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1GR8L8Y
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Posted: Fri Oct 17th, 2008 04:02 pm |
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| Just letting you know the update on this case of abuse, assault and battery. Received an e-mail from a supervisor with DCF. She has re-opened the case and is looking into why after just one visit from a "surveyor" that this case has been once again unfounded. She is pulling ALL files and even gave me the number to find out who the person is so that we can file charges against her. If there are any other photos that were taken, she has asked to see them also. I am so glads that there is someone out there who is willing to assist us in this tragic incident. Will be keeping all posted as to the results all the way until the end. Thank you all for your concerns in this matter. Last edited on Fri Oct 17th, 2008 04:02 pm by 1GR8L8Y
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1GR8L8Y
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Posted: Tue Oct 7th, 2008 01:23 pm |
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Received a letter from AHCA stating they had sent a Registered Nurse Specialist to make an unexpected visit to the nursing home. The "surveyor" looked around the building, watched staff working, talked with the residents, employees, and reviewed records. The "surveyor" did not find evidence of rules or laws had been violated.
We still do not know the name of the person who committed the abuse and are having problems getting them to understand that we need the information to file a complaint with the local law enforcement agency. If we do not get her name, we will have to get a court order to have the file re-opened. This has been my complaint all along. The cover-up that is still occurring.
In the meantime, I have sent a letter to Cookie Coleman, who works with DCF and the Governor's Office with my concerns and am awaiting her reply.
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1GR8L8Y
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Posted: Sat Oct 4th, 2008 02:40 pm |
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A letter was written and received by Governor Crist concerning this matter. The response from the Governor's office was that they were sending a representative to the nursing home to do their own investigation. The only photos that were seen were the ones taken by the state. The photos from from my mother have not been seen by any authorative figure. The state claimed they would be the ones filing the report with the local law enforcement agency. As of today, that was never done. Yes, I would like to file a suit against the nursing home, but, again I state, we have not found an atty. that is willing to take the case. The letter of unsubstantiated abuse was received on thursday of this week. The nursing home is in Clewiston. My problem now is that the cell phone where the photos are saved has never had any soft-ware introduced so that I can upload the photos to my computer. If I can find someone willing to let me send them photos thru their cell so that they can be uploaded and sent to me via my e-mail address, that would be great. There are six photos and trust me when I say this: They show great bodily harm in my opinion.
On monday, I will be making a trip to Clewiston to file formal charges with that agency. I am appalled that the state would suggest that we wait until their report was complete and that they would be taking care of this matter, only to shove it under the carpet. I was hoping that I would not have to go public with this, but I guess under the circumstances, I will also be calling the Palm Beach Post.
AS of late thursday, the gentlman was admitted to hospital for pneumonia. My mother is on her way to make her visit with him today. I have requested that she bring me the letter of the findings so that I may continue my efforts in getting to the bottom of the abuse that goes on that people don't ever see. This is not only for this gentleman but also for all of the others who are in nursing homes and can't speak for themselves and have no family to speak for them.
I will be continueing my efforts in searching for an attorney that is willing to take this case. It is the least I can do for the man, who is my step-father.
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missk
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Posted: Sat Oct 4th, 2008 04:16 am |
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Ciphered wrote: missk wrote: Ciphered wrote: missk wrote: .... it used to be owned by a family member of John Abney. That could explain some things What is that remark supposed to mean?
It means that's why it could possibly be harder to get things going on it. Why do you ask? Because it seemed like a cheap drive-by shot at John Abney or at the county sheriff or police department. I doubt that the State agency that oversees nursing homes is influenced by Mr. Abney, a former local commissioner, if that was your suggestion. And local law enforcement has not been involved in the matter according to 1GR8L8Y: "After waiting for about 2 weeks, we wanted to file assault charges with the police department and were told by the state investigator to wait until the report and investigation was completed." The report was received only Wednesday. It was the family's decision, on the recommendation of the State agency representative apparently, not to go to local law enforcement. Until the sheriff or police dept. are involved, how can there be a suggestion that their inaction on the matter was influenced by anyone? Seemed like an unfair, and so far unsupported, shot at someone who, up till you mentioned their name, was not involved in this discussion at all. Causes one to be curious as to the motivation behind it. That's why I ask.
