The lawyers of the New York nursing home abuse and neglect law firm of Leitner Varughese PLLC have litigated hundreds of lawsuits against New York nursing homes over the last 10 years. It has become readily apparent that a major problem which leads to the failure of nursing home facilities to exercise all care reasonably necessary to prevent and limit the deprivation and injury to the patients, is the lack of sufficient nursing staff at the facilities.

It has been reported that these New York nursing homes generally receive between $100,000.00 to $120,000,00 per year for each Medicaid patient, and up to eight times that amount ($800,000.00+) per private pay patient.

However, because the State of New York has no set "minimum staffing" requirements, many of these for-profit nursing home owners and operators pocket too much of the profits instead of paying for appropriate and adequate nurses and certified nursing assistants ("CNAs") to properly care for the residents.

Time and time again, nurses and aides have testified in our cases that the nursing home owners simply refuse to employ an adequate amount of staff, leaving the staff unable to properly perform all of the tasks and care needs required to provide adequate care.

For instance, we have seen many circumstances, where the nursing home employs a single CNA/aide to care for 20-25 residents on a given shift. The CNA/aide is unable to provide the proper care for all of these residents, including bathing, feeding, turning and positioning, changing, toileting, caring for skin, responding to call bells, responding to alarms, monitoring, making rounds, documenting care, supervising, transferring, amongst other duties.

Likewise, we have seen a single nurse assigned to up to 50 residents at a given time, making it impossible for the staff member to properly and adequately provide all of the care needs required.

We have taken testimony from nurses and CNA/aides that when they go on break, or have a meal, that there is no other staff member available or assigned to cover their assignment, leaving dozens of nursing home residents unsupervised, alone and vulnerable to failure of care, neglect and injury.

It has recently been reported that elder advocate groups are pushing for legislation that would set minimum staffing levels for nursing homes, and that in response, Gov. Cuomo has directed the New York State Department of Health to study this issue.

Leitner Varughese PLLC is a cutting-edge litigation and trial law firm uniquely experienced in handling high-profile, complex lawsuits involving serious injuries and wrongful death. The Firm has vast experience in handling cases involving Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect, and has vast experience handling these cases in Nassau County, Suffolk County, Bronx County, Kings County, Richmond County, Queens County, New York County, Westchester County and Rockland County.

In addition to handling these types of cases, Leitner Varughese PLLC routinely and successfully represents victims that have been sustained serious injuries caused by:

Construction Accidents Medical Malpractice Motor Vehicle Accidents Trip / Slip & Fall Accidents Labor Law Violations Negligent Premises Security Products Liability Defective Drugs

For more information about Leitner Varughese PLLC or to be a part of our team, please contact us at (855) LV LAW NY (855-585-2969), or visit our website at http://www.lvlawny.com.

Leitner Varughese is currently investigating New York nursing home injuries involving:

Bed Sores or Pressure Sores (also known as “decubitus ulcers” or “pressure ulcers”) Falls resulting in fractures or other serious injury Infection or Sepsis Head injuries Injuries of unknown origin Malnutrition or Dehydration

Medication Errors Choking Clogged Breathing Tubes Infected PEG tubes Physical or Sexual Assault or Abuse Physical or Chemical Restraints Burns