The Associated Press is reporting that the U.S. government’s largest ever alternative medicine study has stopped enrollment while “officials investigate whether participants were fully informed of the risks and are being adequately protected.”  Over 1,500 heart attack survivors are involved in the $30 million research, which is testing chelation therapy, a controversial treatment typically used in lead poisoning.  Those directing the research—conducted at 100 sites around the U.S. and Canada—voluntarily stopped patient enrollment when the investigation began. People already enrolled are still being treated, said a spokeswoman for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, study co-sponsor with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

While more than two people have died, the Miami doctor leading the study—Dr. Gervasio Lamas of the University of Miami—said the “deaths were not a direct result of the treatments,” according to the AP report.  Lamas also admitted that he is unclear precisely how many deaths have occurred and acknowledged that some doctors involved “have been disciplined by state boards or have criminal records and have been asked to drop out,” the AP says. (more…)

A new University of Chicago study—the first such comprehensive review of elder mistreatment in the United States—has found that approximately 13 percent of elderly Americans are subject to abuse.  Worse, such elders are most commonly abused by a person who either verbally or financially abuses them.  “The population of the country is aging, and people now live with chronic diseases longer.  So it’s important to understand, from a health perspective, how people are being treated as they age,” said lead author Edward Laumann, the George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology at the University of Chicago.  While other studies have been conducted, they were based on small, non-representative samples of the population or on data gathered from the criminal justice system or welfare agencies. As such, those studies were not considered as comprehensive as this new study, which was conducted in response to a National Research Council report calling for scientific study of elder mistreatment.

Laumann and his research team found nine percent of adults reported verbal, 3.5 percent reported financial, and 0.2 percent reported physical mistreatment.  The study also found physical impairment plays a role in mistreatment.  “Older people with any physical vulnerability are about 13 percent more likely than those without one to report verbal mistreatment but are not more likely to report financial mistreatment,” said co-author Linda Waite, the Lucy Flower Professor in Sociology at the University.  The study revealed adults in their late 50s-60s are more likely to report verbal or financial mistreatment than older patients. “Perhaps the respondents are including fairly routine arguments, perhaps about money, with their spouse, sibling or child in their reports or perhaps older adults are more reticent to report negative behavior,” Laumann said.  The findings found wide variations in mistreatment depending on age and ethnicity and were reported in “Elder Mistreatment in the U.S.: Prevalence Estimates from a Nationally-Representative Study,” published in the current issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. (more…)

We have long been reporting on the horrendous conditions in some of this country’s nursing homes as well as some of the abuses suffered by nursing home residents.  In one such case, 54-year-old resident Karen Preston left the Roscoe Manor Adult Home in uptate New York; stumbled into the woods about a mile away; fell repeatedly; wandered in circles; curled up under a tree; and was found by police, two days later, frozen.  Her socks were nearby and she was not wearing shoes.  The medical examiner ruled that she died of hypothermia.  Preston suffered from severe schizophrenia and lived in Roscoe Manor because she needed help with daily activities and self-care.

In many of this country’s worst adult homes, residents are routinely subjected to neglect, filth, and indifference according to a Times Herald-Record investigation found.  A year after the Preston disappearance, another Roscoe Manor resident—Ella Maye—left the home.  Maye, 78, suffered from dementia and heart disease and state police believe she suffered a fatal heart arrhythmia as she was trying to crawl back to Roscoe Manor when she collapsed on a neighbor’s front lawn and died.  Roscoe Manor is supposed to conduct hourly bed checks; however, owner Charles Benson said an employee had failed to do so.  No one noticed Ella Maye was missing. (more…)

In an attempt to save money, nursing homes all over the country are evicting their most vulnerable residents.  According to The Wall Street Journal, formal complaints about nursing-home discharge practices have doubled over the past decade, making it the second biggest category of nursing home abuse complaints after those concerning unanswered calls for help.

Federal law does allow nursing homes to evict residents in some circumstances, but many elderly advocates say that the homes take advantage, and use evictions to get rid of their most expensive patients.  For that reason, residents with dementia, those who have demanding families, and especially those whose bills are paid by Medicaid are most likely to be turned out of nursing homes. According to The Wall Street Journal, patients on Medicaid  bring in only half the revenue of those utilizing private insurance or Medicare. (more…)

A 58-time sexual offender was placed in a Florida nursing home in 2002 at the order of a district court judge.  Ivy Edwards, 83, sexually assaulted a 77-year-old female resident suffering from dementia.  Exactly six years ago tonight, Edwards wheeled himself into the patient’s unlocked room, used his cane to block the door, and assaulted Virginia Thurston.  Staff making rounds found Thurston’s door locked.  They found Edwards in the patient’s bed.

