Presenting America’s 2015 Top Safety and Justice Stories
Add one very special gift to your holiday list this year courtesy of the American civil justice system: safer products and services. Whether we’re talking the toys we buy for our children, the drywall we install in our homes, the new cars we park in our garages, the guardrails that keep them on the road, or even the nursing home care we arrange for our elderly parents, several unsafe or unfair practices were uncovered in 2015 thanks to the courage of ordinary citizens and – when necessary – a court of law. Before you hit the mall, you might want to check out our list before shopping for yours! Read More>>>
BY THE NUMBERS /
7th Right
An increasing number of Americans are unknowingly giving away their Seventh Amendment right to a day in court by signing forced arbitration clauses, according to this New York Timesinvestigation.
$2 Saved
Trinity Industries failed to tell the federal government about changes to its guardrail system that saved the company about $2 per system. In June, a federal judge ordered Trinity to pay $663 million in penalties after reports surfaced that the altered guardrails were slicing through cars.
$77 Billion
Approximately 48 million Americans are sickened by foodborne illnesses every year; 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die, costing the nation approximately $77 billion. Lax production practices and oversight are often to blame, according to this report [download].
BOOKMARK FAVORITES /
Tips for Buying Safe Toys
Before hitting the mall to buy a holiday present for the children in your life, run through these tips for purchasing and playing with safe toys.View video.
Food Safety 101
Chef Jim Ringler from the National Academy of Science explains best practices for food safety both in and out of the home. View video.
Beware the Fine Print
Tinker Martin-Bowen didn’t know the contract she signed with an arbitration clause would take away her right to a jury trial until it was too late. View video.
These relatively easy to use detergent packets have injured over 10,000 children under 5 years of age so far this year. Injuries have been caused by eating, squirting into the eye, and inhalation. This is a shockingly high number, and it seems to only be getting worse. This is especially concerning since they were only introduced into the marketplace in 2012. Which means the number of people using them will likely increase.
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Highly concentrated “single-load liquid laundry packets” can cause serious harm to young children.
Exposed to single-load laundry packets from Jan. 1, 2015, to October 31, 2015
Poison centers receive many calls each year about children getting into laundry detergent. Swallowing it often causes mild stomach upset, if there are any symptoms at all, but poison center experts say the new highly concentrated single-load liquid laundry detergent packets seem to be different.
Some children who have gotten the product in their mouths have had excessive vomiting, wheezing and gasping. Some get very sleepy. Some have had breathing problems serious enough to need a ventilator to help them breathe. There have also been reports of corneal abrasions (scratches to the eyes) when the detergent gets into a child’s eyes.
Always keep detergent containers closed, sealed and stored up high, out of the reach of children.
Follow the instructions on the product label.
Call your local poison center at 1-800-222-1222 immediately if you suspect a child has come in contact with this detergent.
In 2015, through October 31, poison centers received reports of 10,497 exposures to highly concentrated packets of laundry detergent by children 5 and younger. PLEASE NOTE: The term "exposure" means someone has had contact with the substance in some way; for example, ingested, inhaled, absorbed by the skin or eyes, etc. Not all exposures are poisonings or overdoses.
Laundry Packet Exposures Reported to Poison Centers (Children 5 and younger)
You’ve known about forced arbitration clauses buried in the fine print of
contracts agreements we all sign. But now, since the New York Times
published a three-part investigative series
about this corporate bullying tactic, many more people know what we lose when
we “click here to agree.”
Bills introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate would eliminate corporations’ ability to steal our constitutional rights
in employment, consumer, civil rights and antitrust cases. But Congress has
stalled in making these bills become law, and more consumers are losing their
constitutional rights.
Please sign our petition and
tell Congress that it’s time to end the get-out-of-jail-free card that Wall
Street has buried in the fine print.
Regrettably, people get injured.This will require the filing of an insurance
claim.Most people automatically call
their own insurance company.This is
wise and legally required.
What many of us don’t know, is that the insurance company
for the opposing side prepared to pounce on you.“Like a good neighbor”, or with “good hands”,
or being “on your side”, are a few examples of how they present themselves.
Many insurance companies will go on to state that using a
lawyer only costs you, the injured person, money.In reality, this is against the law.Insurance companies are routinely and regularly
fined for such deceptive practices.
Simple fact is that insurance companies are just that –
companies.They are money making
machines.Their best interest and your
best interest do not coincide.
Always speak with an attorney as soon as possible.
Protect Yourself and Your Guests When Hosting a Holiday Party
Click image to see full-size infographic.
