Medicare recently published a troubling study that found that one third of nursing home residents are injured during the course of their treatment through medical errors. Researchers also found that nearly 60% of these errors were preventable, and over half of injured residents had to be hospitalized. Nursing home abuse lawyers at Pintas & Mullins find these statistics disheartening, and offer analysis into the problem.
Among the medical errors described in the report include medication mistakes, new or spread infections, inadequate monitoring, and delay or failure to provide adequate care. Unfortunately, about 22% of patients suffered lasting harm from the errors, and 1.5% died even though they were expected to survive treatment.
The study centered on more than 650 patients who were treated in nursing homes about one month after being discharged from hospitals. About half of those patients had to be readmitted to the hospital after suffering substandard care in nursing homes, costing the healthcare system $208 million in just one month.
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Most of the deaths resulted from excessive bleeding (from blood-thinning medications like Pradaxa, for which there is no mechanism to stop a bleed-out), kidney failure, fluid imbalances, and preventable blood clots. One patient specifically suffered a collapsed lung because nursing home staff failed to recognize the symptoms.
From their data researchers estimated that about 22,000 nursing home residents are injured each month from substandard nursing home care – and another 1,500 pass away. Federal researchers also noted that improvements are entirely possible, particularly calling on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to aggressively promote patient safety in nursing homes.
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Similar strategies are already in place, however they focus almost exclusively on care in hospitals. CMS should also focus on instructing state inspectors to review and identify programs for reducing medical mistakes in nursing homes. State CMS agents inspect each nursing home that admits Medicare or Medicaid patients once a year (more so if the nursing home fails previous inspections).
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Data from these inspections are made public, and ProPublica recently complied much of this information to create a Nursing Home Inspect database. All nursing homes in the U.S. are required to establish a Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement program.
It is important to note that the majority of medical errors in nursing homes are not caused by outright or malicious abuse or negligence. The majority of American nursing homes are run by for-profit companies, and, like any other private corporation, executives are primarily concerned with profits and pleasing investors. Unfortunately, this comes at a price, causing severely understaffed nursing homes.
The staff that are employed are then overworked, and the medical resources required to adequately treat all residents are not always there. The field of nursing home care is changing; it used to be that these facilities merely provided long-term care to the elderly, but did not necessarily provide acute medical treatment. As the scope of healthcare changes in the country, so must the responsibilities, ethics and programs in nursing homes.
These facilities need to adapt to a changing system. Our team of nursing home negligence attorneys hopes that this Medicare report enacts change and raises awareness throughout the industry -even if it starts small. If you or someone you love was seriously injured by inadequate care in a nursing homes, contact our firm immediately. We have extensive knowledge and particular expertise litigating nursing home cases on behalf of bereaved families. Our legal consultations are free, confidential, and available to concerned families nationwide.
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