Hospital security staff ‘abused’ vulnerable patients

by:  Victoria Macdonald 

       Health and Social Care Editor

 

Hospital security guards have been accused of abusing vulnerable patients after CCTV footage exclusively obtained by Channel 4 News shows an elderly man locked in a room for 11 hours without treatment, food or water. 

 

Stepping Hill Hospital, in Greater Manchester, has admitted unlawful detention and assault and settled out of court after a vulnerable man was “abused” and “falsely imprisoned”.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stepping Hill, told this programme that in the same year there were two other similar incidents and three security guards were dismissed.

They said in a statement: “We took swift action to address those concerns, including informing the police.

“The way the patients were treated was entirely unacceptable. We have sincerely apologised to the patients, and have taken steps to ensure such distressing incidents do not happen again.”

Adult safeguarding expert Margaret Flynn, who led an urgent review into the Winterbourne View abuse scandal in 2011, said it was “shocking” this kind of abuse was happening in acute hospitals and called on the health watchdog to “throw a spotlight on this practice”.

‘Inhuman’

Steven Eddies, who has heart and lung conditions, was taken to the emergency department at Stepping Hill Hospital in 2018.

Mr Eddies was agitated, he complained of chest pains and he was struggling for breath.

CCTV footage of the night, obtained by this programme and Mr Eddies’ lawyers, shows the 67-year-old being pushed into a room by a security guard before the door is then held shut.

He was held against his will in the cubicle without treatment, food or water for 11 hours.

Mr Eddies told Channel 4 News: “Prisoners in jail get better treatment than I got. I was not treated like a human being in any way, shape or form.”

He added: “To this very day I often sit here on my own thinking about the whole issue but then again it’s no good me personally dwelling on it because it’s not going to get anywhere, is it?”

Mr Eddie’s lawyer Mark McGhee said: “Steven was abused. He was falsely imprisoned, he suffered damaging psychiatric harm and he lost his liberty.”

He added: “You’ve got security guards who receive a certain amount of training. Is that sufficient training given the nature of the individuals they are supposed to be protecting?”

No record

Freedom of Information requests, sent by the production company Primate Films, found 4,869 incidents recorded in 23 hospital trusts over the past three years involving “physical interventions” by security staff against patients.

Not all of these patients were vulnerable, according to the FOI responses, and some of the interventions may have been necessary.

However, none of that detail is recorded by the trusts.

Michael, whose name we have changed to protect his identity, worked for a decade as a security guard in hospitals in the south of England. He spent most of his time in A&E.

He began taking notes about the incidents he witnessed after he noticed there was an issue in the way security guards treated patients.

He said: “I’ve seen a child handcuffed to a chair in A&E. I’ve seen patients with blankets wrapped around their legs, tight so that they couldn’t walk away.”

He added: “They were treating, say, a 90-year-old or 80-year-old patient as they would a drunk 25-year-old in a nightclub.”

Government guidelines state that restraint should always be the last resort.

However, Michael told this programme it’s often the go-to course of action, because it’s the easiest.

As a result, he says, patients are coming to unnecessary harm on a daily basis and sometimes they are either too young or mentally unfit to “even realise that they’ve been assaulted”.

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “Any abuse of patients should not be tolerated in the NHS and hospitals who manage their security locally are expected to take action where needed to protect their patients and staff.”

‘It’s shocking’

Ms Flynn led an urgent review into Winterbourne View, a home for people with learning disabilities, after filming by the BBC’s Panorama programme exposed workers abusing the patients.

Watching CCTV footage of Mr Eddies’ treatment in Stepping Hill, she commented on the “incredible abuse of power” and “the needless use of seclusion”.

She added: “The contrast is that at Winterbourne View, patients were harmed by nurses and nursing assistants. Here, patients are being harmed by security staff.

“It’s shocking that it’s happening not merely in our specialist hospitals and private hospitals, but also happening in our acute hospitals where we least expect it.”

She told this programme that the health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) should “throw a spotlight on this practice”, adding: “If it’s happening here, then of course, it’s likely to be happening elsewhere.”

Full Article & Source:

Hospital security staff ‘abused’ vulnerable patients

Hospital Employee Is Fired After Speaking to The New York Times

The Life Care Center in Plainwell, Mich., which, according to a state health inspector, illegally discharged a resident in June. Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York Times

By Jessica Silver-Greenberg

NeuroBehavioral Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Crown Point, Ind., fired an employee last week after she was quoted in a New York Times article about nursing homes and their illegal dumping of unprofitable patients at emergency rooms and psychiatric hospitals.

The employee, Kimberly Jackson, was a discharge planner at the hospital. Her employment was terminated last Thursday because she violated the hospital’s media policy, said Rebecca Holloway, the hospital’s corporate director of human resources.

Ms. Jackson said she had spoken to The Times to help expose how nursing homes in Illinois and Michigan routinely sent elderly and disabled patients to the hospital where she worked in an apparent effort to evict the residents. The article, published on Sept. 19, quoted her as saying that most of those patients were not psychotic and should not have been sent to the hospital.

