Nursing Facility Surveillance Growing

Driven by a mistrust of nursing homes, more families are taking advantage of advances in surveillance technology and using video cameras to help protect loved ones they suspect are being abused or mistreated by caregivers.

Even some facility managers and law enforcement officials are now using hidden cameras to catch workers who mistreat elderly or vulnerable residents. No figures are available, but specialists in the long-term care industry say the use of so-called “granny cams” is spreading, though the technology is also raising a host of legal and privacy issues.

Just this spring, an Ohio man placed a hidden camera in a desk fan to catch two nursing home workers abusing and hitting his 78-year-old mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. In New Jersey, workers were caught abusing an 87-year-old woman, prompting a wrongful-death lawsuit in June. In New York, authorities arrested 22 workers last year after hidden cameras revealed maltreatment of residents in two facilities.

Georgia Anetzberger, president-elect of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, said the spread of cameras in nursing homes is part of a broader proliferation of video surveillance in society to catch anything from traffic violations to shoplifting.

“Cameras are used to catch people more than ever before, not just because the technology is there but because it’s more widely accepted,” she said.

For years, however, the long-term care industry has fought legislative efforts across the United States to legalize the use of cameras, citing insurance costs and resident and employee privacy issues. Critics said cameras would make it more difficult to hire staff and that they also could misrepresent an incident.

The push to install video cameras in long-term care facilities started to gain momentum a decade ago. Legislation was introduced in more than 15 states, but only three — Texas, New Mexico and Maryland — adopted laws addressing the use of cameras in nursing homes, according to a 2007 article in the Baylor Law Review.

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Families Using Video Cameras in Nursing Homes to Protect Loved Ones

Woman Pleads Guilty to Elder Exploitation

He made people laugh as a writer for such television series as “All in the Family,” “Welcome Back Kotter,” and “Chico and the Man.” He died alone in his house in Hurley, a victim of elderly exploitation by a woman whom George Bloom’s family said had convinced them that she was taking care of him.

On Aug. 18, Vallie Phillips, 67, pleaded guilty to two, third-degree felony charges of forgery and four, fourth-degree felony counts of forgery in connection with Bloom’s exploitation. As part of a plea agreement, Phillips was ordered to pay restitution of $16,900 by Wednesday to Bloom’s estate, which has been paid. She also was placed on five years probation, with a conditional discharge, meaning that after she completes her probation there will be no criminal record of a conviction.

“He was living in a home infested with mice,” according to a statement that Bloom’s family – his son, George Bloom III, and his daughters, Eva Bloom, Laura Bloom and Alison Bloom – prepared for the court. “He had little food, no running water and no heat and there were mice feces everywhere. The stench in his house was unbearable.

“This is a human tragedy,” George Bloom III said. “The day he died, the only reason she (Phillips) cried, if she cried at all, was because she knew the money train was over. We just don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

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Woman Pleads Guilty in Elder Exploitation Case

State Hindered Medicaid Fraud Investigations

Investigators were stonewalled by the New Mexico Human Services Department(HSD) and Health Department according to the Fraud Division’s 2009 annual report to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HSD administers the state Medicaid program with help from the Health Department. The agencies hindered “many” fraud and elder abuse investigations during 2008 and 2009, according to the report.

“It appears that the (HSD) inappropriately filters the information they provide to the Fraud Division,” the report states. “[T]his sterilization has inhibited our ability to access and prosecute both fraud and abuse claims.”

The June 2009 report followed a January 2009 audit by the Legislative Finance Committee, which called for an evaluation of how exactly HSD combats Medicaid fraud.

“It appears that both the (HSD) and Department of Health…review and, on occasion, redirect the Division’s data or documents requests, instead of allowing a free flow of information as anticipated by Medicaid regulations and the Memorandum of Understanding between (HSD) and the Division,” the report states.

Full Article and Source:
State Hindered Medicaid Fraud Investigations, Attorney General’s Report Claims

NM Judge Suspended for Two Months Without Pay

When Gov. Bill Richardson appointed Joseph Guillory to the Doña Ana County Magistrate Court in 2006, he said Guillory’s “strong law enforcement background will serve him well.”

Guillory, a retired law-enforcement officer, is now serving a 60-day suspension without pay, which will be followed by a 12-month, supervised probationary period during which he will receive training in his “obligations and responsibilities” under the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct.

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Judge Suspended for Two Months Without Pay

Facing 25 Years in Prison

A jury on Friday convicted a former investment broker who recently lived in Aptos and attended Twin Lakes Church of 20 charges in a securities fraud case that involved bilking investors out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Kenneth Doolittle, 49, convinced people he met through church and other community involvement, such as the Rotary Club, to invest in a mobile home refurbishing company that promised a 13 percent return on their money, according to Santa Cruz County assistant district attorney Kelly Walker, who prosecuted Doolittle during the three-week trial.

Most of the victims were elderly, Walker said. She added that prosecutors believe there were as many as 50 victims, but the case detailed only 10.

Doolittle, who now lives in Idaho, bought mobile homes for $5,000 and resold them for $30,000, often to buyers who could not afford the payments. Walker described it as a “flip this house” scheme.

