Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Florida is finally cracking down on elderly abuse and neglect. It began with a Broward County assisted living facility in Lauderhill, which had been recently reported in a Miami Herald article as having ignored a dying resident. After the Miami Herald investigative report in May, the Agency for Health Care Administration has closed two facilities and cut Medicaid funds to over a dozen other facilities. In fact, there have been more sanctions against assisted living facilities since the May Miami Herald report than any other time period in the last five years.

As a Coral Springs nursing home abuse lawyer, Dan Cytryn, the founder of our firm, has been helping the victims and families of victims who have suffered at the hands of negligent nursing homes and assisted living facilities during his 30-year career. Some of the most common cases that our firm handles include bed sores (decubitis ulcers), broken bones suffered as a result of falling, dehydration, and death. Mr. Cytryn fights to obtain justice for his clients.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Abuse: A New Crackdown on Florida Adult Living Facilities " »

Abuse in Broward County assisted-living facilities (ALF, formerly known as adult congregate living facilities) is rampant, according to a recent series of articles published by the Miami Herald. The level of care in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County continues to be atrocious in many of these facilities.

The investigative three-part report, titled "Neglected to Death," looks at the inhuman living conditions and lack of patient care at ALFs, and how lawmakers plan to change the status quo.

In the report, Florida Senator Chris Smith saw first-hand the horrible conditions inside an assisted-living facility in Lauderhill. Afterward, he was compelled to take action. He joined other lawmakers in making some necessary changes to Florida's ALF laws in order to better protect those who can't protect themselves.

The horrible living conditions Smith saw during his inspection included a bathroom with no sink, human excrement on the floor, and rat feces in another room. The report also documents surprise visits at other Broward County ALFs. One such surprise visit found a man whose swollen, decaying leg had gone without medical treatment. Other examples of neglect that were documented by the report include a man who died from burns after being left in a bathtub with scalding water, and a woman who died after she was restrained in a chair for 6 hours. The report also found examples of doctored medication logs, which is commonplace in both ALF and nursing home cases and lawsuits.

Coral Springs accident and injury lawyer Dan Cytryn, who has handled lawsuits against retirement facilities now for almost a quarter of a century, reviewed the report and says, "The only way to stop this is to hit them with lawsuits for large jury verdicts. Until they've been punished monetarily, they [the ALFs] don't feel the pain! It's hard to believe that this type of conduct is allowed to occur year after year."

Continue reading "South Florida Assisted Living Facilities and Abuse" »

Our Coral Springs law firm has handled numerous nursing home neglect and negligence cases since 1998 throughout Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is on June 15th, 2011. The National Center on Elder Abuse, regulated by the U.S. Administration on Aging, is encouraging people to learn about events taking place that day to help prevent elder abuse. They would also like people to show their support for the cause by wearing purple on June 15th.

Unfortunately, elder abuse and neglect happen all too often in nursing home facilities. Many of these cases go unreported and unresolved. In fact, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse, for every abuse or neglect case reported, around five cases are not reported.

Common types of nursing home negligence include untreated bed sores, dehydration, injuries from falling, and physical or mental abuse. Headlines from the past decade show that elder neglect and abuse in nursing homes continue to be a major issue of concern. In 2001, CBS News reported an increase in elder abuse, including examples of punching, choking, and kicking of residents.

A 2003 USA Today report revealed that less than 2 percent of the 16,437 Medicaid and Medicare-certified nursing homes in the U.S. did not have violations in the past four years.

In 2008, the New York Times reported that 94 percent of nursing homes committed violations of federal health and safety standards.

Unfortunately, there are many nursing home employees who just don't care about what they do, and just don't care about whom they are required to take care of. Part of the problem is that CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants) are woefully underpaid, particularly in Florida. And unfortunately, some of the tasks that CNAs have to perform, including cleaning adult elderly patients of their bowel and bladder movements, are not some of the most rewarding things to be involved in. In addition, many nursing home patients have Alzheimer's, and they may not be easy to deal with, so there is always the potential for a vengeful employee to mistreat a nursing home resident.

Our firm offers useful information on our website regarding the common types of elder abuse, tips to select the right nursing home, as well as ways to protect your loved ones from abuse while they are in a nursing home.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence Cases Still Prevalent, Particularly in South Florida" »

A nursing home resident's family's lawyer has filed a lawsuit alleging neglect and abuse on the part of an Illinois nursing home after an 89 year old woman known to have dementia was found frozen to death outside her nursing home according to reports.  Sarah Wentworth was found in the nursing home courtyard wearing only her hospital gown and an ankle alarm that was supposed to alert the nursing home staff if she attempted to leave the building.  According to Wentworth's family, she had lived in the home for two years and was too frail to get out of bed on her own. 

Residents of Florida nursing homes have a "bill of rights" expressly provided in the legislation.  Florida Statute § 400.022 provides, among other rights, that nursing home residents have the right to civil and religious liberties, informed consent and independent decision-making, liberal visitation, the right to present grievances, the right to receive adequate and appropriate health care and services, and the right to be treated courteously, fairly and with the fullest measure of dignity.  These rights and responsibilities are required by law to be published by the nursing home.

Florida law provides that any resident whose rights under the statute are violated shall have a cause of action.  Nursing home residents or there representative must show that the nursing home owed a duty to the resident, that the nursing home breached that duty, that the breach of the duty by the nursing home caused the resident's loss or injury, and that the breach caused some damage to the resident if claiming nursing home negligence.  At times, punitive damages can also be awarded if the jury finds by clear and convincing evidence the defendant was personally guilty of intentional misconduct or gross negligence as defined by the statute.  Although too complex to be covered by this article, interesting legal questions and arguments arise when a nursing home is owned and operated through a complex corporate structure. 

The legislature has obviously found it necessary to specifically legislate these facilities to ensure the safe, adequate, and appropriate care, treatment, and health of nursing home residents.  Despite such legislation, some nursing homes continue to fall below the acceptable standard and neglect and injure their residents. 

Continue reading "Alleged Nursing Home Negligence Results in Resident Freezing to Death" »