“The homes seem to be purposely taking symptoms of dementia as evidence of psychosis,” Ms. Jackson said in the article. She cited the example of a resident who a nursing home had claimed was psychotic because the resident yelled at a staff member.

The article described how nursing homes are seizing on common symptoms of dementia to get rid of patients who are poor or need extra care. The article reported that after hospitals discharged the patients, the nursing homes often refused to let them return, an apparent violation of federal law.

Ms. Jackson said she was shocked that she had been fired for speaking to the media.

“I saw something that was wrong, and I called it out,” she said. 

 

Full Article & Source:

Hospital Employee Is Fired After Speaking to The New York Times

Hospital under fire for creating 'wall of shame' featuring patients with disabilities

by Justin Chan, In The Know

A Maine hospital is under fire after an investigation revealed that several employees had created a "wall of shame" that disclosed confidential medical records of patients with disabilities, the Bangor Daily News reports. Though the finding has been a matter of public record for several years, the newspaper recently shed light on it, raising serious privacy concerns.

According to a report by the Maine Human Rights Commission, a group of employees at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston publicized personal details regarding, among other things, patients' genitalia and bodily functions. MyKayla McCann, an employee at the hospital, reportedly first came across the "wall" — which had been labeled a "wall of fame" — in June 2015, when she opened a cabinet door on her first day as a laboratory technician assistant. At the time, the wall featured portions of medical records that "included information detailing patients' sexual activity, genital dysfunction, bowel movements, bodily odors, and other personal maladies," the report notes.

McCann, who has a disability herself and had been treated St. Mary's before, purportedly did not file a complaint at first because she did not want to be targeted. In April 2016, she took a leave of absence to seek treatment for her health condition at other hospitals. According to the report, she purposely did not want to be treated at St. Mary's, to avoid potential ridicule from her coworkers.

Still, McCann felt she was being mistreated upon her return to work, the report said. Three employees allegedly asked her inappropriate personal questions that hinted they knew something about her condition. Several months later, she lodged a complaint with her supervisor and reported the wall. Along with her complaint were pictures. According to the Daily News, one part of the wall had strips of paper with diagnoses on them. Some of them read, "Drooping eyelids," "butt wounds," "unable to insert tampon," and "sour smell of vagina with occasional itching."

When the supervisor returned to update McCann on the results of an investigation into her complaints, the supervisor reportedly confirmed her suspicions that several employees — between six and eight of them — had improperly accessed her medical records.

In December 2016, McCann contacted the hospital's director of resources after her supervisor allegedly failed to take further action in a timely manner.

"That is disability harassment and I want it to stop," she wrote in her email. "I also want illegal looking into my records to stop. What do I need to make this happen?"

By the end of the month, the hospital fired one of the employees and issued a warning to another, while refusing to name those who were responsible for looking into McCann's records. The commission's report further notes that there was a dispute regarding when the wall was actually taken down. While St. Mary's claims it took down the wall within weeks of learning of McCann's complaint, McCann said it was up through January 2017. That month, she resigned "due to the hostile work environment and the numerous HIPAA [otherwise known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] violations that I have repeatedly reported."

Under HIPAA, the names of patients and their medical records cannot be disclosed without permission.

The commission's report eventually determined that McCann did, indeed, suffer an abusive environment, and it also concluded that the hospital had taken an unacceptably long time to take corrective action, the Daily News reports.

Just a day after the newspaper broke the news of McCann's situation this week, the parent companies of St. Mary's issued a public apology to her on Thursday.

"We deeply regret that this situation occurred," Stephen Grubbs, president and CEO of Covenant Health, and Steven Jorgenson, president of St. Mary’s Health System, said in a written statement emailed to the Daily News. "[W]e sincerely apologize for the impact this situation has had on Ms. McCann."

Full Article & Source:
Hospital under fire for creating 'wall of shame' featuring patients with disabilities

Marti Oakley: Minnesota Boomers Express Fear of Doctors

“Attendee’s reported that when they were hospitalized, they were given sedatives (chemical restraint) against their will. Add to this that many talked about the callous treatment they received by hospital staff, including at times (but not often), physical abuse. Virtually all in attendance were concerned that if they were hospitalized, they would never return home.”

At a recent local meeting here in Minnesota with approximately 60 elderly individuals, 60 and over, several things caught my attention that I found alarming. The recent revelations about the lack of oversight, concern, and ongoing abuse, neglect and exploitation of seniors in nursing homes was paramount, many fearing or believing that at some point they would end up in one of these houses of horror.   Reports of a senior in an assisted living facility, who had died two days prior without anyone noticing, must have terrorized these people even more.

Full Article and Source:
Marti Oakley: Minnesota Boomers Express Fear of Doctors

Who is the patient at the center of the Connecticut Valley Hospital abuse allegations?

MIDDLETOWN - Investigations into alleged patient abuse at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital are continuing.

In the meantime a close family friend and the co-conservator to the patient at the center of the abuse shared insight into who the patient is with FOX61.

