By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 18, 2013
The halls of William Mitchell College of Law were filled with the color purple on Friday June 14th, in honor of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Hundreds of individuals gathered together to spread awareness of elderly abuse at an all day convention.
The convention opened up with an award that was presented in honor of Jane Ochrymowycz, a woman who volunteered 30 hours a week to help prevent elder abuse before her passing. Jane’s daughter spoke on her behalf and was very grateful that so many people came together for this cause. She explained to us how we are the unsung heroes for spreading awareness, and she left us with a quote that her mother would always say, “Be gentle to yourself, be good to yourself—you are the one percent, you are the unsung hero.”
The rest of the day was dedicated to informing people about elderly abuse and how we can help prevent it. There was a panel of speakers that presented including several county attorneys and Sgt. Jeff Rothecker, from the St. Paul Police Department. Jeff gave an eye opening presentation of elderly abuse and educated us on whom to contact if the problem ever occurred in someone’s life.
World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day is actually held on Saturday, June 15th. It is important to spread awareness in order to make a change. Click Here to find out more information about elderly abuse and how you can make a difference by spreading awareness.
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe your loved one has been harmed due to a nursing home’s failures, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 13, 2013
As the Star Tribune reports, << http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=211134651&c=y>> a coalition of law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and other advocates of the elderly have launched a public-awareness campaign that hopes to raise awareness and decrease instances of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of Minnesota’s elderly population.
The campaign is called MN S.A.F.E Elders—Stop Abuse and Financial Exploitation of Elders in Minnesota. It has been funded through around $60,000 of donations from a number of senior advocacy groups, healthcare providers, county attorney’s offices, and even financial institutions.
Mistreatment of the elderly includes anything from physical violence to careless neglect to financial exploitation. Such mistreatment’s are often difficult to identify and recognize, especially given that these sorts of instances occur between family members.
It is estimated that each year, 2.1 million elderly Americans are the victims of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, according to the Administration on Aging. The annual financial loss to elderly victims of financial exploitation is estimated at $2.9 billion alone.
As the elderly population is expected to grow—from 13% in 2010 to 20% of the total population in 2050—it is important to spread awareness.
MN S.A.F.E Elders produced a documentary that details stories of elderly. The video is on the campaigns website <www.safemn.org>. It will also be aired on television.
A mobile app has been developed to aid law enforcement officers at the scenes of any suspected instances of abuse, neglect, or exploitation.
On Friday, June 14, there will be free public event with speakers to provide more information and awareness as to how to address elderly abuse. The registration for this event begins at 7:30am at 875 Summit Ave. in St. Paul, MN.
When your loved one has suffered neglect or abuse by those entrusted to care for them because the nursing home or other care facility failed to protect your loved one, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Joel Smith
June 12, 2013
The 8th Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is this Saturday, June 15 2013. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) established WEAAD to raise awareness about elder abuse around the world and foster collaboration among agencies, organizations and communities to prevent elder abuse. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to wear purple and host activities and share information to raise awareness about elder abuse.
There are many activities this year related to elder abuse prevention, including Resident Rights Month (October), with the theme of “Speak Out Against Elder Abuse.” To join the efforts of The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, individuals and groups can educate the public about elder abuse for WEAAD by highlighting Residents’ Rights Month and encouraging residents to submit an entry for the 2013 Resident’s Voice Challenge.
The National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) has many resources regarding abuse, neglect and exploitation in long-term care are available on the NORC – click here to visit the NORC website.
An exciting event will take place this Friday (June 14th from 12:15 pm to 1:30 pm CT) at the United Nations to recognize WEAAD. You can watch the event live from anywhere in the country through streaming video online by clicking here.
For recent media articles raising awareness about elder abuse, check out the following examples:
- Pioneer Press: How to spot – and stop – abuse of the elderly is focus of statewide campaign.
- Monticello Times: Officials: Awareness of, data on senior abuse is needed.
- CBS News Minnesota: MN’s Most Rapidly Growing Crime Might Surprise You.
- Star Tribune: Minnesota campaign raises alarm on toll of elder abuse.
