The nursing home operated by the Veterans Administration in Philadelphia, known as the Veterans Community Living Center, has recently had a disturbing situation which led to the arrest of two nurses’ aides.  According to the police, seven different residents of the nursing home were robbed by two different nurses’ aides in a crime spree that lasted throughout most of this year.  Internal video tapes and other security measures caught the culprits and is supporting the ongoing prosecution.

This is particularly troubling because of the loss of dignity suffered by these residents.  Making the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is a difficult decision.  One way that this process can be eased is if the nursing home always works hard to make sure that a resident’s dignity remains intact in all aspects of care – this includes medical, nursing, cleanliness and attractiveness of the living environment, and personal safety.  The failure of the Veterans Administration to properly monitor these nurses’ aides over this length of time, is certainly a bad situation.

As I mentioned, maintaining a nursing home resident’s dignity comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  Allowing them to be violated as victims of crime is about the last thing that any family member imagines will happen when you trust a loved one to people running a nursing home.   Unfortunately, because this industry often attracts people who are willing to work at the lower end of the income scale, the importance of background checks and close supervision for this type of illegal activity becomes all the more important.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the two nursing aides who were involved have been charged with third degree felonies including criminal conspiracy, theft, forgery and other offenses.

Because events like this can happen, it is very important if you place a family member in a nursing home that you visit often and vary the hours of your visitation to observe your loved one at various times and in various situations.  You should carefully interview your family members and you should also take the time to look at their skin to make sure there are no signs of any abuse or other telltale indications that they may have been the victim of inappropriate handling.

The Governor has declared for many months now that the “medical malpractice crisis” in Pennsylvania is over.  We finally have some proof that one of the most vociferous critics of the courts in Pennsylvania finally agrees.  The America Tort Reform Association (“ATRA”) has just released its 2008 “judicial hellholes” report and Pennsylvania is cited as one of the “points of light!” The report explained that in Pennsylvania “medical malpractice filings fell nearly 40% statewide…Philadelphia, in particular witnessed a drop in filings from 1085 to 586″ between 2000-2007.  ATRA also quoted a report from the Pennsylvania Medical Society, one of the largest physician insurers in Pennsylvania noting that insurance premiums have also dropped between the years 2002-2007 “as the liability climate improved.”  The report concluded that all of this happened because of changes taken by the high court to require that cases filed against health care providers must be filed in the county where the medical care was rendered and also the requirement of a certificate of merit before a claim can be filed. This conclusion was based on comments by former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice William Lamb, who was the chairman of the state’s medical malpractice task force.

This is extremely significant because for years doctors have continued to complain about the climate in Pennsylvania and the need for changes in our laws.  This represents a very significant recognition on the part of a mouthpiece for the tort reform movement that things have changed as a result of common sense changes on the part of the court system rather than from passing laws to limit your right to sue.

What is distinctly lacking in ATRA’s report is any recognition whatsoever that the spike in the malpractice insurance premiums was the result of insurance issues related to stock market changes (reducing the value of the insurers’ portfolios) rather than the medical malpractice climate.  Failing to recognize the true cause of the so-called “crisis” wasn’t surprising since ATRA is funded largely by big drug, tobacco, and insurance companies who spend millions of dollars every year to fund this report. Companies like Phillip Morris (cigarette manufacturer) Dow Chemical, Exxon, General Electric, AETNA, Geico, State Farm, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Nationwide contribute between $50,000.00-75,000.00 per company to fund the diatribes against the court system put out by ATRA.  These reports have been flawed in the past including actual retractions by ATRA.

Past reports including the 2007 report from ATRA have been widely criticized by the independent media.  For example, the New York Times reported last year that there was “no apparent methodology” in the development of ATRA’s list and that the report often falls short in terms of whether the arguments in the report make sense.  Nothing has changed this year in the methodology.  Honestly, little has changed in the climate of Pennsylvania either.  Nonetheless, ATRA is seeing fit to change Pennsylvania’s status to a point of light from past listings on the watch list.

What this shows is that the forces that would work hard to limit the civil justice rights for injured victims of negligence and victims of dangerous products are still hard at work to close the door to the courthouse in order to improve corporate America’s bottom line.

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has closed Willowcrest Manor in Upper Moreland Township (a suburb just north of Philadelphia) because of two deaths which have occurred since Thanksgiving.  In addition, the Montgomery County District Attorney is investigating allegations that a 24 year old male patient and a 49 year old female patient, both with mental and physical illnesses died as a result of care received at Willowcrest Manor.

The order from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare said that inspectors found that the problems at the home “constitute an immediate and serious danger to the health and safety of the residents.” As a result, 53 other residents were relocated to other assisted living facilities in the area.

In one of the resident deaths, state inspectors determined that the staff took 3 days in order to administer recently prescribed respiratory therapy medicine to the patient.  In the other resident death, the assisted living facility failed to take a resident to a local hospital in order to treat seriously infected pressure sores (also known as decubitus ulcers) despite having been instructed to do so by a family member who had medical decision making authority.  This latest example of improper staff treatment in an assisted living facility in Pennsylvania.  We had deaths 1 ½ years ago in a northeastern Pennsylvania assisted living facility which had resulted in prosecutions which are ongoing at this time (Salko Saga at Birch Hills Continues to Shock: http://www.shragerlaw.com/blog/?p=472 ).

This type of staff care is consistent with examples of what we see in our practice as nursing home and personal care home lawyers in the Philadelphia area.  Our condolences certainly go out to the families of Kimberly Curtin, the 49 year old resident who died after she was denied treatment for open and infected leg sores.  Our condolences also go out to the family of Joseph Landes who had cerebral palsy, scoiliosis and other problems and was found dead on his bed by his roommate.

Tragically, according to the state investigators, this assisted living facility “failed to insure the life safety of the resident after receiving an authorization to administer a bronchitis medication that had been prescribed on December 2nd but was not given until December 5th.  Unfortunately, that resident died on December 6th.

The owner of this facility also owns other facilities in our area.  He is reported by the Bucks County Courier Times as also owning Southampton Residents, Inc., in Southampton, Bucks County, Adelphia Personal Care Home in Philadelphia, and Disston Manor in Philadelphia.

The American College of Emergency Physicians has just released its “National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine” which is intended to evaluate the emergency care environment in all  of the 50 states.  Pennsylvania has been given an overall grade of “C+” with a noteworthy “A” for quality/patient safety.  Not surprisingly, this organization has given Pennsylvania a “D- ” on medical liability.  Interestingly, the basis for criticism of Pennsylvania’s medical liability environment was that the American College of Emergency Physicians wants to make sure that the phase out of the state “M-Care” Fund is conducted in a way which won’t increase malpractice premiums paid by doctors in Pennsylvania.  This is, and always has been an insurance issue.  What the physicians need to address on this issue is the question of why their insurance premiums have never gone down despite dramatic reductions in the number of cases filed and the dramatic reductions in the amount paid out in medical malpractice cases over the last 5-7 years.

The very positive news is that Pennsylvania rated an “A” for quality and patient safety.  Isn’t it interesting that a state with an intact tort liability system as a form of check and balance on the delivery of medical care has led to quality and safety ratings at the highest level?