Hospital Efforts To Keep Elderly Strong

A startling statistic has recently come to light: at least one-third and up to two-thirds of hospital patients over the age of 70 leave the hospital weaker than they were when they arrived. This information, previously disregarded as an inevitable effect of the natural aging process, is now leading experts to challenge the way most hospitals conventionally treat their elder patients. Because the hospitals focus mainly on treating whatever ailment or disease that afflicts the elder patient, caregivers at the hospital often overlook important practices that an elder patient needs to prevent frailty.

Examples of practices that inadvertently harm elder patients are bed confinement, un-nutritious food offerings, and uncomfortable surroundings. Instead, medical experts say that hospitals should encourage exercise and work to provide a more comfortable and pleasant experience for its elder patients. In two hospitals that have begun to implement changes, volunteers accompany patients on daily walking sessions of 15 minutes.

The benefits from improving daily life and activity also counteract the detriments of bed rest and immobility. Bed rest can raise chances for infection and contribute to rapid muscle loss. Plastic wrapping of food can be a significant problem for people with arthritis. While some hospitals around the country – notably the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and Highlands Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama – have instituted elder-care units specifically to target these sorts of problems, most hospitals have not. It is essential that medical facilities begin to tailor their patient care to the needs of the elderly.

For more information on elder care and abuse in California, contact the Evans Law Firm for a free and confidential consultation.

$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.

Hundreds of Elder Abuse Cases in 2011
KULR-TV

Sarah Gravlee in Billings, Montana reports that the number of elder abuse cases is on the rise and will skyrocket over the next two decades. As the baby boomer generation enters into retirement, the number of senior citizens will rise, as will the number of senior citizens who fall prey to elder abuse.

These instances of abuse include physical and financial abuse. Examples of physical abuse include the refusal of family members or caregivers to pay for heat or electricity, leaving elder citizens cold and without power for months on end. In financial abuse cases, younger family members steal money from the elder’s Social Security checks.

According to this article, more than 1 million Americans over the age of 65 have been injured, exploited, or mistreated at some point by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.

While legal recourse is available for victims of elder abuse, a significant hurdle is the reluctance of victims to report the abuse. Denise Armstrong of Big Sky Senior Services says that only one in ten cases of elder abuse are reported; 90% are not. To respond to this crisis of secrecy, Big Sky Senior Services has begun educating the general public on issues of elder abuse. They have trained gatekeepers, bank tellers, meter readers, and mail carriers to detect and report instances of possible elder abuse. This new method of prevention provides allies in the community for potential victims of elder abuse, but does not diminish the importance of reporting abuse and seeking help. Instead, elderly victims should work with the community to report abuse in order to reduce the future number of abuses and victims.

Elder Abuse Pair Prepare for Hearing, Jury Trial in Bakersfield
Kern Valley Sun

In Kern County, 30-year-old Joseph McCoy and his 54-year-old mother Darlene Green took part in a Readiness Hearing at which they faced charges of causing harm or death to an elderly person. The person in question was Margaret Gray, Green’s mother and McCoy’s grandmother, who died on April 1, 2011.

On February 11, 2011 paramedics found Gray in her home suffering from bed sores and grade four ulcers, lying in her own bodily fluids with areas of her skin stuck to her bed sheets. Gray was then taken to the Kern Valley Hospital and treated in the emergency room for what the director, Dr. Manual Sacapano, called “the worst case of elder abuse I have ever seen.” Two months later, Gray died from cardio respiratory arrest, sepsis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

McCoy had been Gray’s primary caregiver since 1999. He and his mother are being held at the Lerdo pre-trial facility.

Deceptively passive in nature, neglect is one of the most harmful forms of elder abuse. To be designated a primary caregiver is to take on moral and legal responsibility for the healthcare and wellbeing of the elderly citizen. This and other tragic cases highlight the urgent necessity for legal recourse against caregiver abuse. With legal action, we can prevent further abuses and promote proper methods to ensure safety and comfort of the elderly. The Evans Law Firm in San Francisco, California represents elder victims of neglect and other physical and financial abuse.