The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ranks nursing homes on a scale of one to five stars. Their data can be looked up at medicare.gov under the “nursing home compare” link. Additionally, call an ombudsman to find out about any specific complaints registered about that nursing home. (find local ombudsman here. These are both good resources to use when researching a facility, but personally investigating the nursing home is vital to making a final decision.

Visiting the Facility

When choosing a home, it’s important to be proactive! Make sure to visit the home separately at day and night to see the full range of care provided. When visiting prospective nursing homes, ask to meet with the executive director, lead physician, and head nurse. If they avoid speaking with you, that could be a bad sign. Another good idea is to attend a resident or family council meeting to learn more about the home and the cycle of care it provides. If possible, find homes that practice “person-centered care.” This allows residents to make their own schedules for sleeping, eating, and other activities, giving the resident more freedom. It’s also a good idea to find out if they have “consistent assignment,” meaning that patients interact exclusively with the same staff on a daily basis. Having consistent relationships helps improve the resident’s quality of life.

Red Flags

High Staff Turnover – What is the percentage of staff turnover each year? Over 30% turnover may indicate a problem.

Odors – What does it smell like when you enter the home? A stench of urine could indicate low quality care. The smell of cleaning solution also may not mean the facility is clean but some other smell is being covered up.

Restraints – Look out for restraint devices on wheelchairs, beds, and/or chairs.

Food – Are residents allowed a choice for their meals? Are they allowed snacks in between meals if they get hungry? Are those who can’t feed themselves being assisted?

Staff interaction with residents – Watch out for any rude or disrespectful behavior from staff members towards residents. This could be indicative of elder abuse. Any shouting by staff members is inappropriate and evidence of a high stress environment.

Resident behavior and appearance – Pay attention to the disposition of residents and whether or not they look depressed. Activities should be available for those who want to participate.

Privacy and Security – Access to different parts of the facility shouldn’t be too freely granted or too restricted.

Organization – There should not be dirty linens or unstored linens in the hallways. Residents should always receive medications on schedule and staff should wait to make sure they are fully swallowed.

Elder Abuse

Abusive caregivers will often try to mask the signs of abuse by chalking them up to dementia or illness. Unexplained injuries, bruises, welts, scars, broken bones, sprains, dislocations, incorrect dosing of medication can be signs of physical abuse. Emotional abuse can be detected by observing threatening or belittling behavior by staff or behaviors such as rocking back and forth, sucking, or mumbling to oneself. Signs of neglect can be weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration, bed sores, or dirty bedding.

Any combination of these signs is an indication to look elsewhere for the care of your loved ones.

Post-menopausal women over 50 were found to be most susceptible to bone fractures, with 71% of those who suffered fractures found to be taking Avandia or Actos. Men also experienced fractures while taking a TZD combined with a “loop diuretic” often prescribed to diabetes sufferers.

12 members of the panel voted to discontinue the distribution of Avandia, 10 voted that it should be distributed but its use curtailed with additional label warnings and possible sale restrictions, 7 voted for more label warnings alone, and 3 voted to continue sales with no changes. The FDA does not have to follow the recommendations of the panel and will reach a final decision in the near future.

The CPSC stepped in after the toy’s manufacturer, Henry Gordy International, refused to comply with a recall. The “Autofire” toy dart set was sold at Family Dollar stores from September 2005 to January 2009 for around $1.50.

“Gordy Toy” and “Ages 8+” are printed on the toy’s packaging.

The toy guns should be disposed of immediately. Family Dollar has agreed to provide a refund which can be received by calling (800) 547-0359.

Infusion pumps are used to automatically deliver medicine, fluids, and nutrients into a patient’s system. The defective pumps either delayed or interrupted the infusions.

Baxter ceased selling the pump in 2005 due to problems with design flaws, battery failures, and software errors, but the previously sold pumps remained in use. Since then there have been 56,000 reports of malfunctioning infusion pumps of all brands resulting in over 500 deaths and an untold numbers of injuries. Baxter wanted to leave its remaining pumps on the market until 2013 but the FDA rejected this plan citing the “persistent safety problems.”

