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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: nursing homes

nursing homes stories: 20 news summaries

Autopsy Shows 100-Year-Old Was Murdered

Nursing home resident Elizabeth Barrow
found strangled

Oct 8, 09 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Massachusetts medical examiner has ruled the death of a 100-year-old nursing home patient a homicide by strangulation. Elizabeth Barrow was found dead in her room Sept. 24, with a plastic bag over her head and no obvious signs of struggle, a law enforcement source tells the Standard-Times of... More »

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elderly • Massachusetts • homicide • nursing homes • senior citizens • Elizabeth Barrow

Journos Sign Shields' Mom Out of Nursing Home

Enquirer accused of looking for scoop

May 16, 09 3:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - An outraged Brooke Shields says a pair of tabloid reporters hungry for a story checked her mother, a dementia sufferer, out of a nursing home earlier this week, People reports. Shields says police informed her that two National Enquirer reporters posing as her mother's friends signed her out of the... More »

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dementia • nursing homes • tabloids • National Enquirer • Alzheimer's Disease • Brooke Shields

OPINION

Save Some Outrage for
Gun Violence

Wall St. malfeasance
is a crisis—but so is shooting epidemic

Apr 12, 09 10:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - We look back at witch hunts and slavery with shame and consternation, but after reading about our recent spate of gun violence, future historians will regard us as similarly misguided, Cynthia Tucker writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “These mass shootings are a form of madness, but what’s even... More »

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NRA • nursing homes • Oakland • Pittsburgh • mass shootings • guns

(Newser) - The wife of the man charged with killing 8 yesterday worked at the North Carolina nursing home he chose for his murderous rampage, the New York Times reports. Local police said gunman Robert Stewart was likely separated from Wanda Luck, but declined to say if she was in the... More »

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murder • North Carolina • nursing homes • wife • shooting • Carthage • Robert Stewart • Justin Garner • workplace

UPDATED

 8 Dead in NC 
 Nursing Home Shooting 


Mar 29, 09 2:02 PM CDT
(AP) - A gunman opened fire at a North Carolina nursing home early today, killing at least eight people and wounding several others, police said. The local police chief says the shootings happened around 10am at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the town of Carthage. Authorities say the gunman, who's in custody,... More »

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crime • North Carolina • nursing homes • gunman • shooting

After 14 Years, NJ Alzheimer's Patient Identified

Can now be moved
to nursing home from psychiatric hospital

Mar 24, 09 10:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - A long-unidentified woman with Alzheimer’s who has spent the past 14 years in New Jersey psychiatric hospitals finally has a name—and may now be moved to a nursing home, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. A suspected illegal immigrant before she was identified, Elba Leonor Diaz Soccaras, 74, was ineligible... More »

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New Jersey • nursing homes • psychiatric treatment center • Alzheimer's Disease • Elba Leonor Diaz Soccaras

(Newser) - Rife with mistreated patients and poor conditions, nearly one quarter of US nursing homes received 1 out of 5 stars in a new Washington rating program. “The conditions described are grim and, at times, deadly,” Sam Roe writes in the Chicago Tribune of Illinois’ one-star homes. Cold food,... More »

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elderly • nursing homes • Illinois

 Elderly Trapped in 
 Houses That Won't Sell  

Lack of buyers forces frail elderly to postpone plans for assisted living

Nov 22, 08 6:19 AM CST
(Newser) - The collapse of the housing market has left many elderly people marooned in their own homes, the New York Times reports. Retirement communities require hefty down payments that many elderly were expecting to raise by selling their homes. With no buyers out there, frail people requiring daily care are stuck... More »

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elderly • housing market • nursing homes • home sales • retirement communities

The Battle to Get Elderly Back on Their Feet After Falls

Falls treated as complicated medical events instead of routine part of getting old

Nov 8, 08 8:46 AM CST
(Newser) - Falling and breaking a hip is so common among the elderly it's been considered an inevitable sign of aging, but medical experts have now developed complex protocols to both prevent and treat breaks that often trigger a spiral of decline, the New York Times reports. Even minor falls "need... More »

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health • elderly • nursing homes • eldercare • osteoporosis • geriatric medicine

Court: Cops Wrong to Tape Man's Sex With Comatose Wife

Privacy law violated in sexual assault case

Sep 11, 08 9:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Wisconsin court today threw out evidence against a man police videotaped having sex with his comatose wife in her nursing-home room, the AP reports, arguing that authorities violated his constitutional rights. The court ruled that David Johnson, 59, who’s been charged with felony sexual assault, had an expectation... More »

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Wisconsin • privacy • nursing homes • Fourth Amendment • sexual assault