Hosting a party this holiday season? Before stamping that last invitation, learn how you can protect yourself and your guests. The legal principles at work here are called premises and social host liability. Here are tips and suggestions for preventing injuries and protecting your interests before guests arrive:
Let’s Start with Alcohol
“Holiday cheer” is often synonymous with alcoholic beverages in many people’s minds. There is nothing wrong with that thinking, but homeowners should be aware that they may be held liable in some states if intoxicated guests leave the party and cause injury or property damage to others. So ...
Encourage guests to pick a designated driver.
Stock plenty of non-alcoholic beverages and serve food.
Don't pressure guests to drink too much and cut off anyone who has already had enough.
Call a cab for intoxicated guests, give them a ride (if you are sober), or offer a place to sleep at your house.
Never allow minors to drink.
As the host, stay in control by not drinking too much yourself.
Now, Look Around Your House
As the property owner, you are responsible for protecting your guests from unsafe conditions on your property. So ...
Fix any tripping hazards like broken stairs or loose handrails, double-stick tape throw rugs and secure extension cords.
Remove any dangerous items that might injure children like an old freezer, a broken swing or poison hazards.
In colder climates, keep sidewalks and steps free of ice and snow.
If you have a pool, keep gates locked or make sure kids are supervised by an adult if using the pool.
Consider restraining pets as you may be liable if a guest is bitten or scratched.
Review Your Homeowner’s Insurance
The liability coverage in your homeowner’s insurance may be your final line of defense if someone is hurt during a party at your home. So ...
Make sure it is in force and that your policy limits are high enough to cover an injury. Standard minimums of $100,000 to $300,000 may not be enough to cover all the costs associated with a serious injury.
If you have significant assets in addition to your home, consider an umbrella policy for added liability protection.
Check for exclusions and contact your agent if you have any questions.
Your Rights in the News
Browse headline news on your health, safety and legal rights:
An innovative promotional campaign from MADD targets the increased prevalence of drunk driving during the holidays. Listen now
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Below is a link to how arbitration clauses are used to the outright harm of most of us.
In particular, this paragraph sums it up:
“This is among the most profound shifts in our legal history,” William G. Young, a federal judge in Boston who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, said in an interview. “Ominously, business has a good chance of opting out of the legal system altogether and misbehaving without reproach.”
The state’s “character-and-competence” reviews are supposed to weed out operators with histories of violations and fines— but regulators don’t always act on the full story.
by Allegra Abramo and Jennifer Lehman, special to ProPublica, Oct. 27, 2015, 8 a.m.
Charlie Stewart lost most of his leg to a wound that turned gangrenous during a 2013 nursing home stay. (Allegra Abramo for ProPublica)Charlie Stewart was looking forward to getting out of the nursing home in time for his 60th birthday. On his planned release day, in late 2012, the Long Island facility instead called Stewart’s wife to say he was being sent to the hospital with a fever.
When his wife, Jeanne, met him there, the stench of rotting flesh made it difficult to sit near her husband. The small wounds on his right foot that had been healing when Stewart entered the nursing home now blackened his entire shin.
“When I saw it at the hospital … I almost threw up,” Jeanne Stewart said. “It was disgusting. I said, ‘It looks like somebody took a match to it.’ ”
Doctors told Stewart the infection in his leg was poisoning his body. To save his life, they would have to amputate above the knee.
Stewart had spent about six weeks recovering from a diabetic emergency at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation & Health Care Center on Long Island. The nursing home is one of several in a group of for-profit homes affiliated with SentosaCare, LLC, that have a record of repeat fines, violations and complaints for deficient care in recent years.
Despite that record, SentosaCare founder Benjamin Landa, partner Bent Philipson and family members have been able to expand their nursing home ownerships in New York, easily clearing regulatory reviews meant to be a check on repeat offenders. SentosaCare is now the state’s largest nursing home network, with at least 25 facilities and nearly 5,400 beds.
That unhindered expansion highlights the continued weakness of nursing home oversight in New York, an investigation by ProPublica found, and exposes gaps in the state’s system for vetting parties who apply to buy shares in homes.
State law requires a “character-and-competence” review of buyers before a change in ownership can go through. To pass muster, other health care facilities associated with the buyers must have a record of high-quality care.
The decision maker in these deals is the state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council, a body of appointed officials, many from inside the health care industry. The council has substantial leverage to press nursing home applicants to improve quality, but an examination of dozens of transactions in recent years show that power is seldom used.
Moreover, records show that the council hasn’t always had complete information about all the violations and fines at nursing homes owned by or affiliated with applicants it reviewed. That’s because the Department of Health, which prepares character-and-competence recommendations for the council, doesn’t report them all.
The department’s assessments of Landa and other owners of SentosaCare homes have routinely found that the facilities provided a “substantially consistent high level of care” – the standard owners must meet to receive council approval.