Baxter’s chairman and CEO Bob Parkinson told his company’s shareholders that the situation “languished far beyond what it should have.” While Parkinson’s admission is warranted, the question should be why the pumps weren’t taken off the market earlier. According to the FDA’s news release, Baxter was working with the FDA to try to correct the defects since 1999. Partial recalls were intermittently issued. Yet, the pumps weren’t completely recalled until over 10 years later. Prompted by the Baxter recall, Baxter’s comptetitor Hospira voluntarily ceased sales of one of its infusion pump brands as well, raising questions of the extent of infusion pump safety issues.

No serious health risks have been linked to the recalled medicines. The FDA advises parents to stop giving these medicines to their children as a precaution and replace them with a generic brand alternative. Generic brands have been unaffected by the recall.

All Simplicity full-size cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames have been recalled. There have been reports that the frame can bend or detach, creating a space where a child can become trapped. A one-year-old child from Massachusetts suffocated after falling between the crib mattress and the crib frame. There have been 13 other reports of the crib bending that did not result in injury, and one child who suffered minor cuts. Simplicity cribs were sold at Walmart, Target, Babies R Us, and other retailers for between $150 and $300. More detailed information on the Simplicity crib recall can be found here.

About 217,000 Graco-branded drop side cribs manufactured by LaJobi have been recalled as a result of 99 reports of broken hardware and detached drops sides, including two incidents of children becoming trapped in the gap created by the detached drop side. Neither was injured. There were six other reports of children falling out of the crib, with one suffering a minor concussion. These cribs were sold from February 2007 to March 2010 for between $140 and $200. For further descriptions and pictures of the recalled models, go here.

Owners of these cribs should stop using them immediately and not attempt to make any repairs. If your baby has been injured from either a Simplicity or Graco brand crib, you may have a claim that could result in compensation. Contact an attorney at Gary D. McCallister & Associates, LLC for more information.

The seriousness of this recall can be seen in the changes Toyota made this passed Tuesday. Rarely does a car manufacturer halt production and sales of its vehicles, especially multiple top selling vehicles, unless there are serious safety concerns. There may very well be more to this tale than Toyota is currently sharing with the public.

There have already been several complaints and injuries related to uncontrollable accelerating vehicles. People injured as a result of these faulty cars have a right to seek answers from Toyota, and Toyota should be held responsible for the injuries suffered to these people through no fault of their own. The vehicles affected by the recall include: 2009-2010 Rav 4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2008-2010 Sequoia.

If you or someone you know has been injured as a result of the recalled Toyota vehicles, contact Gary D. McCallister & Associates, LLC. You may be entitled to money damages.

Owners of these vehicles should contact a local dealer to have the problem corrected, however, it is likely the problem will not be fixed until parts are available and mechanics are properly trained, which will likely be in early 2010. In the interim, owners should remove the floor mats from the driver’s side to avoid any potential harm.

If you have been involved in a collision as a result of unexpected acceleration in one of these vehicles, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact an attorney at Gary D. McCallister & Associates, LLC for more information.

Families entrusted their loved ones final resting place to the Burr Oak Cemetery. They paid money and signed contracts to ensure their families members would be eternally safe at the cemetery, only now to find out that the bodies may have been moved and/or discarded in a mass grave. It is unfathomable that people would stoop so low as to disturb the dead to put a few extra dollars in their pockets, but the reality is that it has happened, and now these families have a right to be compensated.

Families whose loved ones final resting place was disturbed at the Burr Oak Cemetery should be compensated by those involved. The cemetery workers, owners and others who knew about this disgraceful scam to resell occupied plots should not be able to walk away without answering to the families who have been harmed. If you believe you may have a claim against the Burr Oak Cemetery, contact Gary D. McCallister & Associates to learn more about your legal rights.