Long-term care uncertainty is a growing issue

LA Times

As Americans age and the cost of long-term care increases, long-term care has become one of the biggest health insurance uncertainties for people aged 65 and older. Long-term care differs from other types of care because it constitutes care for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses. Long-term care exists to provide services that assist in activities of daily living – assistance that many seniors require as they age and become unable to rely completely on themselves. Yet, Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care at home or in nursing homes.  

The fact that Medicare does not pay for custodial care is a fact that many seniors are realizing – often too late. While Medicare does cover payments for acute illnesses and medical treatments, it will not help pay for a person to assist in feeding, bathing, dressing, or other daily activities. Thus, a senior who enters into a nursing home facility must pay an average cost of $70,000 a year without the help of Medicare. It is not until the senior’s funds have dwindled to a few thousand dollars that Medicaid or Medi-Cal kicks in to pay nursing home bills.

Yet, even qualifying for Medi-Cal coverage for long-term care is an extremely complicated process. The rules and necessities for qualifying are so convoluted that one consumer advocacy group uses a 12-page flowchart to help determine whether or not a person qualifies for Medi-Cal to pay for long-term care.

According to the LA Times, about 1,384,000 people in the United States live in nursing homes. A decade ago, approximately 1,456,000 seniors lived in nursing homes. A large part of this decrease is the increase in cost of care and living at nursing home facilities. As a result, millions of seniors who require help continue to live in their communities and are assisted by friends and family members who act as unpaid volunteer caregivers. While it can be comforting to rely on the assistance of family and friends, the increase in community-based caregivers has also given rise to the opportunity for caregiver fraud and abuse.

The Hardts say they were initially drawn to the investments because they were led to believe that they would receive income on the investments comparable to rental income they had previously been receiving. Yet, the monthly checks they received from the real estate investments were not tied to rental income, but to a combination of their own funds and money that the investment company had borrowed. The Hardts allege that this information was not adequately disclosed to them. Brian Miller, their lawyer, adds that LPL “used tricks” in structuring the deal with the Hardts.

The Hardts allege that in addition to being misled by LPL with regards to the nature and implications of their investments, they also were made to pay exorbitant fees ranging between 22 to 25 percent of the $3.4 they had initially invested.

A FINRA panel found LPL liable and awarded the Hardts $1.37 million.

Miller further adds that under California law, elder abuse claims may be brought in cases involving alleged securities fraud. For more information on financial or physical elder abuse claims throughout California, contact the Evans Law Firm.

$1.3 Million Judgment Against Torrance Assisted Living Facility For Elder Abuse
Financial Content

In September 2011, the Greenpark Villa, Inc. assisted living facility in Torrance, California was ordered to pay over $1.3 million in a judgment of an elder abuse case. The plaintiff was a victim of elder abuse and a client of Garcia, Artigliere & Schadrack.  Among the allegations in the case were those of elder abuse and wrongful death.

Greenpark Villa is an assisted living facility for the elderly, and defined by California law as a voluntary housing arrangement for an individual 60 years or older. The living facility is expected and obligated by law to provide a certain amount of care and supervision to its patient.

Plaintiff Walters, an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s, had fallen twice during her stay at Greenpark Villa, and was not sent to the hospital. After five months of severe pain and at her family’s insistence that she receive medical attention, it was found that she had fractured her hip in the second fall. Plaintiff also alleges that due to underfunding and understaffing, Walters’ Stage I pressure sore evolved into a stage IV pressure sore that became infected.

Elder care abuse and allegations of elder care abuse in assisted living facilities throughout California and the United States have grown alarmingly high. The country’s growing elderly population faces more risks today than ever before as elder abuse continues to be on the rise. Yet, support is available for those who have fallen prey to various forms of elder abuse. For a free and confidential consultation in California, contact the Evans Law Firm.

Charges of Elder Abuse, Negligence After Dementia Patient Dies of Exposure
Bay City News

The family of Kenneth Chin, an elderly dementia patient who died last February, filed a wrongful death suit against his conservator Jewish Family and Children’s Services and the transit agencies responsible for his transportation: MEDSAM Enterprises.  

After not returning home to his assisted living facility in San Francisco’s Richmond District on February 25, 2011, 73-year-old Chin was reported missing. His body was discovered on March 6 in Lincoln Park, and autopsy results indicated that he died from hypothermia.

Chin’s living relatives, represented by Ingrid Evans of the Evans Law Firm, gathered at a press conference on February 8, 2012. His niece Jennifer Chin said she remembered “lying awake at night, it was pouring and freezing… praying that he was indoors somewhere.”

Plaintiff alleges that the MEDSAM shuttle van negligently dropped Chin off at the wrong location, causing him to wander around San Francisco for days before succumbing to the elements in Lincoln Park. In addition, the conservator Jewish Family and Children’s Services did not notify Chin’s family that he was missing until three hours after the event – during which time it had grown dark, cold, and stormy. The family began a search immediately, but was significantly hindered by the delay and its consequences.