Yet the agency’s assessments in 15 separate ownership applications since 2013 did not mention at least 20 federal fines paid by the group’s homes, records show. In more than a dozen cases, the department reported “no repeat violations,” even when a SentosaCare home had been cited multiple times for the same serious deficiency.
Many of the nursing home deals ProPublica reviewed received a go-ahead despite rules saying they “shall not be” approved when facilities have repeat violations that put residents at risk. Under a narrow interpretation of the rules, however, the department still recommends approval if violations aren’t strictly identical or were promptly addressed.
SentosaCare’s owners or associates weren’t the only applicants to get incomplete vetting, but the council has had repeated opportunities to scrutinize their records. Landa, Philipson or relatives bought shares in a dozen homes in 2013 and 2014, records show.
Advocates for nursing home patients say that instead of a backstop, New York’s approval process has become a rubber stamp.
“The law establishes mechanisms for at least a moderate review of an applicant’s character and competence,” said Richard Mollot, director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition in New York. “The failure to provide complete information on a provider’s past performance fundamentally undermines the review process.”
Mollot’s group published a recent report saying the Health Department has one of the nation’s lowest rates of citing nursing home operators for deficiencies in care. New York is also among a minority of states that don’t mandate minimum staffing ratios, even though research shows a strong link between nursing staff and residents’ well-being.
Charlie Stewart with his wife, Jeanne, and their cat, Maris. (Allegra Abramo for ProPublica)
Thirteen of SentosaCare’s homes (though not Avalon Gardens) have Medicare’s bottom score for nurse staffing. Inspection reports also show that at least seven residents have wandered away from the SentosaCare affiliated facilities in recent years — including one who froze to death in 2011. Inspectors and prosecutors have found that staff falsified records in some cases. Dozens of patients at SentosaCare homes have experienced long delays before receiving necessary care; some ended up in hospitals.
The Stewarts said the staff at Avalon Gardens showed “no sense of urgency” when they complained about missed meals, soiled sheets and unanswered call bells. Even though nurses dressed the wound on Charlie’s leg daily, and a doctor checked it each week, no one warned them about its worsening condition, the Stewarts said.
Dr. Kris Alman, a retired endocrinologist who reviewed Stewart’s medical records and photographs at ProPublica’s request, said that the two quarter-sized lesions on his foot when he was admitted to Avalon Gardens could not have “become what it did overnight.” That the condition “progressed as far as it did, with him coming in septic and needing an above-the-knee amputation, was inexcusable,” Alman said.
Landa’s attorney and business partner, Howard Fensterman, declined to comment on Stewart’s case for reasons of patient privacy. Fensterman defended Avalon Gardens and other SentosaCare facilities, however, saying that when inspectors have found problems, the homes quickly addressed them and secured state approval of correction plans.
Fensterman also said that SentosaCare does not have “ownership or control” over the facilities in its network and only contracts with them to provide administrative and rehabilitation consulting, regulatory advice and purchasing services. Records show, however, that Landa and Philipson, or family members, have ownership stakes or directorships in nearly all of SentosaCare’s facilities. Fensterman also co-owns 14 nursing homes with Landa in several states, including one SentosaCare home.
Fensterman is a former member of the state health council, as is Landa, who entered the nursing home business in the late 1980s and emerged as one of the sector’s biggest players over the next decade. Landa, Philipson or family members now hold stakes in at least 33 nursing homes in New York and an equal number in nine other states.
In 2013, the latest year for which state data is available, homes under the SentosaCare umbrella paid the company more than $11.5 million for financial, staffing and other services, and spent nearly $630,000 with Fensterman’s law firm.
The nation’s $137 billion nursing home industry has made major improvements since the landmark 1987 federal Nursing Home Reform Act imposed mandates to combat abuse and neglect. But the industry, which draws heavily on taxpayer funding via Medicare and Medicaid, still struggles to provide safe care for many.
One-third of Medicare patients suffered preventable harm within a month of being admitted to nursing homes for short-term rehabilitation, according to a 2014 study by the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general. The harm cost Medicare $2.8 billion for hospitalizations alone in 2011, the study estimated.
New York spends about $13 billion each year on the state’s 627 nursing homes, which collectively care for more than 100,000 residents. The Department of Health is charged with day-to-day oversight of safety, but patient advocates say the agency lacks the staff and expertise to do the job adequately.
SentosaCare homes, which took in nearly $538 million from Medicare and Medicaid in 2013, aren’t the only facilities in the state with repeat violations and low staffing, and several of the company’s homes have above-average ratings on Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare web site, which rates them with one to five stars. (State-by-state inspection reports can be searched on ProPublica’s Nursing Home Inspect, which also lists deficiencies by severity level.)