I have nothing against Abney, sheriffs office or anyone. I just simply thought maybe, just maybe someone was delaying it,, not anything intentionally by Abney,, hard to explain, someone who knows someone sometimes can try to protect them without that person even knowing it. Only way I know how to put it or explain it. It may not even be the same person who owns it now, I don't know.
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Ciphered
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Posted: Sat Oct 4th, 2008 03:06 am |
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missk wrote: Ciphered wrote: missk wrote: .... it used to be owned by a family member of John Abney. That could explain some things What is that remark supposed to mean?
It means that's why it could possibly be harder to get things going on it. Why do you ask? Because it seemed like a cheap drive-by shot at John Abney or at the county sheriff or police department. I doubt that the State agency that oversees nursing homes is influenced by Mr. Abney, a former local commissioner, if that was your suggestion. And local law enforcement has not been involved in the matter according to 1GR8L8Y: "After waiting for about 2 weeks, we wanted to file assault charges with the police department and were told by the state investigator to wait until the report and investigation was completed." The report was received only Wednesday. It was the family's decision, on the recommendation of the State agency representative apparently, not to go to local law enforcement. Until the sheriff or police dept. are involved, how can there be a suggestion that their inaction on the matter was influenced by anyone? Seemed like an unfair, and so far unsupported, shot at someone who, up till you mentioned their name, was not involved in this discussion at all. Causes one to be curious as to the motivation behind it. That's why I ask.
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missk
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Posted: Sat Oct 4th, 2008 02:43 am |
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Ciphered wrote: missk wrote: .... it used to be owned by a family member of John Abney. That could explain some things What is that remark supposed to mean?
It means that's why it could possibly be harder to get things going on it. Why do you ask?
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Ciphered
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Posted: Sat Oct 4th, 2008 02:39 am |
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missk wrote: .... it used to be owned by a family member of John Abney. That could explain some things What is that remark supposed to mean?
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missk
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 10:06 pm |
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1GR8L8Y wrote: The problem is that the nursing home, the state, and AHCA is refusing to give up the person's name who committed the offence. The gentleman that that was abused could not be sure because he did not have on his glasses as she was putting him to bed for the night. The other problem with this is that the records are basically sealed because there are some people that would will go out and do their own vigilante justice. I guess our next step is to try and find an attorney to handle this case so that the files can be subpoened (sp?) Now that that is said, we have tried for the past 4-5 weeks to find an attorney to take the case with no luck. I am at my wit's end and I really am angry that the state can allow these things to happen. We spoke with one atty. who stated that we should be glad he could speak for himself because he had handled a case where the patient had been beaten so bad that he died. Nothing was done to that facility either nor did the family get any results. Any other suggestions? Is the police department able to get the records so that we can file charges? How we can file chargs if we don't know who this person is?
You sue the nursing home because it was an employee of theirs, it's that simple.
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missk
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 10:04 pm |
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| What nursing home was this? If the one in town, it used to be owned by a family member of John Abney. That could explain some things
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designdiva
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 04:19 pm |
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Call the newspapers like Palm Beach Post Times etc...they love to do investigative reporting on things of these nature.Also try and contact your local Reps in Government.....
I had a girlfriend over in PSL who had this condition that required her to have feeding tubes in her at all times...her insurance company in the middle of her treatments decided they didn't want to pay for it anymore......
She contacted Rep Mark Foley and he came to her defense and she won her case against the insurance companies. She finally had to go to a nursing home where she passed away peacefully...... There's more to the story but too much to go into on this blog........
Diva 
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LovebeingaSouthernGirl
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 01:31 pm |
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| I am sure the police can subpoena the records and can have something done about it.
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1GR8L8Y
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 10:21 am |
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| The problem is that the nursing home, the state, and AHCA is refusing to give up the person's name who committed the offence. The gentleman that that was abused could not be sure because he did not have on his glasses as she was putting him to bed for the night. The other problem with this is that the records are basically sealed because there are some people that would will go out and do their own vigilante justice. I guess our next step is to try and find an attorney to handle this case so that the files can be subpoened (sp?) Now that that is said, we have tried for the past 4-5 weeks to find an attorney to take the case with no luck. I am at my wit's end and I really am angry that the state can allow these things to happen. We spoke with one atty. who stated that we should be glad he could speak for himself because he had handled a case where the patient had been beaten so bad that he died. Nothing was done to that facility either nor did the family get any results. Any other suggestions? Is the police department able to get the records so that we can file charges? How we can file chargs if we don't know who this person is?
