A state agency that is commissioned by the federal government to protect the disabled is investigating allegations of abuse and neglect involving a 37-year-old nursing home resident. The resident’s sister said she contacted the agency after her brother was brought by ambulance Sunday to the hospital dehydrated, malnourished and in respiratory and renal failure. She said she’s furious over her brother’s treatment at nursing home and with his appointed guardian’s failure to identify problems there…

Following several cases of missing medications from elderly residents of one assisted-living center, managers set up hidden cameras to determine if the drugs were being stolen.  In October 2009, the camera allegedly caught a health care aide working the night shift, as she took the prescription painkiller OxyContin from an 89-year-old woman’s medicine box. It is alleged that the aide replaced the drug with ibuprofen. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged the 54-year-old aide with obtain…

A nursing home has been blamed for its staff failing to act in a timely manner to save the life of a resident whose physical condition was declining which lead of cardiac arrest and death, according to a report released Thursday. The state Health Department investigated and determined  the the nursing home was negligent in connection with the death on November 1. Specifically, the investigation found, the home failed to have a processes in place for monitoring and reacting to significant ch…

Investigators spent the day on the scene after a fire broke out inside a nursing home Tuesday morning. Over 50 residents and staff were evacuated after fire broke out in a resident room. “We did find some heavy fire and smoke inside the west wing of the facility,” said the Assistant Fire Chief .

Lawmakers in one state are moving to modify sexual predator laws to track those who abuse vulnerable nursing home residents as well. The bill would add those who commit such acts to the state’s registry of predatory offenders. “Sadly we’re finding that there’s been an increase in abuse of our elderly, and those that may be maybe either have mental health issues, or simply have physical disabilities,” said Sen.

A resident of one nursing home contracted a potentially life-threatening gum infection because the staff allegedly hadn’t removed the residents dentures for six months. Following numerous other citations, the nursing home lost its federal funding last week and will close until the problems can be corrected. In the dentures incident, the nursing home received a Type A citation, the most severe, which is issued when there is immediate threat of death or injury to a nursing home resident.