But federal data through August shows that 11 of SentosaCare’s homes exceeded the state average of 24 violations over the past three years, and three had double that number.
The most critical nursing home deficiencies are known as “immediate jeopardy” violations — incidents or conditions that have caused or are likely to cause the “serious injury, harm, impairment, or death” of patients. Less than 6 percent of all New York homes were cited for four or more immediate-jeopardy violations in recent years.
By comparison, Avalon Gardens was cited for 10 immediate-jeopardy violations in the three years ending in August, the third-highest number in the state for that period. Two other SentosaCare homes — Woodmere Rehabilitation & Health Care Center and South Point Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation Center — each have been cited for four.
Elopements — where residents leave the premises without the knowledge of a home’s operators — have been a repeat problem for Avalon and Woodmere, where SentosaCare co-owner Philipson has been listed as longtime managing partner.
Two days before Thanksgiving in 2011, a group of Woodmere residents walked to a nearby school for a holiday lunch. When aides took a head count, one of the 19 residents, a 55-year-old with dementia named Dennis Buckham, was missing.
Buckham wasn’t found until four days later, face down on a Brooklyn sidewalk, frozen and without a pulse. He died of cardiac arrest and hypothermia, according to the chief medical examiner’s report cited in the Department of Health investigation.
Fensterman said Woodmere overhauled its policies and procedures, and that the state signed off on an official plan of correction. Two years later, however, a 64-year-old Woodmere resident with schizophrenia left a secure unit 10 times over three months. Staffers found her in the basement and at the front door, but according to the state’s report, the home did not investigate, change her care plan or conduct a doctor-ordered psychiatric evaluation.
About a month later, the woman walked past a security guard and was found in the road. Fensterman said no harm resulted, the home fired the security guard who let the resident slip out, and the state again approved a correction plan.
Residents also wandered from Avalon Gardens in 2011 and 2013, state inspection reports show. In all, at least seven residents wandered away from SentosaCare facilities between 2011 and 2014, according to state inspection reports.
The reports also document dozens of cases of delayed treatment at SentosaCare homes. At Woodmere in 2012, staffers failed to promptly send four patients to the hospital, two of whom died. Two years later, a resident at Parkview Care and Rehabilitation Center in Nassau County suffered from a collapsed lung for four days while staff failed to check results from a chest X-ray or assess his breathing or vital signs.
Fensterman said that each SentosaCare home is distinct. “There is no pattern of delayed treatment among facilities,” he said, “as each facility cited had separate issues, which in no way relate to each other.” He said the Health Department found the incidents to be isolated and that all were corrected.
On multiple occasions, state inspectors discovered that staff at SentosaCare facilities tried to cover up lapses in care — allegedly lying about elopements or the failure to spot bedsores, for example. After a 2012 investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the administrator of The Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, a SentosaCare home in Suffolk County, pled guilty to falsifying records after a resident wandered away and was found walking on the highway five hours later. The administrator was sentenced to a $2,500 fine and probation.
In June, after another investigation by Schneiderman’s office, four Woodmere nurses were arrested for falsely signing off on forms saying they had checked on a resident who fell three times in a week and ended up hospitalized. Three pleaded guilty to misdemeanors; the fourth case is pending.
Researchers and patient advocates say that insufficient staffing is one of the biggest contributors to poor outcomes for nursing home residents. The issue is important enough that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) tracks staffing and has determined that less than 4.1 hours of total daily nursing care per long-term resident increases the risk of bed sores, weight loss and other types of harm to patients.
“Direct bedside nursing home staff is probably the most important factor in nursing home care — end of story,” said Dr. Michele Bellantoni, clinical director of geriatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Only three SentosaCare homes meet the 4.1-hour threshold, however. Six provide less than three hours of daily nursing care per resident, according to data the facilities self-report to CMS.
Fensterman said CMS’ overall staff ratings are not a good measure for comparing homes because they don’t reflect the different nursing needs of homes’ patients or high scores on other quality measures. As an example, he cited Park Avenue Extended Care, another SentosaCare facility, which CMS rated with one star on staffing but five stars for health quality, which tracks data such as how often patients get bedsores or infections.
On the other end of the scale is Avalon, with nearly 45 percent more complaints and double the number of complaint-related citations per 100 beds than the averages found in New York homes. In its most recent inspection, this past June, Avalon was cited for 21 deficiencies. Among them: Eight residents received medications up to three hours late because the facility did not have sufficient nursing staff.
Tom Bennett, 60, spent about a month in short-term rehabilitation at Avalon Gardens in 2013. Obesity and a back injury made it impossible for the Long Island man to get out of bed. In an interview, he said he didn’t receive regular sponge baths and sometimes sat in his own feces for hours because no one was available to help.