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LovebeingaSouthernGirl
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Posted: Thu Oct 2nd, 2008 03:54 pm |
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| I told you to file charges against them with the locals. State is great for covering things up. You can't cover up anything as soon as it is over with. If he can tell which one did it, I would still file charges against her.
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1GR8L8Y
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Posted: Thu Oct 2nd, 2008 02:49 pm |
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I am back to report on the cover-up from the nursing home. After several weeks of investigation and a letter to the Governor, here is the jest of it. It has been found that there was not any abuse on the part of the nursing home and there will be no charges brought. Now I will tell you the rest of the story:
On September 10, 2008, my mother's significant other was verbally assaulted by a nurse's aide in a long term care facility. After being admonished by her superiors, the nurses' aide returned to this man's room and "man-handled" him at which point he said she was an asshole. This made her angry and she either punched him or slapped him in the face hard enough for there to be a large hematoma and open scratches on his cheek bone under the right eye.
The next day, the state was called in for an investigation. Photos were taken and an investigation was started. On Friday the 12th of September, my mother went to visit him and also took photos which are still saved on her camera phone. The photos tell the truth.
After waiting for about 2 weeks, we wanted to file assault charges with the police department and were told by the state investigator to wait until the report and investigation was completed.
Yesterday my mother received a letter from the state letting her know that their investigation was complete and that there were no findings of abuse. Any ideas on where to go from here?
We need all the help we can get.
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JimmyDean
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Posted: Wed Sep 17th, 2008 03:16 am |
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Cheryl,
If your loved one is in a facility where he is in danger and/or you do not trust the management and employees then you should move him, now. You are doing him a disservice by keeping him there if you think something is wrong. You should never continue a relationship with someone you do not trust, a business, friend, family member or other, end the relationship. He should be moved.
You there is no privacy laws over medical information of your friends. You may not want to discuss it, which is fine, but there is no such law.
Where do you find the well known fact that many employers do not provide thorough background checks into any prospective employees? Nursing facilities are required to do a standardized background check on all employees with access to patients, things like this are reviewed on at least a yearly basis.
When you filed a complaint of abuse to the home they are required to notify the state, which is AHCA, police and anyone else who should know. They will show up and review the whole situation.
By lowering the liability insurance on these facilities, they are improving the availability of nursing care to florida residents. This will reduce the incidence of silly lawsuits against the facility, which will help to keep the cost of care down for everyone.
Ideally it would be nice to see someone arrested or a facility shut down where bad care is happening, but the best outcome for you and your loved one is to end this situation if one exists, for the safety of your friend. Would you leave a child with an abusive baby sitter or teacher? This is no different.
The AHCA inspectors will review the incident, they may or may not find anything. All you most likely have is the patients opinion of the event and the employees, only they know the truth. When lawyers are involved the only people who are enriched are the lawyers, they are the ones who are causing our healthcare system to have out of control costs. The inspectors often deal with an emotional family, a resident who is medicated and the facility who is not medicated, who do they listen to when there is no other evidence or witnesses to go by?
What you should do is find other facilities, tour them, ask questions, and find a staff that you trust. If you sue this facility, obviously the employee has nothing, it won't help the resident and then how do you think that the care will change, very likely it will get worse. Everyone will know that he is the guy with the "crazy family" (even though you are just concerned) - then he could be quietly neglected in other ways, since no employees will want to interact with him. Doctors, nurses and all others will see you as the crazy family and they will quietly encourage you to leave. Possibly they will just ask you to just move him, but you should move him first.
Hope you and your friend the best
JD
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cheryl birgholtz
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Posted: Tue Sep 16th, 2008 02:17 pm |
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At this time, we have been in contact with several attorneys and are continueing our search for a reputable one who is willing to handle the case. The problem being is that the laws were changed when Gov. Bush was in office and it is very difficult to find an attorney to handle the case due to the lack of Nursing Homes caring substantial amount of liability insurance.
If you are asking what is wrong with this family member, I prefer not to go into that portion of his life due to privacy laws. I will tell you that he is in a wheel chair and has all of his mental faculties about him.
