At one nursing home, residents, employees, and visitors, must choose either to receive a flu shot or wear a face mask. Next year, they say employees who do not receive a flu shot, barring extraordinary circumstances, will be fired. The facility hopes the choice will help fight a powerful flu strain that got off to an unusually early start nationwide.

The former caretaker of a 64-year-old, developmentally disabled, woman is behind bars after being sentenced to jail last week for assaulting the woman a year ago. At a jury trial in November, officials said the caretaker slapped the elderly woman and shoved her undergarments in her face after she accidentally soiled herself. The day after the abuse, others noticed the woman’s cheeks were puffy and her lip was cut.

The Nursing Home Complaint Center (NHCC) announced last week that they will be launching a national initiative to increase public awareness of sepsis and septic shock in 2013.  According to the NHCC, sepsis and septic shock are at epidemic levels among the nations’ nursing home patients and have resulted in many needless and preventable deaths. Sepsis, an infection that occurs when bacteria enters the bloodstream, is commonly the direct result of an untreated bed sore (also known as pressur…

A nurse was sentenced to a year in prison this week for stealing morphine prescribed to a nursing home patient and replacing it with a muscle relaxant. The 31-year-old licensed practical nurse (LPN) pleaded guilty to one count each of misdemeanor patient abuse and felony drug possession. The charges stem from an incident last May, when the LPN stole the morphine from an elderly male resident and substituted the pain killer with a weaker drug, according to officials.

A nursing home is being investigated after an elderly woman was trapped in an elevator at the facility for over 24 hours. According to officials, the elderly patient was trapped in the facility’s elevator from the evening of December 23 until early Christmas morning. The woman had been out with her family on December 23 and was dropped off at the front door that evening.

The family of a nursing home resident who died from an alleged overdose of medication prescribed by her doctors is suing the facility where she died. In a complaint filed this week, a representative of the woman’s estate claims that two separate doctors prescribed an inappropriate dosage and combination of medications that resulted in the woman’s death in January 2011.  The family claims that the facility was negligent for administering those incorrect and excessive doses and for failing to…