“They were all over-worked. They were telling me, you know, we just don’t have enough help to take care of everybody,” Bennett said. “And you can hear the buzzers going off constantly — meep, meep, meep, meep. And the aides are just like running from room to room to room.”
Fensterman declined to comment about Bennett’s situation. State records list SentosaCare partners Landa and Philipson as co-owners of Avalon Gardens, each with an interest of more than 30 percent. In 2013, the home reported paying $1 million to SentosaCare for services and $90,000 to Fensterman’s firm.
Although New York doesn’t mandate minimum staffing ratios, federal law says homes must have “sufficient staff” to “attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident.”
Patient advocates say that vague standard is one reason that the state rarely cites homes for insufficient staffing. Health Department officials, in response to an email asking about the agency’s citation rate, also noted the lack of specific minimum staffing rules.
Avalon Gardens and a second SentosaCare home, South Point Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Long Island, were among only 29 cited specifically for insufficient staffing in the past three years.
Patient advocates say lack of staff is one of the most common complaints from residents and that state inspectors should be following federal guidance, which instructs them to look for staffing issues “whenever quality of care problems have been discovered.”
Advocacy groups and the state’s biggest nurses’ union have pushed for mandatory staffing ratios, and “safe-staffing” bills have been introduced in the New York Legislature for at least a decade, according to the office of Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, the health committee chairman. Hospitals and nursing homes have objected, saying the mandates would be too costly.
Mollot said that while legislating a staffing floor would help, the key is whether the Health Department does more to police the problem. If a new staffing law “just becomes another requirement that’s not enforced,” he said, “what good is it?”
When nursing home ownership changes hands in New York, character-and-competence reviews are supposed to provide an important checkpoint.
State law gives the Public Health and Health Planning Council the power to bar new owners or directors based on the compliance record of any facility they are “affiliated” with. “If some bad actor wanted to buy a new nursing home,” said Susan Regan, a lawyer who spent 18 years on council, “we could say no.”
Except the council seldom says “no.”
ProPublica’s review of Health Department and council records did not turn up any nursing home ownership applications within the last five years that were rejected because of lapses in patient care. In most cases, the council — 24 volunteers appointed by the governor — follows the department’s recommendations.
Although the department’s reviews summarize past violations and fines at an applicant’s related facilities, they typically conclude there is a “substantially consistent high quality of care.” Regulations say applicants “shall not” receive such a finding if a facility’s violations were “recurrent or were not promptly corrected.”
But the council doesn’t always get a look at the complete record.
Thanks to home purchases and shuffling of ownership shares, Landa, Philipson, their family members and other owners of SentosaCare facilities have come up for council reviews a dozen times since 2013. In addition to omitting mention of at least 20 federal fines paid by SentosaCare homes, the department’s reviews reported “no repeat violations” a dozen times when there had been multiple citations for the same problems.
Since 2011, Woodmere has been cited and fined several times for the same class of violations that put residents in immediate jeopardy, including giving unnecessary medications and failing to protect residents from falls. The home paid more than $80,000 in federal fines, which are shared with the state. In 2013, the federal government also temporarily halted payments for new admissions at Woodmere, a stiff penalty for homes with ongoing problems.
None of those actions was noted in character-and-competence summaries provided to council members on at least three occasions in 2013 and 2014, when Landa, Philipson and others associated with Woodmere applied to buy shares of other nursing homes. Instead, the department wrote that Woodmere had “no enforcements” or made no mention of the home.
In each case, the department recommended approval, and the council voted in favor without any objections. Records list Landa as a director and Philipson as the managing partner of Woodmere. Fensterman, who served on the council from 2010 until 2014, recused himself from votes involving business partners and clients.
When SentosaCare’s South Point Plaza was part of reviews in 2013 and 2014, the department also said it had “no repeat enforcements,” even though the home had been cited and fined more than once for residents having pressure sores. Although three state fines were noted, an additional $90,000 in federal fines and one Medicare payment denial were not included in the reviews.
Asked about the omissions, the department initially said its character-and-competence process includes federal investigations and fines. In a later statement, it said federal fines are not currently included, but that its policy is being reviewed. The agency began listing them in council papers in February, it said in an email, but only “for informational purposes.”
A review of dozens of health council applications shows that the department doesn’t always flag serious violations if there was no state fine, or if the amount isn’t finalized. The state did not settle $18,000 in fines for elopements at Woodmere and Avalon until last month, more than two years after the incidents. Recent character-and-competence reviews did not mention pending fines or report that the elopements had occurred.
About a year ago, the department began appending copies of its website pages on citations and quality ratings to council review documents. A list of deficiencies and their severity isn’t always included.
