The state of Wisconsin has barred an assisted living facility from taking new residents following an incident in which an elderly dementia patient was found frozen to death outside with temperatures below 10 degrees.The woman had recently transferred from a different facility. “The family decided to be pro-active and look for a smaller facility, and with winter coming they wanted a more secure environment,” according to the state report. However, the facility did not have a front door …

A paramedic testified that he is haunted by the deaths of 12 patients from the extreme heat following the power failure during Hurricane Irma. Craig Wohlitka and two colleagues from Hollywood Fire-Rescue testified they responded to the facility four times on Sept. 12 and 13 with it getting warmer each time. During the last visit, the head nurse was performing CPR on a dead man.”The lack of care that these people were experiencing and just the conditions they were experiencing,” Wo…

One nursing home patient reports she was so fearful of retaliation from staff that she only texted with family and friends, avoiding phone calls.  Susan West had complained for months about imporper care at her facility before she was immediately discharged against her will. The regional long term care ombudsman says they found that the facility retaliated against West. “There was a lot of care neglect and retaliation by staff for making complaints.” For more, read the story…

Though there has been significant reduction in the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs in nursing home residents, advocacy groups highlight that overmedication remains a major problem.Dr. Jerry Gurwitz, chief of geriatric medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, says that there has been a dramatic drop in the percentage of nursing home patients on these powerful drugs, but wonders if some nursing homes may be using other less regulated medications to sedate patients into passi…

A recent federal investigation commissioned by four senators found “huge gaps” in the regulation of assisted living facilities in the U.S. Investigators report that the care of hundreds of thousands of patients in assisted living facilities has been “potentially jeopardized.” The New York Times which reviewed the report by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, revealed that it found the federal government lacking even the most…

Seven nursing homes in one area have been fined for violations relating to deficiencies in patient care. The facilities were fined more than $125,000 for the citations collectively. One citation involved a patient that wandered from the facility in shorts and a t-shirt, later found outside in 38 degree weather when alarms did not sound upon his exit.Other incidents involved death by strangulation and exploitation on social media.