A demented patient of a Central Virginia nursing home sustained a hand injury when staff began transferring her from a gerichair with an exposed metal tab beneath the chair’s arm rest.  When the patient was lifted from the chair with a mechanical lift,…

A nursing home patient died days after his PEG feeding tube became dislodged at the facility and was replaced by a nurse who didn’t first confirm proper placement.  Instead of being placed back into the stomach, the PEG tube was inserted into the patient’s peritoneal cavity. …

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the number of elderly Americans will nearly double to 71 million, or about 20% of the population, by 2030.  The United States currently has about 800,000 doctors, and only 7,000, or about 0.8%, have special training in the care of the elderly. …

In a recent medical study on the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, researchers found that participants who exercised 30 minutes each day had bodies that were 10 years younger than their less active counterparts.  Exercise and other forms of physical activity not only decrease the risk of age-related…

A 55-year-old patient with chronic renal insufficiency was administered Indocin (Indomethacin) in error by a Central Virginia nursing home three times daily for approximately six weeks, prompting acute renal failure that hospitalized her for several weeks.  The nursing home also, during this period, did not monitor…

A new model for long-term care called a “Green House” offers smaller and more homelike settings in which elderly patients receive care.  Green Houses differs from conventional nursing homes by having only 8-12 “elders” (patients), large private rooms with private baths, electronic patient-care records, discreet mechanical lifts built into ceilings for the severely disabled,…