Concerning what it counts as a repeat enforcement, the agency said that while some violations may fall in the same category, they are not necessarily the same. That is consistent with its reviews, which sometimes note that violations were not “identical.”
Mollot said it was “extremely alarming” that violations and fines might be omitted.
In interviews, three former or current council members expressed uncertainty about what standards apply in character-and-competence reviews. With dozens of projects and ownership changes to vote on at each monthly meeting, council members must rely on the department’s information to do their jobs.
For many of her years on the council, Regan chaired the establishment committee, which reviews applications to buy or build facilities. Members would often ask for more details about applicants’ histories, she said, “but what you do about it is difficult.” Operators argue that they have paid their fines and corrected deficiencies, she said, or that repeat violations were not connected.
“I would argue, you know what, if you’re in business to find every opportunity to game the standards, and do the minimum, and give the shoddiest care you can possibly give while still getting out from under the deficiency, it should raise a question of whether you should hold a license,” Regan said.
Arthur Levin, a current establishment committee member, said that he and others are increasingly asking the Health Department for information about quality of care, not just violations, especially for dialysis centers. Levin is director of the Center for Medical Consumers and the council’s lone representative from a patient group.
“At the very least, let it be the basis of a question to an applicant: ‘What are you going to do to do better?’ ” Levin said.
Three years ago, the council recommended changes to character-and-competence reviews as part of a regulatory overhaul requested by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Among the proposals was one to give the department and council more discretion to disqualify applicants for patterns of violations across multiple facilities affiliated with an applicant.
“When a proposed owner or trustee presents affiliations with a health care facility or agency that has a pattern of, or multiple, enforcements, or a sub-standard quality record, there should be a presumption of disqualification which may be rebutted in limited circumstances,” says the recommendation, which is still on the shelf.
Recent versions of the safe-staffing bill would expand character-and-competence reviews to consider not only staffing but worker safety violations like those that resulted in 13 citations and $24,600 in fines to Avalon Gardens in 2013.
In his short stay at Avalon Gardens, Charlie Stewart remembers waiting for hours for help getting from his bed to the toilet. One time, when no one answered the call bell, he started yelling, he said. Still no one came. Eventually he decided to crawl across the floor to the bathroom rather than soil the bed.
“When you need help and it’s not coming, you know, your reality changes immediately,” said Stewart. “It’s not nice feeling helpless. And several times in that place, I gotta say, I felt like I was helpless.”
On multiple occasions, Stewart said, no one brought him dinner, even though he needed to eat regularly because of his diabetes. His wife, Jeanne, said she thought pain medications were making him forgetful. But he kept calling. “I might have been drugged, but I know I wasn’t fed, ’cause I’m starving,” he recalls telling his wife.
“I felt more could have been done sooner,” Jeanne said of her husband’s care. “And it just shouldn’t have gotten as far as it did.” (Allegra Abramo for ProPublica)
Fensterman said privacy laws prohibited SentosaCare from responding to specific questions about Stewart’s care.
Jeanne said she called the Health Department while Charlie was still at Avalon to complain about the missed meals and lack of help getting to the bathroom. When a representative finally called back to follow up on her complaint, she told the caller she was sitting next to her husband in the hospital as he recovered from an amputation.
A few weeks later, she said, a letter arrived saying the state hadn’t substantiated the initial complaint. Furious, Jeanne threw it away.
Today, Stewart is learning how to walk up stairs on his prosthetic leg. Jeanne limits the hours in her job at a grocery store so she can care for her husband. She still finds the episode difficult to talk about.
“I felt more could have been done sooner,” she said of her husband’s care. “And it just shouldn’t have gotten as far as it did.”
Charlie Stewart agreed. “That’s what I sincerely wish — that this doesn’t happen to anybody else.” Allegra Abramo is a freelance writer and photographer living in Seattle. Jennifer Lehman is a writer living in New York City. --
Make Staying Home Safer for Elderly Relatives, Friends
Baby boomers want to “age in place” at home after retirement.
Nearly everyone nearing retirement age will tell you they would prefer to live independently at home as long as possible, according to a recent survey by AARP. Many will get their wish, thanks to better health and longer life spans. And with the number of Americans aged 65-plus projected to double by 2050, there will be a growing number of older people living at home over the next three decades.
There are many benefits to living at home as we age, but there are safety risks as well, including falls, fires or accidental poisoning. If you care for an older relative or friend or are elderly yourself, you should know how to make a house as safe as possible for those living out their golden years at home. Read More >>>
BY THE NUMBERS /
90% Home
According to AARP, nearly 90 percent of people over age 65 want to stay in their own home as long as possible, and 80 percent believe they always will. [Download report.]
#1 Falls
Falls are the leading cause of injury for older Americans, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is a serious injury every 13 seconds from a fall, and every 20 minutes someone dies.
