A state bill is on hold as lawmakers are deadlocked in their decision to allow cameras to be placed in patient rooms in nursing homes. A state senator started the bill to aid in identifying nursing home’s that mistreat or neglect patients. The bill did not pass, but it did not die either.

A 79 year old male patient was admitted to a nursing home. At the time of his admission, he was totally dependent on the nursing home’s staff for all activities of daily living. The patient did not have any pressure ulcers when he was admitted.  Nursing home staff permitted the patient to develop a pressure ulcer on his sacrum and permitted the pressure ulcer to deteriorate.

Months after being admitted to a nursing home, a 91 year old female patient was permitted to develop a pressure ulcer over her right hip. The pressure ulcer was noted to have “green” discharge. Weeks later, the pressure ulcer was open and demonstrated purulent discharge.

A licensed practical nurse working at a nursing home has been arrested for stealing medication from her patients. She was also accused of endangering a minor, her two-year-old daughter. She was found under the influence when police went to check on her daughter.

A group of nursing students training at a nursing home facility were able to experience a real life situation when a fire broke out next door to the home. As smoke began to pour into the facility through the side door, the students had to aid employees in moving the patients quickly. “We had to get everyone out of the whole corridor in a matter of seconds to minutes because the smoke was so close to the building,” said one of the nursing students.

Administrators did not want to comment on an employee who embezzled $132,000 from 21 residents in the home. She was writing checks to herself from their trust funds and using the nursing home’s funds to pay for her boyfriend’s cellphone bill. She was able to access the funds as the office manager of the home for almost three years.