Arkansas Injury Lawyer Blog

The nation’s largest for-profit nursing homes deliver significantly lower quality of care because they typically have fewer staff nurses than non-profit and government-owned nursing homes according to the study by UCSF.

The 10 largest for-profit chains operate about 2,000 nursing homes in the United States. Nursing home chains have expanded recently. The researchers compared staffing levels and facility deficiencies at the for-profit chains to those at homes run by five other ownership groups to measure quality of care. The 10 largest chains were selected because they are influential in the nursing home industry and are the most successful in terms of growth and market share. The study found that for-profit homes keep their costs down by reducing staffing. The 10 largest for-profit chains in 2008 were HCR Manor Care, Golden Living, Life Care Centers of America, Kindred Healthcare, Genesis HealthCare Corporation, Sun Health Care Group, Inc., SavaSeniorCare LLC, Extendicare Health Services, Inc., National Health Care Corporation, and Skilled HealthCare, LLC. According to the report, these chains had fewer nurse “staffing hours” than non-profit and government nursing homes when controlling for other factors. Together, these companies had the sickest residents, but their total nursing hours were 30 percent lower than non-profit and government nursing homes.

The report indicates that the 10 largest for-profit chains were cited for 36 percent more deficiencies and 41 percent more serious deficiencies than the best facilities. Deficiencies include failure to prevent pressure sores, resident weight loss, falls, infections, resident mistreatment, poor sanitary conditions, and other problems that could seriously harm residents. The study also found that the four largest for-profit nursing home chains purchased by private equity companies between 2003 and 2008 had more deficiencies after being acquired. The study is the first to make the connection between worse care following acquisition by private equity companies.

If your loved one or family member has suffered from nursing home abuse or neglect in an Arkansas nursing home, please contact an Arkansas nursing home abuse lawyer to discuss your legal rights.

Law enforcement officials shut down a residential care facility in Hot Springs, Arkansas for various fire, building, and safety code violations. Officials from numerous government agencies converged on the home after finding people not getting the care they needed along with open electrical wiring and a lack of smoke detectors.

Data released by the federal government in 2008 found that 95 percent of Arkansas nursing homes were cited for health and safety violations and many of those troubling stats persist. A nursing home patient advocate recently pointed out that there are 234 nursing homes in Arkansas and all the nursing homes except for three percent were cited for violations of the law last year. There were 2,500 reported cases in Arkansas of senior harm, abuse and neglect at nursing homes in 2010 and some of those incidents caused the death of elderly residents.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel recently announced that his office is increasing both civil investigations and criminal cases to curb nursing home neglect. Currently, there are over 180 state and federal laws that govern nursing homes and their treatment of the elderly. It is important that family members of nursing home residents stay diligent in making sure the Arkansas nursing home is properly taking care of the resident's needs.

The Arkansas Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers with the Pfeifer Law Firm handle cases involving nursing home abuse and neglect and are available to answer any questions concerning nursing home care that you may have.

Residents’ Rights Month 2011 reminds us that residents of long-term care facilities (nursing homes) are part of the community. Community is more than just a nursing home. Residents have the right to continue to participate in activities and other groups that meet outside of the nursing home. This year’s Residents’ Rights Month theme Welcome Home: Creating Connections Between Residents and the Community challenges us to think of creative ways to involve residents in the community and to invite the community into the facilities in the month of October and throughout the year. It is time to bring our elders back into the community at large. As an Arkansas lawyer who represents nursing home residents and their families, this month is important to remind us all that these residents need our attention and our diligence to make sure their needs are being met. If their needs are not met, it is important to hold the nursing home owners responsible so that other residents will not be ignored.

A story recently aired on a local Little Rock, Arkansas television station concerning the quality of Arkansas nursing homes. Unfortunately, abuse and neglect of nursing home patients in Arkansas continues to be a serious problem for Arkansas’ elderly population. Out of the 231 nursing homes that receive Medicare in Arkansas, 32 are rated poorest quality in the National Medicare Rating System. Common injuries included: pressure ulcers (bed sores), dehydration, malnutrition, infections, falls, poor hygiene, elopement, medication errors, assault, and death. Arkansas nursing home residents often become victims of nursing home owners and management that care more about profits than for the people that they are paid to provide care for. The Arkansas nursing homes that currently have a one star rating are:

Arkansas Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
Ash Flat Health Care & Rehabilitation Center
Batesville Health Care Center
Beebe Retirement Center, Inc.
Belle Meade, A Rehabilitation & Guest Care Facility
Brookside Health & Rehabilitation Center
Bryant Health Care Center
Byrd Haven Nursing Home
Chapel Ridge Health & Rehab
Clarksville Health & Rehab
Cleveland County Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
Concordia Care Center
Crystal Falls Health & Rehab Center
Evergreen Health & Rehab
Fayetteville Health & Rehabilitation Center
Golden Living Center – North Little Rock
Golden Living Center – Golf Links
Golden Living Center – Heber Springs
Grace Health Care of Benton
Grace Health Care of Maumelle
Heritage Living Center
Heritage Park Nursing Center
Legacy Health & Rehabilitation Center
Little Rock Health Care & Rehab
Malvern Nursing Home
Mine Creek Health Care Center
Morrilton Health Care Center
Murphy Health & Rehabilitation Center of Piggott
Northridge Health Care & Rehabilitation
Osceola Health Care
Ozark Health Nursing Center
Parkview Rehabilitation and Health Care Center
Pine Lane Health Care
Pleasant Valley Living Center
Prescott Manor Nursing Center
Rivercrest Health & Rehabilitation
Robinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
Searcy Health Care Center
Sherwood Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
SkilCare Nursing Center
Springbrook Health & Rehab Center
St. Andrews Place
Stone County Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
Summit Health & Rehab Center
Three Rivers Nursing Center
Trumann Health & Rehabilitation Center
Van Buren Health Care & Rehabilitation Center
Westwood Health & Rehab
Woodbriar Nursing Home
Woodland Hills Health Care & Rehabilitation
Yell County Nursing Home

If your loved one has suffered potential abuse and neglect by a nursing home in Arkansas, please contact the Office of Long Term Care to file a complaint. The Arkansas Office of Long Term Care can be reached at 1-800-582-4887. Additionally, an Arkansas nursing home abuse lawyer should be contacted as soon as possible to discuss how the rights of the elderly patient and their family can be protected.

Little Rock, Arkansas has been ranked in the top ten most accident prone cities. According to an article in a popular health magazine, Little Rock ranked fifth in the number of accidents that occur each year. This finding appears to be based upon statistics from the Bureau of Labor, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association.

As someone who deals with Arkansas accident victims, this finding is quite troubling. Arkansas accident injuries include car accident injury, on the job injury, slip and fall injury, motorcycle accident injury, truck accident injury, dog bite injury, medical injury, and nursing home abuse injury. Arkansas personal injury victims have a right to have their medical bills paid, lost wages paid, pain and suffering fairly compensated and be fully compensated for their damages.

If you or a family member has suffered a personal injury in Arkansas, please contact an experienced Arkansas personal injury lawyer to make sure your injuries are fully and fairly compensated.

The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 states that the resident has a right to be free from physical or chemical restraints for the purpose of discipline or convenience. Since this nursing home law was passed, the percentage of nursing home residents that are restrained has dropped. According to Medicare, an average of 21.1% of residents were restrained daily in 1991. That percentage dropped to 8.5% in 2003 and continued to drop to 5.5% in 2007. Unfortunately, according to a recent USA Today article, Arkansas is one of four states that has a greater than 10% use of restraints in nursing homes according to a 2007 report.

Fortunately, Arkansas nursing home residents’ families can access a nursing home’s quality measures through the Nursing Home Compare government website. I highly recommend that all families that have a loved one in an Arkansas nursing home review this nursing home information before placing their family member in an Arkansas nursing home. Along with use of physical restraints, the quality measures include the percentage of nursing home residents who suffer moderate to severe pain, the percentage of Arkansas nursing home residents that suffer pressure sores, the percentage of nursing home residents with urinary tract infections, and the percentage of Arkansas nursing home residents who lose weight during their residency. The review of this information is one tool that a family can use to decide where to place their family member when nursing home care is needed.

If you suspect a loved one has suffered from nursing home abuse or neglect, please contact an Arkansas nursing home abuse lawyer to discuss your legal options.

A new report entitled Trends in Nursing Home Deficiencies and Complaints was released September 28, 2008 by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. This report is the product of the Government's attempt to address the chronic and systemic problem with nursing home care.

Unfortunately, Arkansas nursing homes did not do well in the report. According to the Inspector General, 97.9 percent of the nursing homes in Arkansas were cited for deficiencies. The most common deficiency categories were quality of care, resident assessment, and quality of life. The government report also found that for-profit nursing homes were more likely to be cited than non-profit or government homes.

Although this report is not surprising, it shows that nursing home patient families must keep a watchful eye on the care given to their loved ones. Some of the most common injuries and signs of neglect concern pressure sores(also known as bed sores), dehydration, malnutrition, infection, falls, hygiene, elopement, medication errors, assault and death.

If any of these occur or if a family suspects nursing home abuse or neglect, they should contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible so that an investigation of the care can take place. Personal injury lawyers who handle nursing home abuse lawsuits hold the nursing home owners and nursing home corporations accountable for their negligence. If you would like to talk with a lawyer who handles nursing home negligence and abuse cases, please contact me as soon as possible.

An Arkansas Jury awarded a 78 million dollar verdict against a nursing home chain that was found to be negligent in taking care of its resident. The elderly woman was found dehydrated and malnourished. She was also found to have multiple bed sores (pressure sores).

Unfortunately, problems like these are all too common in nursing homes. The owners fail to provide adequate staff and resources to properly take care of our most vulnerable loved ones. The family sought justice for these wrongs and held the nursing home owners accountable for their actions so they would provide better care for others.