98 Million
There were 44.7 million Americans aged 65 or older in 2013. There will be roughly 98 million by 2060, more than twice that in 2013, according to the Administration on Aging.
BOOKMARK FAVORITES /
“Staying Put” Helps Seniors Thrive at Home
In this Nightly News special, Brian Williams reports on a growing movement called the “village model” that helps seniors stay in their homes. View video.
Video Series Highlights Fall Prevention
Health In Aging created a series of videos to help older Americans avoid falls, including this one on preventing falls at home. View video series.
Fire Hazards: In-Home Safety Tips for Seniors
Older adults are at a greater risk of dying in a home fire. Cue up these safety tips from the National Fire Protection Association. View Video.
Tell Nursing Homes to Stop Stealing Seniors’ Rights
Forced arbitration clauses in admissions contracts are depriving nursing home residents of their constitutional rights. Take action
Talking the Issues
Check out podcasts featuring topics from past issues of You Should Know, and subscribe to future shows via iTunes or RSS feed. Listen now
With credit to my good friend and colleague, Brian Berkowitz, Esq., I wish to share a terrific "App" that may help make everyone's life just a little less complicated. Evernote is a device that permits you to scan documents without having to buy or pay for the use of a scanner. (Ps. It works on an Adroid as well). Below in its entirety is the blog post from Brian:
SCANNABLE BY EVERNOTE - A LAWYER'S BEST FRIEND?
Posted on Sep 19, 2015 8:15am EDT
I am a DWI, Criminal Defense and Traffic Ticket attorney practicing in Rockland County, New York. What I am about to discuss today may sound like a paid product placement or a commercial, but in reality, it is a shout-out to something that has simplified and changed many areas of my law practice.
In 2002, after years of working as a prosecutor in the Rockland County District Attorney's Office, I decided to "hang out a shingle" and venture into the world of private practice. When a potential client would contact me about a case, I would ask them to fax a copy of their charges or tickets to me. This generally meant that they would have to go to a store and pay to use their fax service, wait until after hours at work, or simply wait until they were back home or at their office. The time between speaking with the client and looking at their charges was usually measured in hours and days and was not good for business.
Once more people began having their own computer scanners, the time between speaking with them and reviewing their charges decreased. The one thing missing at that time was the need for instant gratification that we have in modern day 2015.
Today, it is not unusual that I get a call from a potential traffic ticket client almost immediately after the police officer handed them the ticket and while they are still on the side of the road. During these conversations, I generally ask them to email or fax the ticket and paperwork to me. The more people began to own Smartphones, the more I was told that they would take a picture of the ticket and email it to me.
From days, to hours to seconds, the amount of time between asking a client to send me their paperwork and having it right in front of me entered the realm of light speed. The only problem with taking and sending pictures of tickets and charges is that they are often blurry, cut off and at times, require multiple pictures of each part of the document to be able to read the whole thing. Printing was also another problem, as the images were generally dark and difficult to read.
This brings us to the September 2015. Less than a year ago, I was introduced to what I can only describe as a "game changing" iPhone App: "SCANNABLE"(click here), which is a mobile scanning App from Evernote (click here to see a short Scannable Youtube video).
The easiest way to explain how this works is that it's like having a scanner with you wherever you go. At first, I used it to scan documents given to my clients in court, so I wouldn't have to bother the already busy court clerks with making copies for me. I then found out that it worked great for making copies of the pictures I found at my parent's house. Most importantly, I could scan them right from the photo album without having to worry about ruining the pictures by removing them from the ancient photo albums. Once these documents were scanned by Scannable, I simply emailed them to myself or sent them directly to my Evernote account and printed them when I got back to my office.
During the past week, while speaking on the phone to a client, I had a revelation and asked a simple question: "Do you have an IPhone?" I then introduced the client to Scannable and in minutes, I was looking at a perfect scan of a speeding ticket. The client was impressed and all I could think of is why didn't I ask this question sooner?
Since first discovering Scannable, I have used it in both my personal and professional life. I have amazed my family, friends, colleagues, court employees and of course, clients with this amazing discovery. After speaking with the first "Scannable" client this week, I have asked the "Do you have an iPhone" question many more times and can only say that this App is now an integral part of my law practice.
This is the first time I have felt the need to blog about a product or service. The potential applications for Scannable seem endless and I highly recommend that anyone with a smartphone take a moment and download this incredibly useful App. Also, did I mention that it's free?
With credit to my good friend and colleague, Brian Berkowitz, Esq., I wish to share a terrific "App" that may help make everyone's life just a little less complicated. Evernote is a device that permits you to scan documents without having to buy or pay for the use of a scanner. Below in its entirety is the blog post from Brian:
SCANNABLE BY EVERNOTE - A LAWYER'S BEST FRIEND?