Thurston’s daughter, Sandy Banning, was told nothing occurred; however, a social worker told Banning her mother had been sexually assaulted.  Edwards was arrested for the 59th time.  “She didn’t remember,” Banning said, “I had to take her to be examined and watch her cry.”  Meanwhile, Banning has been waiting six years for Florida lawmakers to protect vulnerable nursing home residents from sexual abuse by known predators. (more…)

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial Law and Administrative Law just approved the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2008, moving the Act one step closer to becoming law. The Act prohibits the signing of an arbitration agreement as a prerequisite to nursing home admission. Critics of such agreements say they only help shield the owners of long-term care facilities from the consequences of allowing nursing home abuse and neglect to occur on their premises.

This means that a pre-dispute arbitration agreement between a long-term care facility and a resident—or those acting on a resident’s behalf—are not valid nor are these pre-dispute agreements specifically enforceable. Republicans on the subcommittee voted against the measure and some members tried to add amendments to make the Act easier on nursing homes, for example, Representative Chris Cannon (Republican-Utah) tried to add language to exclude nursing home physicians and providers and ensure the bill would not be retroactive, to name a couple. These amendments were shouted down in voice votes. (more…)

Elderly people who want to avoid nursing homes often employ in-home aids to help meet their day-to-day needs.  However, in many cases, the in-home aid industry is unregulated, and advocates for the elderly say that this situation has led to a growing number of cases of elder abuse, neglect or fraud in which home caregivers take advantage of the elderly.

A district attorney in San Diego County, Calif. told The Wall Street Journal that  he prosecuted at least 25 home caregivers in the past year, mostly for stealing from elderly clients.  Another, from Lake County, Calif., told the Journal that about 80 percent of his office’s 74 prosecutions of elder abuse in the past year involved home aides. (more…)

A recent Cornell University study reports aggression among nursing home residents—verbal and physical abuse–is more common than once believed.  In an online report with McKnight’s Long Term Care News, the study claims that many observations made at a city-based nursing home found at least 35 different types of abuse, with screaming being the most popular.  Physical violence included pushing, punching, and fighting.

The report also discussed another two-week study wherein researchers found that 2.4 percent of nursing home residents claimed to have been victims of physical aggression; 7.3 percent claimed they were verbally abused.  A third report discussed an investigation in which 12 nurse observers found 30 incidents of aggression between residents in one eight-hour shift.  Victims were most commonly male and often had “wandering cognitive processing problems.” (more…)

A new nursing home rating system should be up and running on the Medicare Website by the end of this year.  The new site will employ a 5-star system to rate nursing homes based on government inspection results, staffing data and quality measures.  It is hoped that the new ratings systems will act as an incentive to encourage nursing homes to improve quality, and to stem the high rate of nursing home abuse and neglect that endangers so many residents.

There are 16,400 nursing homes with over 1.5 million residents nationwide.  Unfortunately, the quality of many nursing homes is questionable -  according to a recent report by the General Accounting Office, approximately one-fifth of all nursing homes were cited for serious deficiencies last year.  The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates at least one in 20 nursing home patients has been the victim of negligence and or abuse, though it concedes that the number is probably higher. According to the National Center’s study, 57% of nurses’ aides in long-term care facilities admitted to having witnessed, and even participating in, acts of negligence and abuse. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nursing home neglect played role in the deaths of nearly 14,000 nursing home patients between 1999 and 2002. Even when the consequences are not fatal, nursing home negligence robs victims of a sense of security and their dignity. (more…)

Nursing home abuse and neglect has reached epidemic levels. Unfortunately, many nursing home patients and their family are signing away one of the most important tools in the fight against abuse and neglect – their right to sue.

The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates at least one in 20 nursing home patients has been the victim of negligence and or abuse, though it concedes that the number is probably higher. According to the National Center’s study, 57% of nurses’ aides in long-term care facilities admitted to having witnessed, and even participating in, acts of negligence and abuse. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nursing home neglect played role in the deaths of nearly 14,000 nursing home patients between 1999 and 2002. Even when the consequences are not fatal, nursing home negligence robs victims of a sense of security and their dignity. (more…)