“He was fun, he had a sense of humor and he had a sense of purpose,” Dr. Karen Kangas, the co-conservator of the patient and a mental healthcare advocate, said.  She told FOX61 she’s know the man at the center of abuse allegations for decades.

“He once said in a letter that he wrote, he said I don’t know that I have any friends and I’ve never had a girlfriend, so much of what he’s missed in life,” Kangas said.

Along with the patient’s brother, Kangas says she’s the only person left to advocate for the 59-year-old man who remains in the care of the Whiting Forensic Division of CVH.  The Whiting Forensic Division is the maximum security unit of the hospital whose patients are most often court ordered to be there.

Kangas told FOX61 the patient was court ordered to Whiting Forensic back in the 1990’s when he was charged with killing his elderly father.  He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Kangas also said the patient served out his court ordered sentence, but remained at the hospital for the last 10 years due to a lack of improvement in his mental health and a concern for his ability to be able to reintegrate back into society.

The abuse that allegedly went on over at least in a one month period involved taunting, antagonizing, physical, and abuse sexual in nature, according to police arrest warrants of the accused staff members.  The police investigation and an inspection by the Department of Health and Human Services states the alleged abuse was all captured on surveillance video used in the patient’s room.  Those cameras were intended for 24 hour a day patient monitoring, according to the reports.

This abuse surfaced in April.  Since then, a total of 10 workers from Whiting Forensic have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of cruelty to a person.  A total of 37 workers have been suspended from the hospital as well.

FOX61 obtained transcripts of the bi-annual, state mandated hearings held for the patient.  In these hearings doctors for Whiting Forensic are required to present a patient status update to the state’s Psychiatric Review Board.

The transcripts included conversations about the patient’s “aggressive behavior” and “self-injury” triggering an order for two-to-one patient care with 24 hour monitoring.

The transcripts also reveal the patient was put in restraints 157 times over one two-year period.

The initial report of abuse triggered a full unit inspection by the Department of Health and Human Services this past spring. In that report,the inspectors claim the hospital had a long list of “failures” including a failure to “ensure the restrain and seclusion rooms were free from dirt, debris, or maintained safety.” Another “failure” cited was that the hospital and its workers did not properly report abuse or harassment.

FOX61 received an anonymous letter on the issue that makes claims workers in the hospital tried to report abuse but were disregarded or retaliated against.

"I've learned it recently.  I met with the staff at Whiting and with some of the patients and that is something that they talk about so that is very concerning,” responded Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services who oversees the hospital.

"We investigate all instances of abuse and then act accordingly,” she added.  She said the department is actively responding to the allegations and working on making a wide-range of improvements.

“This is something that we are taking very seriously, I take this very seriously.  The fact that this happened is just … is just beyond words really, that somebody in our care could be treated so inhumanely,” Delphin-Rittmon said.

She also said she is working on a task force made up of people within the department at all levels to try to assess the changes needed within the hospital.

“Certainly the fact that this abuse happened and it wasn’t reported, that’s something that I’m trying to better understand.  That’s a central question in our HR investigation, that how is it that this could happen and people didn’t come forward,” Delphin-Rittmon said.  She added the department continues their own internal investigations into the matter.

In the meantime, Kangas said she and the patient’s brother are looking into what options they have to move the patient out of Whiting.

The patient is currently in a new unit on the Whiting Forensic floor, but under care of new staff, according to Kangas,

This is a really difficult time, a really difficult time in history to think that this goes on and I don’t think anyone would look back and want this to ever happen again,” Kangas said.

Connecticut Valley Hospital is a state-run facility which was $174 million to operate in fiscal year 2016.

Since the abuse allegations surfaced, the state leaders heading the Connecticut Public Health Committee launched their own investigation into the matter.  They will hold a public hearing Monday at the State’s Legislative Office Building.

Full Article & Source:
Who is the patient at the center of the Connecticut Valley Hospital abuse allegations?

Tonight on T. S. Radio with Marti Oakley: Yolanda Bell: Medical kidnap..Anastasia’s condition worsens

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm..... CST … 8:00 pm EST

Sep 26, 2017 —It has been 219 days since my sister Anastasia Adams was abducted by Inova Fairfax Hospital and their designated guardians; 219 of her looking to me to help and save her from the injuries that have been inflicted upon her whether through alleged direct intent, inattention, or neglect; 219 days of wanting to be home sleeping in her own bed and my wanting her home where she will be safe and protected. I miss her smile, her mischievous side, and her laugh…yes she does laugh or at least she did prior before all of this and I pray she will again.

I had a rather interesting meeting today. There were a few red flags but only time will tell if it will bear fruit or if the items discussed will just be pencil whipped and tossed under the rug.

I saw Anastasia today, Thanks be to God. She is pale, more pale than she was last week. It appears she will be receiving another blood transfusion. If you recall she had to receive 2 pints of blood when she was hospitalized on September 6, 2017. Here it is barely 3 weeks later and she needs another one yet to my knowledge still no testing has been done to determine the source of the bleeding. Instead as I posted before the guardians would like to place her in hospice and increase her pain medication which we all know is code for…

The medical kidnapping is now turning to Hospice….palliative care….meaning “futility of care”.