When your loved one has suffered neglect or abuse by those entrusted to care for them because the nursing home or other care facility failed to protect your loved one, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 12, 2013
Mark Kosieradzki, a well known and highly educated attorney, conducted a speech at the Kentucky Justice Association Nursing Home Litigation Seminar last weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. He spoke in front of 85 lawyer professionals from around the nation in educating them in the use of Rule 30(b)(6)— A Corporate Designee Deposition.
A deposition is used as an exchange of information 30(b)(6) by questioning a witness under oath in search for obtaining the truth about the case. Rule 30(b)(6) requires a corporation to gather all of its information and then teach all known information to their witness to then speak on the corporation’s behalf.
Mark’s speech focused on how Corporate Designee depositions can play a large role in a nursing home case. “Finding out the problems in a corporation can lead to finding out what caused a certain situation that led other caregivers to fail in giving care to patients,” Kosieradzki says. Mark has also written multiple articles on the topic of Corporate Discovery that were been published in Trial Magazine.
Mark and the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represent clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe you or your loved one has suffered medication errors because the nursing home failed to do its job, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 12, 2013
Last weekend, Attorney Mark Kosieradzki spoke at the American Association for Justice (AAJ) regional meeting in Lexington, Kentucky. It is an event where lawyers from around the nation met at the Brown Hotel to discuss issues in preparation for trial. A “think tank” is what Mark prefers to call these meetings.
Mark conducted a thorough presentation on the science of ‘False Charting’. He shared his advice on the ability to conduct a forensic analysis of altered medical charts, and how you can prove it has been altered.
Mark is a well known attorney who has been speaking at multiple seminars a year across the nation. His presentations are helpful in educating lawyers throughout the country.
If you are interested in getting more information about the science of false charting, click here to follow our four-part blog.
Mark and the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represent clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe you or your loved one has suffered medication errors because the nursing home failed to do its job, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 5, 2013
Proper management of nursing residents’ medication needs and safety does not happen on its own. It requires a commitment to safety and diligence by the nursing home’s administration and nursing staff. To ensure that a nursing home accurately manage the complexities and challenges of its residents medications:
- The nursing home administration must ensure that each resident’s medication is managed and reviewed by a physician, and that each resident has access to his or her own personal physician;
- The physician is responsible for providing and reviewing the medication orders and the total program of care at the time of a resident’s admission and at each subsequent examination of the resident;
- The nursing home administration must ensure that the physician approves the resident’s admission, reviews the resident’s care plan (especially medical services and medication management), participates in the resident’s assessment and care planning, monitors changes in the resident’s medical status, and is available to consult or treat when called upon by the facility; and
- If a physician is unavailable or does not respond to any call for service, the nursing home must have another physician available to supervise the patient’s medical care.
Whether the particular nursing home has a proper system place is a critical issue when a resident has been harmed as a result of a nursing home’s failure to provide the right medication, in the right amount, at the right time. The following blogs in this series will outline how we investigate cases of mismanaged medication.
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe your or your loved one has suffered medication errors because the nursing home failed to do its job, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Megan Stowers
June 4, 2013
Medical malpractice occurs when a negligent act or omission by a doctor or other medical professional results in damage or harm to a patient. Recently, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that Minnesota law permits recovery for “loss of chance” in a medical malpractice action. Dickhoff ex rel. Dickhoff v. Green, 2013 WL 2363550 (Minn. 2013). The loss of chance doctrine recognizes that a patient values her chances of recovery or survival and suffers a real injury when a physician’s negligence reduces that chance, regardless of whether the patient’s chance of survival was above or below 50 percent at the time of the physician’s negligence.
Negligence on the part of the physician or other medical professional could include an error in diagnosis, mismedication, or failure to provide adequate life-saving measures.
In the Dickhoff case, parents brought a medical malpractice claim against a treating physician and medical center for failing to timely diagnose or refer their daughter to a specialist after the family repeatedly questioned the physician about a lump on the child’s buttocks. Later, the lump was found to be cancerous and the child was diagnosed with an aggressive childhood cancer. In their medical malpractice claim, the parents claimed that the doctor’s negligence increased the risk that the child’s cancer would recur and decreased her chances of survival. The parents alleged that the cancer was “curable” if timely diagnosed; however, based on the delayed diagnosis and treatment, the cancer was most likely fatal.