Chin says he brings this complaint in order to ensure that such wrongful negligence and tragedy never happen again.

In A Stupor: What California's Antipsychotic Drug Collaborative Reveals About Illegal Nursing Home Drugging -- A special report by California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform

A new report by CANHR, the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, has found 147 violations of state rules regarding the use of antipsychhotics in residents in 24 nursing homes throughout California. CANHR characterizes the misuse of antipsychotic drugs as "rampant" and states that immediate reform is urgently necessary.

The agency claims that the overprescription and misuse of these antipsychotic drugs is one of the leading instances of elder abuse in nursing homes. The majority of the prescribed drugs are "off-label," meaning that they have not been FDA-approved to combat dementia. Several of the prescribed drugs can increase and almost double the risk of death in an elderly patient -- a fact that leads CANHR to say that these practices directly jeopardize the health and lives of elderly patients in nursing homes. After a drawn-out campaign by CANHR to stop the use of these drugs in nursing homes, the California Department of Public Health launched an investigation and recently published their results: 147 violations in 24 facilities across the state.

Although there was a variety of violations, most fell into one of three categories: failure to obtain informed consent from the residents or their responsible parties before prescribing medication; unnecessary and/or excessive use of drugs; and defiecient pharmaceutical consultant services.

According to CANHR, these findings reveal a "terrible problem" with regards to nursing home medical prescriptions. The investigation is a step in the right direction, but the Department of Public Health has more work to do to ensure that nursing homes provide the highest quality of care to their patients.

For more information on nursing home abuse, or if you or a family member has been the victim of nursing home abuse, contact the Evans Law Firm in California for a free and confidential consultation.

Lawsuit alleges that dementia patient Kenneth Chin wandered the streets of San Francisco for ten days and died as a result of negligence by a shuttle bus company and its driver.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/the-evans-law-firm/elder-abuse-chin-case/prweb9160123.htm

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 08, 2012

San Francisco elder abuse attorney Ingrid Evans, The Evans Law Firm, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit (San Francisco County Superior Court, Case #CGC-12-518046) alleging that a shuttle bus company and its driver were negligent in the transport, care and death of an elderly dementia patient who went missing for ten days.

The lawsuit alleges that MEDSAM Enterprises, its driver, San Francisco Paratransit and Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) engaged in elder abuse and negligence in the death of 73-year old dementia patient Kenneth Chin, who went missing for ten days after he was allegedly dropped off in the wrong location and not taken directly to his assisted living facility.

According to the complaint, on February 24, 2011, Chin allegedly boarded a MEDSAM shuttle van, driven by Eugene Pearlman, for his regular shuttle ride from Irene Swindell’s Center for Adult Day Services to his home at Nacario’s Home #5. The complaint states that when Chin did not arrive at the assisted living facility at his scheduled time, his conservator, JFCS, was notified as required. However the lawsuit is alleging that JFCS hampered search efforts by negligently delaying notification to Chin's family.

"The three-hour notification delay by JFCS was critical to Chin's safety especially since his dead body was found approximately one mile from his house," said Evans. "By the time the family was notified that Chin was missing, darkness had already set in and an approaching storm made search conditions extremely difficult," added Evans.

The lawsuit states that despite an alleged awareness that Chin required special attention due to his dementia, the bus driver allegedly failed to ensure Chin's safe delivery to his home in a manner consistent with Chin's special needs. Chin suffered from debilitating mental and emotional conditions that required him to be escorted from his transportation to his residence.

"The bus driver had an obligation and a duty of care to walk Chin to the door and ensure his safe arrival due to Chin's dementia," said Evans. "Instead, no one knows for sure where Chin was dropped off. All we know is that he was left stranded in the freezing cold and wandered around San Francisco for days and died," added Evans.

Chin suffered from dementia and required adult care, supervision and special transportation. The family believes that Chin was left to aimlessly wander for days without food or shelter and, as a result, he suffered a horrible death. Ten days after he disappeared, a man walking his dog found Chin's body lying face down off the side of a path near the VA Hospital.

MEDSAM Enterprises, Inc. is a private shuttle van provider.

About Ingrid M. Evans
San Francisco elder abuse attorney Ingrid Evans, http://www.evanslaw.com, is an aggressive advocate protecting the elderly from consumer fraud along with physical and insurance, banking and financial abuse. In more than ten years protecting senior citizens, Evans has litigated and successfully resolved multiple cases involving senior citizen financial abuse, particularly for the sale of insurance products.

Evans was honored by Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) for recovering approximately $5 million in restitution for 750 senior victims that were sold deferred annuities by AIG and its agents, and also recovered an estimated $100 million dollars in compensation for other senior victims against insurance companies in other legal actions.