A nursing home employee has been charged with theft of patients at the nursing home where she worked. She used her position as a social services director to exert authority over patients and their bank accounts. In total she stole nearly $400,000 from the patients over four years’ time. The money came from retirement accounts, German holocaust reparations, Social Security and pension plans.

A nursing home is in danger of losing Medicare payments after failing to maintain requirements for receiving Medicare. The nursing home was surveyed three times last year and fell in violation of the standard of care for its patients. The nursing home has been given a deadline to make improvements, or funding will be lost. The nursing home has not improved or met compliance in the past 6 months.

The health department in one state is looking for increased authority to enforce quality healthcare for patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The issue is that as incidents occur the health department wants to have freedom to take instant action to address concerns. Advocates for better healthcare for the aging are fully supportive. Nursing home owners believe the state health department already has enough authority.

 A lawsuit has been filed against a nursing home for allowing a patient to fall and suffer a fracture leaving the patient less mobility. The patient's immobility required the patient to be turned and repositioned frequently to prevent bed sores. Failure to do so allowed the patient to develop bed sores that worsened over time. The patient was already a patient at risk for bed sores since she had suffered from them in the past.

A nursing home patient died from third degree burns after catching fire while smoking unattended. The patient was wheeled outside to smoke on the patio and caught fire, leading to third degree burns. The patient had been left partially paralyzed from a stroke suffered years earlier. Family members question how long the patient was left unattended.

One state department of health is increasing fines using a more rigorous penalty system than previously.  The fines have increased to equal more in the first four months of this year than the past three years combined. The total fines for the past three years equal $639,500 compared with $796,750 for the past four months.At this year to date, 86 facilities have been sanctioned compared with 72 facilities from the past years.