Georgia Injury Law Blog

Two persons have been confirmed dead in a fire at a nursing home in DeKalb County. An arrest has already been made in the incident, and Atlanta nursing home abuse lawyers have also learned that the facility owner had likely been operating the home without a license.

The house in Stone Mountain had about 7 or 8 residents living at the facility. 

One person died of injuries at the scene, while the other one was taken to hospital and died later from severe burn injuries. At least 4 other people suffered injuries, including mild burns and smoke inhalation.  At least one resident has confirmed that he escaped burn injuries by jumping out of his first storey window.

Police have arrested 26-year-od Joyce Turnipseed and have charged her with arson and homicide. Apparently, Turnipseed had been living at the facility too. The Department of Community Heath has confirmed that it is investigating whether the owner of the facility had a valid license to run the special needs home.

Even if the facility was being run under a valid license, there are other questions that must be asked here. The fire protection systems in the house will definitely be one of the main focuses of the investigation. What kind of fire protection processes were in place here? Were building codes and standards followed stringently?

We know the media and everyone else seems to be focused on whatever is going on at Toyota, but we hope that serious questions will be asked in this incident. Two lives have been lost, and 4 other people have been put through a traumatic experience.  

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Nursing Homes | 0 Comments Permalink

 An unusual murder at a nursing home in Massachusetts is grabbing the interest of nursing home attorneys around the country.  Does the murder of a 100-year-old patient at an elder care facility by her 98-year-old roommate qualify as grounds for neglect by staff?

The incident occurred at a nursing home in Massachusetts. The victim, Elizabeth Barrow and was found strangulated in her bed in September this year. Indicted in her death is Barrow’s roommate, 98-year-old Laura Lundquist. Lundquist will likely not stand trial, and has been ordered by a judge to undergo a competency evaluation.

According to the victim’s son, Scot Barrow, his mother had told him that she had been frequently threatened and harassed by Lundquist. Scott was concerned enough about these threats to bring them to the notice of the nursing home authorities. However, his concerns were shot down by staff who said that the roommates got along just fine.

Obviously, things weren’t as peachy perfect as the nursing home staff hoped. On the night that Barrow died, she apparently complained that Lundquist had blocked her way to the bathroom with a table. The nurses intervened, and got the table removed. The next morning, Barrow was dead in her bed with a plastic bag wrapped around her neck. The table that had been removed the previous night was back at the foot of her bed.

Scott Barrow has confirmed that he asked nursing home authorities if they could place his mother in a separate room from Lundquist. As Atlanta nursing home abuse attorneys, we believe it’s pertinent to ask some questions here. If Barrow’s son had indeed spoken to the nursing home authorities on these concerns, why were no attempts made to separate the two women?

According to the local district attorney, Lundquist has a history of paranoia and other mental issues. Elderly patients at nursing homes do often suffer from dementia, paranoia, depression and other medical conditions, but if Lundquist’s paranoia or hostility was a threat to Barrow’s safety, why wasn’t staff able to pick up on this threat and separate the two, thereby preventing this tragedy?

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Nursing Homes | 0 Comments Permalink

The Associated Press has a shocking report about the manner in which spare beds at nursing homes around the country are being filled by mentally ill patients, thus exposing the facility's elderly patients to assaults and abuse.

Across the country, deplorable conditions at mental health institutions have been responsible for the closure of these facilities. Besides, the mentally ill over the past few decades, have benefited from better treatment and more effective drugs which have also played a part in the closure of several of these facilities. This has meant that there are insufficient beds for the mentally ill, and many of them have been shifted to nursing homes instead. In these elder care facilities, these mentally ill patients who suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other serious mental conditions are made to share rooms with weak and sick elderly residents, most of who are above 65 years of age. What makes the problem worse is that the mentally ill patients are much younger, and therefore stronger and healthier than their geriatric roommates. This has given rise to a potentially dangerous situation in which the elderly are at risk of violent assaults and even sexual abuse at the hands of the mentally ill.

There is no official data on how many of such assaults on the elderly by their mentally ill roommates have taken place, but numerous cases have been reported. In one instance, in 2003 a mentally ill woman at a nursing home in Hartford, Connecticut, set fire to the nursing home she was living at. Sixteen residents were killed n the inferno. The woman was judged incompetent to stand trial and was committed to a mental institution. There have been other instances of assault, including beatings and rapes of elderly residents.  

According to the report, in 2008 there were approximately 125,000 mentally ill patients living in nursing homes. In Georgia alone, 3300 mentally ill patients are residents at nursing homes meant for the elderly. Nursing home staff members often lack the training to deal with the special mental health challenges posed by these patients. Handling the severe paranoia, delusions, depression, aggression and hallucination that mentally ill patients suffer is impossible in the absence of staff that is trained to deal with such patients.

Georgia Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

Georgia already has the distinction of being one of the worst states for nursing care with the state ranking number 2, based on the lowest number of top rated nursing homes. Just above 6% of nursing homes in Georgia have a five star rating, and abusive and neglectful conditions at some of the state's homes have kept Georgia nursing home abuse lawyers very busy through the years with elder abuse lawsuits. Adding to the existing problems of under funding and staff shortages is the fact that there are 3300 mentally ill patients living with geriatric residents, creating the perfect recipe for assault and abuse.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Nursing Homes | 0 Comments Permalink