Posted on Sep 19, 2015 8:15am EDT
I am a DWI, Criminal Defense and Traffic Ticket attorney practicing in Rockland County, New York. What I am about to discuss today may sound like a paid product placement or a commercial, but in reality, it is a shout-out to something that has simplified and changed many areas of my law practice.
In 2002, after years of working as a prosecutor in the Rockland County District Attorney's Office, I decided to "hang out a shingle" and venture into the world of private practice. When a potential client would contact me about a case, I would ask them to fax a copy of their charges or tickets to me. This generally meant that they would have to go to a store and pay to use their fax service, wait until after hours at work, or simply wait until they were back home or at their office. The time between speaking with the client and looking at their charges was usually measured in hours and days and was not good for business.
Once more people began having their own computer scanners, the time between speaking with them and reviewing their charges decreased. The one thing missing at that time was the need for instant gratification that we have in modern day 2015.
Today, it is not unusual that I get a call from a potential traffic ticket client almost immediately after the police officer handed them the ticket and while they are still on the side of the road. During these conversations, I generally ask them to email or fax the ticket and paperwork to me. The more people began to own Smartphones, the more I was told that they would take a picture of the ticket and email it to me.
From days, to hours to seconds, the amount of time between asking a client to send me their paperwork and having it right in front of me entered the realm of light speed. The only problem with taking and sending pictures of tickets and charges is that they are often blurry, cut off and at times, require multiple pictures of each part of the document to be able to read the whole thing. Printing was also another problem, as the images were generally dark and difficult to read.
This brings us to the September 2015. Less than a year ago, I was introduced to what I can only describe as a "game changing" iPhone App: "SCANNABLE"(click here), which is a mobile scanning App from Evernote (click here to see a short Scannable Youtube video).
The easiest way to explain how this works is that it's like having a scanner with you wherever you go. At first, I used it to scan documents given to my clients in court, so I wouldn't have to bother the already busy court clerks with making copies for me. I then found out that it worked great for making copies of the pictures I found at my parent's house. Most importantly, I could scan them right from the photo album without having to worry about ruining the pictures by removing them from the ancient photo albums. Once these documents were scanned by Scannable, I simply emailed them to myself or sent them directly to my Evernote account and printed them when I got back to my office.
During the past week, while speaking on the phone to a client, I had a revelation and asked a simple question: "Do you have an IPhone?" I then introduced the client to Scannable and in minutes, I was looking at a perfect scan of a speeding ticket. The client was impressed and all I could think of is why didn't I ask this question sooner?
Since first discovering Scannable, I have used it in both my personal and professional life. I have amazed my family, friends, colleagues, court employees and of course, clients with this amazing discovery. After speaking with the first "Scannable" client this week, I have asked the "Do you have an iPhone" question many more times and can only say that this App is now an integral part of my law practice.
This is the first time I have felt the need to blog about a product or service. The potential applications for Scannable seem endless and I highly recommend that anyone with a smartphone take a moment and download this incredibly useful App. Also, did I mention that it's free?
Dear Subscriber, Keeping seniors safe must be a priority in our lives. We need your help and ask that you take a minute to sign this pledge to make their lives safer. Thank you and feel free to reach out with any questions.
Tell Nursing Homes to Stop Stealing Seniors’ Rights
Did you know the fine print in many nursing home admissions contracts deprives residents of their constitutional rights, making their stay more dangerous? Anyone who has been through the admissions process knows how incredibly stressful it can be. Unfortunately, many admission contracts slip in a provision known as forced arbitration, which many families and seniors are totally unaware of.
Forced arbitration blocks seniors from accessing the court system even in instances of severe neglect, serious injury, sexual and physical abuse or death. These clauses mandate the victim use private, biased arbitration forums where the decisions are often made by arbitration firms handpicked by the wrongdoer with no right to appeal, no accountability and no transparency. Without this accountability, senior safety is compromised.
We need your help sending a strong message to nursing homes and assisted living facilities showing that we care about and support our senior citizens. Please click the link below and sign the pledge to limit forced arbitration and make the lives of our seniors safer.
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I am a DWI, Criminal Defense and Traffic Ticket attorney practicing in Rockland County, New York. What I am about to discuss today may sound like a paid product placement or a commercial, but in reality, it is a shout-out to something that has simplified and changed many areas of my law practice.
Did you know the fine print in many nursing home admissions contracts deprives residents of their constitutional rights, making their stay more dangerous? Anyone who has been through the admissions process knows how incredibly stressful it can be. Unfortunately, many admission contracts slip in a provision known as forced arbitration, which many families and seniors are totally unaware of.