Antipsychotic Drugs Triple Health Risks in Elderly

Dementia research finds even brief use is dangerous

May 27, 08 8:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Elderly dementia patients given antipsychotic drugs, even briefly, are three times as likely to end up hospitalized or dead within a month, new research has found. The study looked at 40,000 elderly Canadians, half of them in nursing homes, and found that the drugs increased the risk of... More »

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elderly • dementia • antipsychotic drugs • nursing homes • Zyprexa • Alzheimer's Disease

Slow Medicine Lets Elderly Go More Gracefully

Approach prefers less aggressive stance in fighting signs of aging

May 5, 08 12:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - In a medical culture seemingly aimed at reviving and resuscitating, the slow medicine approach instead allows elderly patients to weigh the risks and burdens of treatment against the likelihood that it will significantly extend their lives. For many seniors, the philosophy offers the freedom to choose comfort over cure, dying... More »

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health care • nursing homes • death • old age • eldercare • end of life care • geriatric medicine • hospice

 Nursing Homes Pressure Patients to Forgo Lawsuits

Elderly required to sign away their right to sue

Apr 11, 08 2:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nursing homes are pushing patients to give up the right to sue, writing binding arbitration clauses into standard contracts for admission, the Wall Street Journal reports. The homes say the practice lets them concentrate resources on care instead of costly litigation, which soared in the '90s, but critics charge that... More »

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elderly • nursing homes • lawsuit • arbitration • litigation

Robot Dogs Cheer Up Elderly

Study says robo-mutt relieved loneliness as effectively as a real dog

Mar 1, 08 8:02 AM CST
(Newser) - Robot dogs are almost as effective as the real thing in cheering up elderly nursing home residents, a new study at St. Louis University has found. Once the patients had some time to get used to him, researchers say robot mutt AIBO lowered loneliness levels about as well as a... More »

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elderly • nursing homes • robot • robotics • loneliness • dog

One of Last Remaining US WWI Vets Dies

At 109, oldest-known American veteran of 'Great War' never actually saw combat

Dec 22, 07 6:13 AM CST
(Newser) - The oldest-known American World War I veteran—one of only three remaining—has died at age 109, the Toledo Blade reports. J. Russell Coffey, who enlisted in the Army a month before the war ended, was never comfortable with that recognition because he never saw combat. He preferred to be... More »

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nursing homes • US Army • oldest man • World War I • J. Russell Coffey

Nursing Homes Fight Drug Addiction

Use of anti-psychotics for dementia soars; alternatives sought

Dec 20, 07 1:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Despite known dangers—including an increased risk of death—the use of anti-psychotic drugs to control elderly dementia patients has surged, to an estimated 30% of all nursing home residents. Under pressure to cut back, some homes are experimenting with alternatives, like letting distraught patients do what they want to... More »

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elderly • dementia • antipsychotic drugs • nursing homes

Nursing Homes Misuse Meds to Control Patients

'Off label' antipsychotic use drives up costs, sparks concern

Dec 4, 07 3:05 PM CST
(Newser) - Understaffed US nursing homes are increasingly turning to antipsychotic drugs to control elderly residents, even though most display symptoms of dementia rather than the psychotic disorders the drugs are intended to treat, the Wall Street Journal reports. Such “off-label” usage defies FDA warnings that elderly patients using the... More »

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elderly • dementia • antipsychotic drugs • nursing homes • rehabilitation center • psychosis • eldercare • elder abuse • senior citizens • Alzheimer's Disease

Nursing Homes Raise Profits, Cut Care

Private equity firms buying up, stripping down facilities

Sep 23, 07 5:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Caring for grandma has become big business for private firms that are buying nursing homes and making them profit generators. But to do it, they’ve severely cut staff—sometimes below legal levels, the New York Times found. “Chains have made a lot of money by cutting nurses,”... More »

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private equity • elderly • nursing homes • nursing • private equity firms • eldercare • senior citizens

Nursing Home Owners Acquitted in Katrina Deaths

Jury finds couple innocent of negligent homicide after 35 patients drowned

Sep 8, 07 8:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - The owners of a Louisiana nursing home were acquitted of negligent homicide and cruelty yesterday in the deaths of 35 patients who drowned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The charges were based on the couple's failure to evacuate the home as the storm approached; the defense argued that the... More »

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Hurricane Katrina • Louisiana • homicide • patients • nursing homes • Mangano

The End Is Near:
Hospice Cat Senses Death

Oscar picks patients just about to die with uncanny accuracy

Jul 26, 07 5:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - An upscale nursing home in Rhode Island is home to a cat that can sense impending death, the Boston Globe reports. Oscar, whose domain is the dementia ward, shows little interest in patients who are ill but not dying. But when he curls up in a bed, the patient usually... More »

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pets • nursing homes • death • cat

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