care facilities for persons with intellectual disabilities, unlicensed homes, county homes.

Home health agencies, hospice agencies, dialysis centers, inpatient rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgical centers, birthing centers, rural health clinics, free-standing radiation therapy centers, mobile diagnostic imaging centers, portable X-rays.

Solid organ transplant services, bone marrow/stem cell transplantation services.

Adult and pediatric cardiac catheterization services, obstetric/newborn units.

Clinical laboratories and plasmapheresis centers.

Any other federally certified or ODH-licensed health care service or treatment provider.

ODH strives to ensure that Ohioans residing in or utilizing regulated health care entities in Ohio are provided a safe environment and high quality of care. The Complaint Unit assists this effort by helping to ensure participating health care providers continually meet Medicare/Medicaid and state requirements by referring all complaints to the appropriate ODH regional offices or to other state agencies for investigation. A complaint investigation is unannounced and the identity of the complainant and resident(s) are never divulged. The Complaint Unit utilizes a computer program that provides an effective provides for the processing complaints received from initial contact through intake and investigation to close-out.

Complaints are investigated by the Bureau of Survey and Certification using the survey process of that specific provider type. The complaint survey is a partial survey of the specific nature of the complaint as it relates to the federal regulations and/or the state rules and regulations. The bureau has two regional offices throughout Ohio that maintain staff for the actual investigation.

To help facilitate processing of your complaint, please provide as much detailed information as known about your complaint. This would include the: name and address of the facility; date and time of your concern; and, identifiable resident, patient, and staff information.

More information on how to file a complaint can be found in this Guide to Filing a Complaint Against a Health Care Facility

Instructions - Nursing Home or Other Health Care Facility Complaint Form


To file a complaint you may obtain a complaint form for completion by clicking this Complaint Form link

- Complaint Tracking
 
There should also be an Ombudsman affiliated/associated with the facility - their contact info *should* be posted in several prominent places.

A lot of people I know with Loved Ones in care due to dementia have installed cameras in their LO's rooms (do check on the legality of that in your state) to track LO's care.

Best wishes to you - I know how difficult it all is.

ETA: This might help Ombudsman
 
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JustMeinOhio said:
I have a couple of other situations that are potential lawsuits I would pursue not directly involving the nursing home. I'm not the type to sue for millions.
Click to expand...

Seems like that is all you're concerned with is suing. You didn't state to whom you addressed this issue with. I would have talked with someone to figure out if this worker had an issue.
 
I met with the DON yesterday. I had written up a timeline of the last 3 visits detailing the problem. I dictate notes into my phone after each visit. I made up a document based on that along with pictures relevant. It was the fastest way to deal with the problem. The complaint form for the dept of health asks what steps you have taken to resolve the situation. I wanted to submit everything in writing to the nursing home so there was no misunderstanding. The DON realized how serious it was I had discussed it with her at length. She thanked me for bringing it to her and immediately met with the director and social worker. She said it was going to be taken care of.
This nursing home used to be a terrible place and they are sorting out the old problems. I think there is a subculture of about 4-5 employees who are problems, and this will help them deal with that.I don't want to be in an adversarial relationship with a nursing home caring for my wife but this lays the groundwork for escalating it, I will also move her out if that happens.

It really helped me to vent on here and think things through. The info from the dept of health really helped. I was looking for the fastest solution. I have so many other things to deal with I didn't want to get bogged down with this but I couldn't let it go either.

Thank you!
 
Disabled Vet said:
Seems like that is all you're concerned with is suing. You didn't state to whom you addressed this issue with. I would have talked with someone to figure out if this worker had an issue.
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You are right, I have never been in this situation. My wife is 58 and has FTD which is an early onset very aggressive form of dementia. It has been a huge adjustment going from her husband to making decisions for her and navigating the care system. I just posted a reply in the thread that details what I did. Thanks!
 
I'm sorry that you're going through this with a loved one. You need to get focused on her care vs if there is a lawsuit. If you address the issue and they fail to provide the care that is needed. then you think of possibly going another route. Right now, you have no damages from her treatment. Just an idiot employee that isn't doing their job. I wish you the best
 
One of the things I've found when it comes to many facilities is being present as much as possible, especially if you change up the times you go vs. a set schedule. I know that can be difficult sometimes, both physically and emotionally. You get to know the staff, they get to know you, and I hate to say it - they know you're watching.

My Dad was in rehab for ~3mos not too long before he passed, and I was in the fortunate position of being able to be there at various times of day, every day (couldn't work as I cared for them - now just Mom - at home).

Another thing that occurs to me.... Since she can eat, she apparently has no significant swallowing issues? Could you leave some Ensure for days she refuses dinner/isn't helped to eat? Not ideal, but better than no dinner... Also - speak with the chef. The kitchen staff knows when trays come back, and that should be reported back to the nursing staff (my Dad often refused his meals because he "didn't like them" - the food was actually quite good, btw)... The chef got involved to make sure he got extra calories and would get aid with meals if I wasn't there.

Best of luck.
 
One of the problems with dementia is that the patient often, honestly, forgets to eat, in the midst of eating, therefore pretty much needs someone to feed them every meal and encourage them or they will end up eating less and less. Eventually chewing and swallowing becomes harder and harder to remember to do.

And once the aides discover that you are going to be there to feed someone pretty regularly, they will tend to feel less conscientious about not hand feeding this person when you happen not to be there to do it. After all, in most places, as in this state, they have the minimum number of aides per patients and they have to practically do the impossible when it comes to feeding and bathing.

When my mother was in a nursing home, she was bedfast and couldn't and wouldn't feed herself or eat much of what they were serving. Another patient, her roommate who had serious dementia but was in pretty good physical shape had at one point worked as an aide in a nursing home. She decided she was a caregiver who had been hired to take special care of my mom. Ended up feeling her breakfasts and lunches, while I usually did supper. We were somewhat concerned about her energetic way of insisting my mom take a few bites of everything, but Mom didn't mind, and in the long run, it actually helped.

Work daily with the staff, ask for their help, keep them on your side, let them be aware you are coming in and out at any and all times, NOT to catch them doing bad things, but to "help them" take the best care of your wife. Most people who work in these agencies are pretty much caregivers by nature, and if they are not, they are still desperate for employment. It is one more hard poorly paid job. The administrators are being paid real well to make sure things are up to snuff, and disciplining a person who hasn't been feeding your wife might not be the step they choose to take as employees are very hard to come by. I am very sorry that you and your wife are going through this very hard thing, good thoughts sent to you.
 
Further thoughts after reading @commentator 's post... perhaps try to find out when the less... mindful... aide is on at mealtimes and try to be sure to be there on those days. Sounds as though there is at least one aide who takes more care. The problem with getting that one aide in "trouble" is she may likely take it out on your wife in other ways. As stated - most of the folks who work in these facilities do have a calling for it, but it's not a job for everyone. And, too..... you don't want your wife to be seen (by extension of you) as a "problem".

Make sure that you also get support for yourself. Even not being in a position of caring for her yourself, it takes a toll. alz.org has support groups, and there are a wealth of Facebook groups. I'm sure there are other resources.
 
Disabled Vet said:
I'm sorry that you're going through this with a loved one. You need to get focused on her care vs if there is a lawsuit. If you address the issue and they fail to provide the care that is needed. then you think of possibly going another route. Right now, you have no damages from her treatment. Just an idiot employee that isn't doing their job. I wish you the best
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I'm re-evaluating the situation. I think this has been ongoing, She has lost 50 lbs in the last 12 months So I'm not sure if that would be considered damages. There have been several other problems as well
 

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