LISTEN LIVE or listen to the archive later

Cop Becomes Legal Guardian of 83-Year-Old With Dementia

A Kentucky cop said it was all part of the job when he took legal guardianship of an elderly man with dementia in his neighborhood.

"It doesn’t take any effort to care," said Sgt. Jon Sterling of the Erlanger Police Department. "Once Norm started down the road of not being able to take care of himself, it was the only logical step. You know, how could I not?"

The police officer of more than 20 years said he met Norm about four years ago, when the Korean War vet called cops to report some suspicious activity in his area.

"[Norm] lives alone and he lives in an area of the city that has pretty heavy traffic," Sterling told InsideEdition.com. “He looks after his neighbors.”

In the following years, Sterling said he often ran into Norm around town.

"Whenever I would see him, we would just stop and talk," he said. "He’s a very smart person. He has a very interesting view on history and politics. I just loved talking to him."

Last week, Sterling said he noticed social workers at Norm’s home, and dropped by to make sure he was OK. Norm had recently turned 83.

“He had lost a bunch of weight. It had been so long since I had seen him,” Sterling said. “His hair was as long as his beard. He really looked like he wasn’t taking care of himself. He literally had gotten smaller.”

The social workers determined he had a case of early on-set dementia, and Sterling added that Norm’s eccentric personality may have compounded the diagnosis.

"He’s got a way about him that I really liked because I’m a little eccentric myself," Sterling said. "So that’s kind of one of the ways we bonded."

Realizing that Norm had no close family members, he decided to assume guardianship of the senior. His wife, a nurse, and son were immediately on board with his decision.

Sterling was able to check his friend into the hospital, where he was given IV fluids, fed, and cleaned up.

"The short time he was in the hospital, he got his balance back; he got his color back," Sterling said. "He got the fullness in his face. It really helped."

With his temporary guardianship, Sterling was able to access his health and bank records, and figure out what further care he needed, including a retirement home.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Cop Becomes Legal Guardian of 83-Year-Old With Dementia

Elderly Hospital Patients Arrive Sick, Often Leave Disabled

Janet Prochazka

SAN FRANCISCO — Janet Prochazka was active and outspoken, living by herself and working as a special education tutor. Then, in March, a bad fall landed her in the hospital.

Doctors cared for her wounds and treated her pneumonia. But Prochazka, 75, didn’t sleep or eat well at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. She became confused and agitated and ultimately contracted a serious stomach infection. After more than three weeks in the hospital and three more in a rehabilitation facility, she emerged far weaker than before, shaky and unable to think clearly.

She had to stop working and wasn’t able to drive for months. And now, she’s considering a move to Maine to be closer to relatives for support.

“It’s a big, big change,” said her stepdaughter, Kitty Gilbert, soon after Prochazka returned home. “I am hopeful that she will regain a lot of what she lost, but I am not sure.”

Many elderly patients like Prochazka deteriorate mentally or physically in the hospital, even if they recover from the original illness or injury that brought them there. About one-third of patients over 70 years old and more than half of patients over 85 leave the hospital more disabled than when they arrived, research shows.

As a result, many seniors are unable to care for themselves after discharge and need assistance with daily activities such as bathing, dressing or even walking.

“The older you are, the worse the hospital is for you,” said Ken Covinsky, a physician and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco division of geriatrics. “A lot of the stuff we do in medicine does more harm than good. And sometimes with the care of older people, less is more.”

Hospital staff often fail to feed older patients properly, get them out of bed enough or control their pain adequately. Providers frequently restrict their movements by tethering them to beds with oxygen tanks and IV poles. Doctors subject them to unnecessary procedures and prescribe redundant or potentially harmful medications. And caregivers deprive them of sleep by placing them in noisy wards or checking vital signs at all hours of the night.

Interrupted sleep, unappetizing food and days in bed may be merely annoying for younger patients, but they can cause lasting damage to older ones. Elderly patients are far different than their younger counterparts — so much so that some hospitals are treating some of them in separate medical units.

San Francisco General is one of them. Its Acute Care for Elders (ACE) ward, which opened in 2007, has special accommodations and a team of providers to address the unique needs of older patients. They focus less on the original diagnosis and more on how to get patients back home, living as independently as possible.

Early on, the staff tests patients’ memories and assesses how well they can walk and care for themselves at home. Then they give patients practice doing things for themselves as much as possible throughout their stay. They remove catheters and IVs, and encourage patients to get out of bed and eat in a communal dining area.

“Bed rest is really, really bad,” said the medical director of the ACE unit, Edgar Pierluissi. “It sets off an explosive chain of events that are very detrimental to people’s health.”
Such units are still rare — there are only about 200 around the country. And even where they exist, not every senior is admitted, in part because space is limited. (Click to continue)

Full Article & Source:
Elderly Hospital Patients Arrive Sick, Often Leave Disabled

Shifting population in California nursing homes creates ‘dangerous mix’

David Thompson was living at the Midnight Mission on Los Angeles’ Skid Row when he secured a bed several years ago at a South Pasadena nursing home. For a man who had been homeless for 35 years, the arrangement seemed like a stable step forward.