The Court provided a two-step process with respect to measuring damages in a loss of chance case. The first step is to measure the chance lost. “Loss of chance damages are measured as the percentage probability by which the defendant’s tortuous conduct diminished the likelihood of achieving some more favorable outcome.” The second step is to value the lost chance. The Court adopted the “proportional-recovery rule.” Under the rule, the total amount of damages recoverable is equal to the percentage chance of survival or cure lost, multiplied by the total amount of damages allowed for the death or injury.
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. All too frequently, nursing home’s deprive patients in critical need, for example when a resident requires CPR or emergency medical attention (click here for an example). By failing to respond in these critical moments, nursing home staff decrease the patients’ chance of survival. If you believe your loved one has been harmed due to a nursing home’s failure to take action, you should take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 4, 2013
A Minnesota Department of Health investigation has found that an employee of the North Ridge Care Center was stealing a resident’s prescription painkillers. The employee was also found to have been stealing prescription medication from at least 12 other residents of the New Hope, Minnesota nursing home, although the number of residents impacted may have been as high as 24, according to the MDH report. [Report no. H5183093]
According to the MDH report:
- After the suspected employee left the facility, another nurse spotted a discrepancy in the medication charting for one of the residents;
- When confronted by administrative staff, the suspected employee admitted to taking prescription Oxycodone tablets from the resident for the employee’s own personal use;
- The employee also admitted to taking narcotic medication from several other residents over a four-month period;
- The suspected employee was terminated from employment at the facility; and
- The case was forwarded to the county attorney’s office for possible prosecution.
Click here for more details about the North Ridge Care Center.
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe your or your loved one has suffered medication errors because the nursing home failed to do its job, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
June 4, 2013
Nursing home residents’ safety requires that the facility staff maintain diligent oversight of its resident’s medication regime. The average resident’s medication regime includes seven to eight different medications administered monthly. Federal regulations mandate that nursing home facilities “must ensure that residents are free from any significant medication errors.”
Unfortunately, medication errors are all too common among nursing home facilities. However, the good news is that experienced plaintiff lawyers know the rules that govern medication safety.
This blog will explain the tools and skills used by skilled lawyers to determine if and when mismanaged medication resulted in a violation of a resident’s standard of care. Nursing home residents have rights, and any violation of such rights deserves a diligent and committed investigation to remedy any instance of nursing home malpractice.
Nursing homes are required by federal laws to have in place a system that is free from significant medication errors. Any inquiry into a potential case of mismanaged medication should focus on the facility’s policies, procedures, and training in several areas:
- a resident’s clinical records
- the facility’s procedures for acquiring, receiving, and dispensing medications
- a resident’s physician’s orders regarding medications
- medication care planning
- the administration of medications
- the facility’s assessment and monitoring of a resident’s drug regimen
- how a facility reports medication irregularities to the attending physician
- any medication errors
- pharmacy services
- laboratory services
These specific methods of inquiry will be explained in detail in the following reports of this blog series.
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe your or your loved one has suffered medication errors because the nursing home failed to do its job, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
By Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm
May 31, 2013
This 45-bed nursing home received a “below average” for both its Overall and Health Inspection ratings, according to Medicare’s 2012 annual report. Field Crest Care Center was cited with 6 health deficiencies. These include the facility’s:
- Failure to hire only people with no legal history of abusing, neglecting, or mistreating residents, or report and investigate any acts or reports of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of residents;
- Failure to develop and implement policies for screening and training employees, and the prevention, identification, investigation, and reporting of any abuse, neglect, mistreatment and misappropriation of property;
- Failure to provide necessary care and services to maintain or improve the highest well being of each resident;
- Failure to give residents proper treatment to prevent new bed (pressure) sores or heal existing bed sores; and
- Failure to keep accurate, complete and organized clinical records on each resident that meet professional standards.
Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Health has substantiated one report of neglect on the part of the facility:
- In April of 2013, an employee of the facility lowered a resident into a bath with water that was too hot. The resident sustained second degree burns and blisters on his mid calves and feet, and was admitted to the hospital. [Report no. H5431019]
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients in cases involving catastrophic injury caused by nursing homes and other care facilities that fail to provide proper care. If you believe your loved one has been harmed due to a nursing home’s failures, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