It is a well know fact that there are many employers who do not provide THOROUGH background checks into any prospective employees. I want the laws of background checks to change according to the prospective employee's licensing. How long have they been employed in this field? How many hours of special education have they obtained to be considered to work in this field. Where was this person previously employed and why is he/she no longer employed at that facility? My problem with this paricular emploee is that now the Risk Management of this facility is stating that the charges have been umsubstantiated. Even though, the resident shows significant signs of abuse and was heard via telephone verbally abusing this patient.
Last edited on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 02:19 pm by cheryl birgholtz
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JimmyDean
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Posted: Tue Sep 16th, 2008 02:54 am |
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What is a lawyer going to do for this gentleman in this facility?
What is wrong with him?
Where do you get your information that these employees do not have a background check before working in a facility?
What laws do you want to change?
Thanks
JD
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LovebeingaSouthernGirl
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Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 06:20 pm |
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cheryl birgholtz wrote: I have recently been enlightened about this subject and would like to see how many others are aware of the laws or lack there of that I have researched and heard about.
About 18 months ago, a person close to the family had to be admitted to a nursing home because he became to difficult to care for in my mother's home. Her age and health prevented her from going any further. But her knowledge and many years in the field of nursing, helped her make this horrible decision.
This gentleman has been assaulted by another resident in this facility, have a set of dentures replaced, had his jewelry stolen by a resident in this facility with the help of an employee, has had his safety compromised due to lack of "safety belts" being used while he is his wheelchair, received incompetant healthcare, was assaulted by one of the employees, and I could go on, but would only like you as the public to be aware of this situation for this perosn and the many more who are in nursing homes with no family to make sure that things are done properly to assure these persons are healthy and secure.
When Jeb Bush was Gov. of this state, he passed a law that allowed nursing homes to carry less liability insurance and made it harder to sue these institutions when they are providing less than standard care for these patients and allowing harm to come to them at no fault of their own.
Also, in recent times, the state has decreased it's medicaid services for these unfortunate individuals and has caused the nursing home industry to hire persons who are not in this profession to help in nursing but are only there for a job. Not to mention, that the care these individuals get is very low due to cuts to the nursing home industry.
Two weeks ago, this gentlman was assaulted as I stated previously, by an employee. When I say assaulted, he was punched in the face because she did not like him. Mind you, these patients come with many afflictions that are hard to handle: ie; alzheimer's, lack of cognizant thinking, senility, incontinance of bowel and bladder, deaf, mute, unable to walk, and most of all, have no one else to care for them. They have been removed from their homes and placed in these facilities with people they do not know or would even care to know and when of sound mind and body would not have associated with them in any shape or form.
A formal complaint was made with the state, the nursing home asso., the county, the city. and the risk management. This person was immediately sent home with pay, and the family was assured that she would not return until all investigations were complete and the allegations were either substantiated or not.
Within 3 days, this person was allowed to return to work. Risk management says that the allegations were unsubstantiated. Mind you, the investigation is still ongoing. There were photos taken not only by the state but by the family. The law states when a person is injured in a facility, he/she should be seen in an E.R. to assure them and the family that this pewrson has no unseen injuries. ie; briken bones, internal injuries, etc. To this day, the gentleman has not been seen in the E.R. nor have there been any x-rays taken, nor has his eye sight been checked to make sure there isn't any damages. The photos are clear and show swelling on the cheek.bone, open skin wounds, and major swelling and trauma to that area of his face. Unsubstantiated? I think not.
I would ask that any of you who have loved ones in these facilities to please keep a good watch on them. We at this point, can not even find an attorney who is willing to handle this attrocity due to the laws that have been and are still being passed in the legislature, taking away these citizin's rights.
I have already written to Gov. Crist asking for his assistance in conducting an investigation into this facility and all of the other facilities in this state. I have also written to Con. Tim Mahoney and plan to write to anyone and everyone who has the abilities to change the laws so that these people are protected.
There are not any checks into these employees, except whether or not they are licensed to practice in their particular field of nursing home employment. These fields also include but are not limited to, dietary, rehabilitation, risk management, LPN, RN, CNA, Physicians, maint, these are just a few that are needed to ensure that these facilities are in top running order.