Instead, he discovered that South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital was visited regularly by local police, summoned to the facility to break up fights or investigate alleged drug-dealing and thefts by residents. Thompson, injured decades earlier in a car wreck, recalled how the nursing home had lots of younger patients with no apparent disabilities.

One resident was known to pack a gun in his wheelchair, he said, a story that is corroborated in state documents. Another patient, he heard, smoked meth in the bathroom – a situation also detailed in state inspection records. Thompson said he kept to himself when fights broke out.

“They had so much stuff going on in there,” said Thompson, 79, who since has moved out of the South Pasadena facility and into another nursing home. “I guess the police chief got tired of it.”

The turmoil inside South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital became painfully public in November 2014, when one of Thompson’s smoking companions – 57-year-old Courtney Cargill, a mentally ill resident – left the facility unsupervised, doused her body with gasoline and lit herself on fire. After prodding from the local police chief, and a surge of community outrage, the California attorney general’s office opened an investigation into the facility and whether anyone should be held criminally accountable for her death.

The gruesome case also has shined a light on the divergent population groups that inhabit California’s 1,250 nursing homes – and the risks associated with serving such a wide mix of patients.

Where once skilled nursing facilities were universally thought of as “rest homes” for the frail and elderly, a growing proportion of California nursing home residents are younger, more able-bodied patients, many diagnosed with mental illness. Some residents, like Cargill, enter facilities with long-standing drug and alcohol problems. Others, like Thompson, have histories of homelessness.
Still others are newly released from prison.

Facilities have been able to tap these clients’ Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits and, in many instances, provide long-term housing at government expense.

“The homes that we have known as havens for the frail elderly, as you can see, are no longer safe havens,” said Tippy Irwin, executive director of San Mateo County’s ombudsman services.

Instead, she said, many facilities now have what she described as a “dangerous mix” – old, young, mentally ill, convicted felons, street people in desperate need of care, and younger clients with chronic illnesses, brain injuries and drug abuse problems.

“I don’t think people have a clue,” Irwin said. “I don’t think people give nursing homes a thought unless they’re actually faced with having to use one.”

Between 1994 and 2014, the population of California nursing home residents under age 65 grew by nearly 40 percent, while the number over 65 shrank by 11 percent, according to a Sacramento Bee review of state data. Today, 1 in 5 nursing home residents in California is under 65.

In California, the number of nursing home residents with serious mental illness also is on the rise. In 2014, the Golden State ranked fourth in the nation for the percentage of nursing home residents diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, behind Illinois, Missouri and Louisiana, according to data collected by the Brown University School of Public Health. The rate of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in California nursing homes increased by about 60 percent from 2000 to 2014, to 1 in 7 residents, the data show.

Quality of care appears to be a casualty in the changing patient mix.  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source:
Shifting population in California nursing homes creates ‘dangerous mix’

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Scott Kiley & State Sponsored Abduction & Kidnap of His Mother

Scott Kiley joins thew show to discuss the state sanctioned kidnapping of his mother, forcing her into a guardianship which Scott describes as "state sanctioned abduction, kidnapping, hostage-taking".

"Professional fiduciary James Moore was called in by the hospital, conducting an "interview" with my mother while she was massively drugged after hip surgery. It was Moore who "diagnosed" my mother with dementia."

Moore keeps my mother heavily drugged and confined to her bed. My mom is in grave danger now of prescription drug toxic poisoning and early premature death. I need to undo that to prevent permanent conservatorship by Moore on March 17th and literally SAVE HER LIFE!

Mercy Hospital in Sacramento seems to have a pattern, practice, custom of medical malpractice, medical misdiagnosis of calling physically infirm sane people who are elderly,"insane", so that in conjunction with state, county officials, money can be made by lawyers, judges and professional fiduciaries, to steal people's lives, monies, bankrupting them, destroying families and making them homeless in so doing."

5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

Adult Medical Kidnapping in New York: 1950s Air Force Veteran Held Hostage in Hospital

With a great urgency, Laredo regular is seeking help for his grandfather, Julius Corley, who is still being held at Montefiore Wakefield, New York, illegally.

Laredo relates that his grandfather is refusing a feeding tube because he can eat on his own and has told visitors that he is hungry and not being fed. The hospital gives no reason as to why Julius needs the ‘tec’ or feeding tube, but Medicaid guidelines show the need of a feeding tube to be reasoning behind taking medical custody of a patient.

Is this a case of putting the “cart before the horse”?

Laredo says,“I was served with court papers on Thursday September 3 around 1pm at my office.

According to the court documents, my grandfather has continuously verbally refused having a feeding tube (PEG) placed in his stomach. Montefiore Wakefield Hospital is stating that it’s medically necessary because he has dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

I have contacted nearly every possible agency including Adult Protective Services, Department of Health, District Attorney’s office and various politicians with no results.

I have contacted various law firms and the majority don’t return my calls and one claimed that they are of “limited resources” and can’t represent everyone.

