A nursing home administrator was held in hand cuffs as patients were escorted from the facility due to poor quality care conditions following a hurricane. The patients were rescued by police and local citizens concerned for their care and safety. An employee commented on the dire state of the nursing home prior to the rescue saying, “We need to get them out of here.

A certified nursing assistant has been charged with abuse of a dementia patient. “[The certified nursing assistant] freely and voluntarily admitted to being frustrated and wadding up or balling up numerous wipes and [pushing them inside the patient] to stop or slow the diarrhea,” said a police affidavit. The patient had a wad of wipes 8 inches long that was extracted from his rectal area. “I can’t tell you how disgusted I am in this case,” the police chief said.

A nursing home that has eight patients deaths following conditions resulting from a hurricane. The patients were left in a facility that was very hot, running on air conditioning window units. The community is responding after learning that numerous violations precede these tragic deaths.”It's very, very sad that it took eight deaths to bring some awareness to this problem, which existed for years,” said an attorney who filed a previous lawsuit against the facility.

Eight nursing homes have been cited for violations receiving fines in addition to the citations. One violation involved a patient having seizures without receiving prescribed medications to prevent them. Another violation involved a patient who was allowed to fall 14 times without the issue of pulling off alarms being addressed in the patient's care plan.Yet another violation involved a patient who was allowed to dine for a meal unattended and was found unconscious.

A new law has been put into effect to protect nursing home patients after a patient sustained a broken eye socket, cheekbone, jaw, and wrist, as well as a badly bruised elbow, a gash on her leg, and welts on her back. Nursing home caregivers attested that she fell and slipped in the shower, but the patient's daughter knew better. Due to her abuse, she contacted lawmakers to increase protection. Prior to the new law, nursing homes were required to report nursing home abuse to the office …

A nursing home ombudsman is a volunteer who advocates on behalf of nursing home patients to ensure they receive proper care. The ombudsman may report concerns that patients share to the state board of health, or other appropriate agencies if action may need to be taken. Volunteers enjoy their interaction with patients and the service it offers to them. “I do this because it opens doors,” one volunteer said.