Virginia Crouse, 84 years old, was admitted to Stanleytown Health Care Center in January 2009. On admission, she was known by the defendants to be a high fall risk due to a prior stroke, dementia, weakness, poor safety awareness, balance issues, the need for extensive assistance during transfers, prior hip fracture with surgery, impaired memory loss, and disorientation, among other medical conditions and limitations. Within two weeks of her admission to the facility, the patient sustained a left…

An elderly female nursing home resident who required assistance bathing was permitted to fall forward from a shower chair to the floor while being showered at the facility. The aide providing shower care to the resident failed properly to supervise and assist the resident at the time of the fall. As a result of the fall, the patient sustained a right hip fracture which required open reduction and internal fixation surgery.  The patient required narcotic pain medication after the fall.

A Virginia assisted-living facility has partnered with police to become the first facility in the area to automatically enroll residents with memory problems in an electronic tracking program. The Project Lifesaver effort, operated by the police department, will provide 20 residents with monitoring bracelets for a six month period.  Project Lifesaver International works with law enforcement agencies across the country to provide the tracking devices. When a resident with a tracking device g…

A report released last week by the Department of Health and Human Services said that in 2009 Medicare paid about $5.1 billion to nursing homes that failed to meet federal quality of care regulations. These facilities were caring for patients in conditions that were sometimes dangerous or neglectful. According to the official report on the year 2009, one in three patients were admitted to a facility that was in violation of care standards.

A man is facing criminal charges after he became violent with an elderly nursing home patient he was supposed to be caring for. According to officials,  the man mistreated an 83-year-old woman at a nursing home when he threw a cup, napkins, and food at the resident knocking her plate of food onto her lap. After causing the resident to drop her meal, the employee jerked the woman in her wheelchair so hard that her head cocked back as he wheeled her from the room.

State officials have ordered one nursing home to stop admitting patients after the facilty was was cited for several violations. In addition to the order to cease admissions, the state health commissioner fined the faciltiy $5,000 for the health care violations. The penalties came after recent state surveys revealed violations in administration, performance improvement, physician services, nursing services and laboratory services standards.