The first hearing date is on Wednesday September 9 at 10:30am at the Montefiore Wakefield Hospital (not at a court house).”

The District Attorney has referred Laredo to the Health Department who referred him back to the District Attorney’s office stating that the hospital has no right to hold his grandfather and the matter is of a criminal nature.

Laredo has been to over 30 attorneys and is asking for that special one who is willing to help him tomorrow morning at the hospital, or at least point him in the right direction.

How You Can Help
If you can and want to help Laredo and his grandfather Julius, please contact him at laredor90@yahoo.com; so that you can help this veteran, this man, this grandfather who simply wants to be in a safe place where he can live out the remainder of his days without being tortured or experimented upon. Laredo and his mother have full medical and custodial rights.

Laredo says,“Feeding tubes are used when people are basically unable to eat. My grandfather can eat and wants to. He has not had surgery or anything else that would make him unable to swallow. I have videos of him eating without any problems. They won’t say why the feeding tube is needed. But my grandfather knows he does not want to have the tube placed in his stomach. Can someone please help us!”

Full Article  Source:
Adult Medical Kidnapping in New York:  1950's Air Force Veteran Held Hostage in Hospital

Judge ends court-ordered guardianship of Amish girl in chemotherapy fight

A judge formally ended the court-ordered guardianship of an Amish girl who resisted a hospital's attempts to force her to resume chemotherapy, bringing a close to the fight that raised questions about the rights of parents in making medical decisions for their children.

The judge's decision, announced Friday, came more than a year after Sarah Hershberger's guardian gave up her efforts to force the girl into chemotherapy for leukemia. Sarah and her parents went into hiding in the fall of 2013.

Sarah, who is now 12, no longer shows signs of being sick, said Kevin Dunn, a probate judge in Medina County. A visit to her home in August found that Sarah was "active and working daily on the family farm, she appeared healthy and appropriately developed," he wrote.

But Dunn cautioned her parents that she is not fully recovered and warned that they still have a duty to provide her care under Ohio law. "Her parents are not free to act entirely as they may choose," the judge said.

Maurice Thompson, the Hershbergers' attorney, said in a statement that "Sarah's good health bolsters the case against forced health care that we supposedly cannot live without."

The court fight began in the summer of 2013, when Sarah's parents decided to halt treatments because they feared chemotherapy was killing her.

Doctors at Akron Children's Hospital said Sarah's condition was treatable, but they argued she would die within a year if she stopped chemotherapy. The hospital went to court after the family decided to treat Sarah with natural medicines, such as herbs and vitamins.

Maria Schimer, an attorney who's also a registered nurse, was given the power to make medical decisions for Sarah after an appeals court ruled the beliefs and convictions of the girl's parents couldn't outweigh the rights of the state to protect the child .

RELATED | Judge blocks Akron Children's Hospital's bid to force Ohio Amish girl to have chemo
 
But Schimer decided to drop the effort because it became impossible to monitor Sarah's health or make any medical decisions for her after she left home and went into hiding.

The family fled their farm in northeast Ohio's Medina County and sought treatment in Mexico before returning home after a few months.

Like most Amish, the Hershbergers shun many facets of modern life and are deeply religious. They have said they stopped chemotherapy not for religious reasons, but because it was making Sarah too sick.
 
Hospital officials said they were morally and legally obligated to make sure the girl received proper care.

State laws give parents a great deal of freedom when it comes to choosing medical treatment for their children, but not always when the decision could be a matter of life or death.

Full Article & Source:
Judge ends court-ordered guardianship of Amish girl in chemotherapy fight

See Also:

Guardian: Court shouldn't change Ohio Amish ruling

Ohio Amish argue against guardian in chemo case

Ohio Appeals Court Again Sides With Hospital Seeking to Send Amish Girl Back to Chemotherapy

OH Judge Delays Decision on Guardian's Request to End Effort to Forced Chemo for Amish Girl

Amish family fighting forced chemo: Allowing guardian for daughter could affect other parents

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Marian Hollingsworth: Medical Abuse of My Father and Becoming a Patient Advocate

Hosted by Marti Oakley & Debbie Dahmer

 My father, Keith Blair, went into the hospital in July of 2009 for diagnosis of back pain. Without our knowledge or consent, he was given a cocktail of Risperdal, Haldol, Ativan, Tylenol with codeine, and Morphine.

When I asked the doctor about this, he said it was just "hospital delirium," Sent to a nursing home, my father was given more antipsychotic drugs, along with double doses of AmbienCR, the long acting version of the drug. He ended up with the bad side effects of these black box drugs such as heart trouble, severe dehydration and kidney trouble, and sudden diabetes. He also contracted a MRSA eye infection which spread to his lungs, fell 7 times in 12 days and developed a bedsore. (He was only in the nursing home 18 days.) He ended up a second hospital due to heart and kidney problems, where the same nursing home doctor treated him.)

At the second hospital, he was given daily Risperdal, and we were told to prepare for his death. When I went through the records later, I discovered that a cardiologist said he was improving and that he could be released to the nursing home in a few days.