For those of you who do not have a loved one in any facility, I ask you to volunteer at your local nursing home and take the time to look around and notice the care of lack there of that these individuals are or are not receiving. When you see something amiss, please take the time to go to your local law enforcement office and they will give you all addresses that you need to have to file complaints against that facility. The more complaints that are filed, the closer we will get to help these individuals receive the care that they so well deserve in order to assure that their last days on this earth are of quality living and happiness.
Cheryl is this man coherent? I have seen things like this before. It is a sad sad state. People who are entrusted to give care do get abusive. Have you called AHCA? And is you have read some of my posts, I am going through a similar situation.
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cheryl birgholtz
Member
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Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 04:10 pm |
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I have recently been enlightened about this subject and would like to see how many others are aware of the laws or lack there of that I have researched and heard about.
About 18 months ago, a person close to the family had to be admitted to a nursing home because he became to difficult to care for in my mother's home. Her age and health prevented her from going any further. But her knowledge and many years in the field of nursing, helped her make this horrible decision.
This gentleman has been assaulted by another resident in this facility, have a set of dentures replaced, had his jewelry stolen by a resident in this facility with the help of an employee, has had his safety compromised due to lack of "safety belts" being used while he is his wheelchair, received incompetant healthcare, was assaulted by one of the employees, and I could go on, but would only like you as the public to be aware of this situation for this perosn and the many more who are in nursing homes with no family to make sure that things are done properly to assure these persons are healthy and secure.
When Jeb Bush was Gov. of this state, he passed a law that allowed nursing homes to carry less liability insurance and made it harder to sue these institutions when they are providing less than standard care for these patients and allowing harm to come to them at no fault of their own.
Also, in recent times, the state has decreased it's medicaid services for these unfortunate individuals and has caused the nursing home industry to hire persons who are not in this profession to help in nursing but are only there for a job. Not to mention, that the care these individuals get is very low due to cuts to the nursing home industry.
Two weeks ago, this gentlman was assaulted as I stated previously, by an employee. When I say assaulted, he was punched in the face because she did not like him. Mind you, these patients come with many afflictions that are hard to handle: ie; alzheimer's, lack of cognizant thinking, senility, incontinance of bowel and bladder, deaf, mute, unable to walk, and most of all, have no one else to care for them. They have been removed from their homes and placed in these facilities with people they do not know or would even care to know and when of sound mind and body would not have associated with them in any shape or form.
A formal complaint was made with the state, the nursing home asso., the county, the city. and the risk management. This person was immediately sent home with pay, and the family was assured that she would not return until all investigations were complete and the allegations were either substantiated or not.
Within 3 days, this person was allowed to return to work. Risk management says that the allegations were unsubstantiated. Mind you, the investigation is still ongoing. There were photos taken not only by the state but by the family. The law states when a person is injured in a facility, he/she should be seen in an E.R. to assure them and the family that this pewrson has no unseen injuries. ie; briken bones, internal injuries, etc. To this day, the gentleman has not been seen in the E.R. nor have there been any x-rays taken, nor has his eye sight been checked to make sure there isn't any damages. The photos are clear and show swelling on the cheek.bone, open skin wounds, and major swelling and trauma to that area of his face. Unsubstantiated? I think not.
I would ask that any of you who have loved ones in these facilities to please keep a good watch on them. We at this point, can not even find an attorney who is willing to handle this attrocity due to the laws that have been and are still being passed in the legislature, taking away these citizin's rights.
I have already written to Gov. Crist asking for his assistance in conducting an investigation into this facility and all of the other facilities in this state. I have also written to Con. Tim Mahoney and plan to write to anyone and everyone who has the abilities to change the laws so that these people are protected.
There are not any checks into these employees, except whether or not they are licensed to practice in their particular field of nursing home employment. These fields also include but are not limited to, dietary, rehabilitation, risk management, LPN, RN, CNA, Physicians, maint, these are just a few that are needed to ensure that these facilities are in top running order.
For those of you who do not have a loved one in any facility, I ask you to volunteer at your local nursing home and take the time to look around and notice the care of lack there of that these individuals are or are not receiving. When you see something amiss, please take the time to go to your local law enforcement office and they will give you all addresses that you need to have to file complaints against that facility. The more complaints that are filed, the closer we will get to help these individuals receive the care that they so well deserve in order to assure that their last days on this earth are of quality living and happiness.
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