California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

REGION: Woman advocates for nursing home patients

Oceanside resident Lynda Tammone is looking for a way to give nursing home patients and their loved ones more power to document instances of what they consider poor care.

Tammone, whose husband spent nearly one year in a San Marcos nursing home, sued the facility in small-claims court in April, winning $7,585, the maximum judgment allowed. The company paid the judgment, according to a document provided by Tammone.

Her lawsuit accused the nursing home of negligent nursing care, including poor and insufficient therapy, and alleged that "poor care resulted in long-term illness."

However, an investigation by the California Department of Public Health substantiated only three of Tammone's 27 claims against the facility. That frustrated Tammone, 65, a former paramedic, who said better record-keeping could have aided state inspectors.

Tammone said she wants a state law that would require nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities to document complaints in a patient's medical file. Tammone said she plans to begin making the rounds with local legislators soon.

"As it is now, a patient or family member can complain day after day about being left, as an example, in a urine-saturated diaper and sheets and the (Department of Public Health) ultimately has no evidence to indicate a shortcoming," Tammone said.

A state official said inspectors look at several factors during an investigation, including how a nursing home is treating patients with similar conditions, to determine whether a complaint can be substantiated.

Complaints about care

Tammone's husband, John Tammone Jr., 64, who has Crohn's disease, spent nearly a near in the Village Square Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in San Marcos after a series of health setbacks in 2009.

He was moved to the facility after being hospitalized for a spontaneous bowel rupture on July 30, 2009, that required emergency surgery, and then suffering a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body and caused permanent brain damage.

Lynda Tammone, a retired emergency medical technician, said she spent most of each day at her husband's bedside at Village Square taking notes on the care he received.

On July 12, 2010, she filed a 13-page letter with the California Department of Public Health alleging 27 instances where she said her husband did not receive proper care. 

A letter from the state agency, which is charged with inspecting all nursing homes in the state, substantiated three of Tammone's complaints.

Nursing Homes Have up to Twenty-Four Percent of Their Patients ...

In the nursing home environment, the prevalence of pressure ulcers is in the range of 2.6-24%.The incidence is 25% in residents admitted from an acute care hospital.

Patients with preexisting pressure ulcers demonstrate a 26% incidence of additional pressure ulcer formation over a 6-month period. The incidence in chronic care hospitals is reported to be 10.8%,whereas 33% of those admitted to a chronic care hospital have pressure ulcers.Long-term follow-up demonstrates that most ulcers healed within a year.

Persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and associated comorbidity are also at increased risk. The incidence of pressure ulcers in this population is in the range of 25-66%.

Nursing home litigation, investigation and case preparation

Los Angeles magazine

Stop Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Before It Starts

Family Reference Guide to Nursing Home Abuse And Neglect

ABA Journal