 2. How to get ALL the records.

 3. Your rights in a hospital or nursing home as a patient or family member. Know the codes in your state so you can use them. if needed, if facilities try to violate these rights. 3. Dealing with the health department for complaints. Your rights in a complaint. The complaint in my father's case resulted in a new policy from the health department, AFL 1108. It mandates that nursing homes must verify that patients on antipsychotic drugs being transferred from hospitals have informed consent forms in their records, and if not, that informed consent must be obtained before the drugs can be given. 4. Dealing with the medical board for complaints.

  LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

Letter: Elder guardian law needs updating

The need for guardians of our vulnerable population -- incapacitated seniors and adults with mental impairments -- was well-articulated by state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Diamond ["Our elderly neighbors need guardians," Opinion, July 19]. Lawyers who serve as unpaid guardians at the request of the court are no more qualified to make medical and personal decisions, or handle day-to-day tasks for their wards, than anyone else who may act as a volunteer guardian.

Yet, the issue of unpaid guardians is the tip of the iceberg, and the problem continues to grow. In a soon-to-be-released statewide study, the policy organization Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging will reveal that 26 percent to 29 percent of all court guardianship filings are made by law firms representing -- and paid for by -- nursing homes and hospitals. Their purpose is not to secure the personal safety, quality of life and medical decisions for an incapacitated client; it is to secure an institution's payment for care, typically from Medicaid.

The New York State Legislature has proposed laws that would prohibit the appointment of a guardian solely for the purposes of bill collection.

On Long Island, there are at least three nonprofit organizations trained to manage the affairs of incapacitated persons, providing them with friendly visits, securing services, and advocating for them in the community and institutional settings. The Vera Guardianship Project, EAC Network, and Family and Children's Association Community Guardian Program train and pay social workers as guardians, usually overseen by a paid attorney.

Beth Polner Abrahams, Garden City

Editor's note: The writer is the chair of the state bar association's elder law and special needs section mediation committee.

Full Article & Source:
Letter: Elder guardian law needs updating

Elder Abuse Advocate Shelly Barnett

Part 1 Shelly Barnett talks with investigators about her time she had spent in 3 different skilled nursing facilities. Shelly has paralysis, Shelly is in a wheelchair. She was admitted into the hospital for pressure sores. Upon her release, she was sent to a skilled nursing facility. The story begins.....


Elder Abuse Advocate Shelly Barnett

I-TEAM Update: MO Man Files Federal Lawsuit, Claims 'False Imprisonment' in Guardianship

KFVS12 News The St. Francois County man whose guardianship case I profiled in the fall of 2013 filed a federal lawsuit, claiming he was falsely imprisoned and his civil rights were violated.

Richard Wann's case names numerous defendants, including St. Francois County, Public Administrator Kenneth Rohrer, and the attorneys and judge on his case along with the local hospital and nursing home he lived in for eight and a half months.

Richard Wann

According to court documents, Wann was admitted to the hospital for a colonoscopy but instead of being released to return home, he was "admitted to the geriatric ward based on a false assessment of his mental state."

"Thus began the nightmare of involuntary imprisonment," Wann's attorney Stephen Banton alleged.

Wann is seeking a jury trial and any damages the court deems appropriate.

Banton filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on June 8, 2015.

Source:
I-Team Update: Man Files Federal Lawsuit, Claims False Imprisonment in Guardianship

See Also:
I-Team Investigation: Stuck in the System
I-Team Investigation Stuck in the System, Part Two

Senate Committee Examines Issues Surrounding Hospital Observation Status

The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging recently held a hearing to examine the financial implications of hospital observation status on Medicare beneficiaries, the relationship between Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) behavior and the spike in hospital observation stays, and legislative and administrative efforts to address problems associated with these issues.

Committee members on both sides of the aisle agreed that misaligned incentives within the RAC program and excessive auditing by RACs have been driving the increase in observation stays.  Observation status can have financial implications for Medicare beneficiaries such as higher cost-sharing, and hospitals also risk burdensome audits and loss of reimbursement when they admit patients for short, medically necessary services.

Dr. Jeetu Nanda, System Medical Director for Informatics and Physician Compliance at SSM Health, who testified at the Challenging the Status Quo: Solutions to the Hospital Observation Stay Crisis hearing on behalf of the American Hospital Association (AHA), explained that hospitals are placed in an “untenable position” as they provide the best possible care to patients while striving to comply with complex Medicare payment policies.  Dr. Nanda encouraged policymakers to support key improvements to the RAC program such as those contained in the Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2015 (H.R. 2156), legislation that would make the audit and appeals system more practicable for both providers and patients.

