My mom was hospitalized several months ago for a hypertensive crisis, during this crisis her blood pressure was crazy high, she spaced a lot of fluid into her lower extremities and tissue. After about two weeks in the hospital, she was discharged back to the assisted living facility. She remained there for about a week until her extreme hypertension returned and she was hospitalized again. She developed pneumonia never really rebounded, developed a couple complications not related to hypertension and subsequently passed away last Wednesday. We found out the assisted living facility neglected to change her medications to reflect the changes requested during her first hospitalization. This resulted in her second hospitalization which she did not return.

I am not sure how or if I want to proceed. The facility staff treated my mom well for the most part. The residents staying there are wonderful. I have a couple ways to proceed, 1. talk to the "manager" of the facility (we did this when it initially happened), 2. Ignore it, 3. file a medical malpractice suit.

I am leaning more toward the ignore it but just wanted to toss it out there and get other opinions.

There are two issues:
1. Proof of fault
2. whether you want to proceed.

Proof of fault may not be as clear as you think. Can you prove that the facility was directed to change her medications and failed to do so?

Whether you want to proceed will depend partly on the answer to the first question. But it will also depend on whether or not you are up for the rigors of litigation. It can be long and grueling.

I would consult with at least two attorneys who practice in this area within your jurisdiction before making a decision.

First, sorry for your loss.

My response depends somewhat on your mom's age and state of health prior to this. A reasonably healthy person who just needed a bit of help, or someone who's time was coming to an end?

While I'm sure that the staff has some legal duty to provide the proper care, I'm not certain they are covered by malpractice standards in the same way as a physician (unless there is one on staff).

Unless you feel that your mom's life was significantly shortened by this event, I think you may end up feeling worse about the whole thing by the time attorneys and courts are done with it.

I had reason to talk with a malpractice attorney when my father passed.

The consultation was free, and based on the state laws that applied, we did not pursue filing a suit, although we did have a more detailed autopsy done to provide more input relevant to making that call.

There are a lot of details to consider, so I would suggest you contact a well-reputed local malpractice attorney and lay out your concerns, sooner rather than later.

We considered action against the facility that my FIL was at when he passed, due to some of the circumstances around his stay.

We ended up not filing a lawsuit, but did file a formal complaint with the State board that oversees the licences of these facilities. They were hit with a fine, and placed under a probation that required stricter monitoring of medical care and communication.

We hope that is enough to prevent another case like his, but honestly these places are run so thin, I just don't know.

First, sorry for your loss.
I'd lean more towards the notification of the State Licensing Board. My intention would be to aid in prevention of a similar mistake going forward if at all possible.

my condolences

I think you need a good lawyer to assess the case but like others have said, its a tough go

having a formal complaint filed with the state, which may or may not lead to a more in-depth investigation I think might have better results

What specific thing are you looking to make happen?

assisted living facilities (in my location, not sure if it’s nation wide) do not have anything to do with medical care and aren’t obligated or liable. The “assisted” part is three squares, staff to assist you with mobility issues, providing transportation to/from doctors but do not assist with medications. A lot of the residents do get assistance from a nurse with meds but those are private duty which is extra and paid for separately.

Sorry for your loss Censored....I hope you can find peace

I’m sorry for your loss.

I used to own assisted living centers and nursing homes in five different states. Every state has widely varying regulations on assisted living, from no licensing to very comprehensive licensing, similar to nursing homes.

As previously mentioned, most states do not impose a duty of medical/prescription care upon operators of assisted living facilities. You should take your Admissions Agreement, which will contain the limitations of provided services, and consult with counsel familiar with assisted living care in your State if you wish to consider litigation for negligent care.

First, sorry for your loss. I work in a similar facility and can add...

You can't file medical malpractice against the facility due to not being on the proper medication as the facility doesn't prescribe medications, her physician would have to do that. You would file against her physician if he/she didn't write an order for a medication she required. Assisted Living Facilities don't normally hire physicians themselves.

The facility could be negligent if they were not administering prescribed medications correctly but that doesn't sound like what you're describing.

I don't know more about your situation than what you've posted here but I can add this in general terms and has nothing to do with you. It is really depressing how many litigate over issues when the facility was genuinely trying to do the right thing. So many people see any event as a way to possibly make a quick buck. I deal with it every day and it makes it hard to go to work sometimes.

Thanks, everyone, this is the type of input that I was hoping to get. I am going to work toward filing a complaint with the state.

The residents at this facility are not allowed to have/take any of their own "from home" medications. Meds are prescribed by the prescribing physician, sent via mail order to the pharmacy at the facility and dispensed to the residents by a nurse (just as if you were in the hospital). The medication change orders were received electronically by the facility. The changes to the medications were not entered into the EMR. It was not until my wife viewed the EMR that she realized the changes to the meds had not been made (there is the electronic time stamp of when the new orders were received). We could probably push it, but why. My mom would often complain that she was not getting her medications in a timely manner. Sometimes not at all. I guess my concern would be for the other residence's. All of whom were very nice to my mom.

Thanks again for the thoughtful input.

Please keep in mind the “Pharmacy” in the ALF may be a subtenant, or third-party not related to the ALF company ownership. Or it may not. Most ALF operators steer wide of administering medical care (otherwise they’d pursue nursing or hospital business).

Something to follow up on. Feel free to ask me further questions if desired. Be safe, Steve

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
There are two issues:
1. Proof of fault
2. whether you want to proceed.

Proof of fault may not be as clear as you think. Can you prove that the facility was directed to change her medications and failed to do so?

Whether you want to proceed will depend partly on the answer to the first question. But it will also depend on whether or not you are up for the rigors of litigation. It can be long and grueling.

I would consult with at least two attorneys who practice in this area within your jurisdiction before making a decision.

Good advice.

Sorry for your loss. As stated above consult with a malpractice attorney.

There's another issue, which is that even if you have cause for the case, there may not be enough money in it for an attorney to take it on contingency.

Where malpractice cases tend to get big numbers is for compensation for future value (lost wages, etc.) I'm assuming your mother was elderly retired, and not supporting anyone. So that isn't a factor in what the case would be worth.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
There's another issue, which is that even if you have cause for the case, there may not be enough money in it for an attorney to take it on contingency.

Where malpractice cases tend to get big numbers is for compensation for future value (lost wages, etc.) I'm assuming your mother was elderly retired, and not supporting anyone. So that isn't a factor in what the case would be worth.

It can be a huge factor. Plus, there really aren't enough facts in the OPs description to adequately evaluate the case. You need to speak to a lawyer in your state to know how good your claims might be. It sounds like negligence, but there is always more to know than can be contained in 100 words.

Thanks again for the feedback and advice everyone. I will probably just file a complaint with the state or Medicare and let it take its course. Maybe that will help any future and/or current residences avoid similar mishandlings.