“Sometimes he pays the investors, sometimes he didn’t,” Walker said.

But most of his investors never got their money. One woman lost $132,000, according to Walker.

Full Article and Source:
Former Aptos Man Convicted of/a Investment Scam, Faces 25 Years in Prison

Exploitation of Residents

A man who once worked with the developmentally disabled in Los Lunas pleaded guilty last week to charges that he took money from two clients who were under his care.

Randy Menear pleaded guilty to one count of exploitation of a resident, a fourth-degree felony. Menear admitted taking money from a developmentally disabled Medicaid recipient in 2003 and 2004. As part of his plea agreement, a second count of financial exploitation of a second resident was dismissed, although District Judge John Pope ordered that the defendant must make restitution to both individuals.

Judge Pope ordered Menear to be placed on probation for 18 months and make restitution to both victims in the amount of $1,650. As an additional consequence, the conviction will exclude Menear from future employment in any facility receiving Medicaid or any other federally funded health care program.

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Caretaker pleads guilty of exploitation of residents

>Exploitation of Residents

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A man who once worked with the developmentally disabled in Los Lunas pleaded guilty last week to charges that he took money from two clients who were under his care.

Randy Menear pleaded guilty to one count of exploitation of a resident, a fourth-degree felony. Menear admitted taking money from a developmentally disabled Medicaid recipient in 2003 and 2004. As part of his plea agreement, a second count of financial exploitation of a second resident was dismissed, although District Judge John Pope ordered that the defendant must make restitution to both individuals.

Judge Pope ordered Menear to be placed on probation for 18 months and make restitution to both victims in the amount of $1,650. As an additional consequence, the conviction will exclude Menear from future employment in any facility receiving Medicaid or any other federally funded health care program.

Full Article and Source:
Caretaker pleads guilty of exploitation of residents

Bedpan Death Conviction

The owner of a nursing home has been found guilty of felony abuse and neglect in connection to charges stemming from an incident on Christmas day in 2005. As reported by Andrews Publications, Richard Gerhardt, a 76-year-old resident at the nursing home, who was recovering from a broken hip, was placed on a bed pan and left there for 24 hours. According to reports, the bedpan became embedded in his skin, causing an open wound that became infected and resulted in his death 5 days later.

The nursing home faces a possible $5000 fine and/or exclusion from federally funded health care programs. The case is noted to be rare, and may be the first of its type to lead to a conviction.

Elizabeth Staley, director of the New Mexico attorney general Elder Abuse and Medicaid Fraud Division: “Nursing home and care facilities are paid to provide round the clock care to those who cannot care for themselves… Protecting this population is of paramount importance to the New Mexico attorney general and similar violations will be prosecuted vigorously.”

Source:
Nursing Home Owner Convicted in Bedpan Death

>Bedpan Death Conviction

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The owner of a nursing home has been found guilty of felony abuse and neglect in connection to charges stemming from an incident on Christmas day in 2005. As reported by Andrews Publications, Richard Gerhardt, a 76-year-old resident at the nursing home, who was recovering from a broken hip, was placed on a bed pan and left there for 24 hours. According to reports, the bedpan became embedded in his skin, causing an open wound that became infected and resulted in his death 5 days later.

The nursing home faces a possible $5000 fine and/or exclusion from federally funded health care programs. The case is noted to be rare, and may be the first of its type to lead to a conviction.

Elizabeth Staley, director of the New Mexico attorney general Elder Abuse and Medicaid Fraud Division: “Nursing home and care facilities are paid to provide round the clock care to those who cannot care for themselves… Protecting this population is of paramount importance to the New Mexico attorney general and similar violations will be prosecuted vigorously.”

Source:
Nursing Home Owner Convicted in Bedpan Death

Fatal Tube Removal

Janet Salas lost her say in her son’s treatment when the state turned over custody of him to a case management company.

Adult Protective Services brought a suit to remove Salas as Freddie Nichols’ guardian and award guardianship to Erin Ruscetti, owner of Necessity Case Management and Consultation LLC. At the time, the agency’s attorney alleged that Nichols was dehydrated and in a “vegetative condition” and had been hospitalized about 10 times during the preceding year for decubitus ulcers, or bed sores.

Salas rejects the allegations that she provided poor care for her son. She contends that her son’s bed sores worsened during his stay at a VA hospital. Salas also said she had no opportunity to speak or present evidence at the Aug. 27 hearing. She had a letter from her son’s physician who wrote that Salas provided her son with excellent care.

District Judge Richard Brown awarded guardianship to Ruscetti after an Aug. 27 hearing.

Janet Salas paced the sidewalk outside the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque, demanding that hospital officials restore her son’s feeding tube. Salas stood in front of a McDonald’s restaurant at Gibson and San Mateo SE nearly all day.

Her hand drawn sign said: “Please Help / The VA is killing my son.”

Salas lost the battle when her son, Freddie Nichols, died after Nichols had been without food or water and when hospital officials removed a feeding tube without his family’s consent.

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Family Opposed To Fatal Tube Removal