In his testimony before the Committee, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Deputy Administrator and Director Sean Cavanaugh acknowledged the need to fix issues related to the short hospital stay payment policy, including CMS’ “two-midnight” rule, and said the agency expects to continue the discussion in the proposed 2016 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule that will be released this summer.  HANYS continues to work with CMS to address these issues and with AHA and others to build support in Congress for the Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2015.    Contact: Elyse Oveson

Full Article & Source:
Senate Committee Examines Issues Surrounding Hospital Observation Status

See Also:
How to Avoid Two Words That Cost Thousands in Medicare Bills:  Under Observation"

As More Hospices Enroll Patients Who Aren't Dying, Questions About Lethal Doses Arise

Jeff Coffey

Clinard “Bud” Coffey, 77, a retired corrections officer, did the crossword in The Charlotte Observer after breakfast every morning, pursued his hobby of drawing cartoons, talked seven or eight times a day to his son Jeff and, just two weeks before his death, told a pal that he still felt “like a teenager.”

He did, however, have some chronic back pain, and in late March he was enrolled in hospice care “essentially for pain management,” his doctor said. Over a two week period, he received rising doses of morphine and other powerful drugs, grew sleepy and disoriented, and stopped breathing, dying peacefully at home, according to his family and medical records they provided.

His death certificate, which was signed by the hospice doctor, listed the cause as “renal cell carcinoma” or kidney cancer. But that doctor had never examined Coffey, his family said, and medical records from just a few weeks earlier do not mention it.

“My dad wasn’t dying of cancer,” said his son, Jeff Coffey. “Once he was on hospice, their answer for everything was more drugs. Everything we know about his death is consistent with an overdose.”

An attorney for the hospice company, Curo Health, said it could not comment on the case without authorization from Coffey’s family. When Jeff Coffey authorized the company to comment, however, the attorney said that the company would not comment because the Coffey family had hired an attorney in preparation for a lawsuit.

The hospice industry in the United States is booming and for good reason, many experts say. Hospice care can offer terminally ill patients a far better way to live out their dying days, and many vouch for its value.

But the boom has been accompanied by what appears to be a surge in hospices enrolling patients who aren't close to death, and at least in some cases, this practice can expose the patients to the more powerful pain-killers that are routinely used by hospice providers. Hospices see higher revenues by recruiting new patients and profit more when they are not near death.

There are no statistics on how often such abuses may be occurring. But complaints from around the country illustrate the potential dangers of enrolling patients in hospice even though they are not near death, the families involved say.

Full Article and Source:
As More Hospices Enroll Patients Who Aren't Dying, Questions About Lethal Doses Arise

See Also:
Terminal Neglect?  How Some Hospices Treat Dying Patients

Is That Hospice Safe?  Infrequent Inspections Means it May Be Impossible to Know

Rising Rates of Hospice Discharge in U.S. Raises Questions About Quality of Care

Hospital "Observation Stays" Scrutinized by Senate Aging Committee

 A Senate panel Wednesday highlighted instances in which Medicare patients got stuck with thousands of dollars in bills because their hospital stays were less than three days, the standard for Medicare to pay for subsequent care in a skilled nursing facility.

The leaders of the Senate Aging Committee sought to build support for legislation (S 569) that would count all days spent in the hospital toward the requirement. “Most people, after spending the night in a hospital would say that they have been ‘admitted’ to the hospital – that they are an inpatient of that hospital,” said Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the Aging Committee (Reichard, 7/30).

Source:
Hospital "Observation Stays" Scrutinized by Senate Aging Committee

Editorial: Guardian Regs Must Rule Out Conflicts

I have been reading with interest about Franklin County Probate Judge Robert Montgomery’s efforts to improve Ohio’s guardianship laws. As a young attorney working in Cincinnati in the early 1980s for a seniors’ organization, I became the legal representative for someone whose situation continues to haunt me.

His guardian’s conflict of interest was astounding to me, and yet it was perfectly legal. Victor was an elderly gentleman with a sharp mind and a frail body, living alone. He was widowed and had no children; he had emigrated from Italy as a young man. He had no relatives who could come to his aid.

Fortunately, he did have a few surviving friends, and one of them contacted us about his situation. It turned out that, when Victor had been admitted to the hospital, a social worker made the decision that he was unable to continue living on his own. On Monday, Victor found himself being transported by ambulance to a nursing home rather than back to his apartment. What happened next is a nightmare that I hope will never again occur in Ohio.

The nursing home was a dingy, smelly, utterly depressing old house. There were no recreational facilities or activities for the residents.

Victor did not want to remain there, but he found out that he had been placed under a guardianship by the nursing-home owner, without ever being examined by anyone from the Probate Court.

Instead, the doctor employed by the nursing home had signed an affidavit saying that Victor needed to be placed under the guardianship of the nursing-home owner. By the time our organization became involved, the nursing-home owner had control over Victor’s retirement benefits and received Medicaid benefits to keep him in the home.

Challenging the guardianship proved to be difficult, but eventually it was transferred to me and we moved Victor to a much better facility.

I would hope that guardianship reforms also will ban the granting of guardianships where there is a clear conflict of interest. With Ohio’s current patchwork of 88 county laws, I’m sure that the situation I’ve described is not unusual.

A person whose business stands to benefit financially from obtaining a guardianship should be barred from acting in this fiduciary role.

~LINDA A. ROOMANN

Source:
Guardian Regs Must Rule Out Conflicts