Honolulu Personal Injury Lawyer - Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

Continuous Streaming Therapy Using Dermastream Show Promise For Chronic Wound Care

Wayne Parsons — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:05:41 GMT

Permanent wounds that never heal afflict over six million people in the U.S. The wound sometimes appear to heal but then return. Elderly nursing home residents see them as dangerous bed sores or pressure ulcers, and diabetics are susceptible to wounds caused by a lack of blood flow to the extremities. In the recent report from Science Daily a new therapy offers hope of healing these painful wounds. The technique is called Continuous Streaming Therapy and is being developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) by Professor Amihay Freeman

"The problem is chronic," says Prof. Amihay Freeman of TAU's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. To solve it, he's developed a unique device that uses a solution to whisk away dead tissue, bathing the wound while keeping dangerous bacteria away.

TAU's Dermastream provides an enzyme-based solution that flows continuously over the wound. Other techniques are very expensive and labor intensive. Dermastream could save the millions of dollars a year in health care costs and be more effective. Dermastream has passed clinical trials in Israeli hospitals and may be available in the U.S. within the next year, says Prof. Freeman.

Dermastream uses a special solution developed at Prof. Freeman's TAU laboratory in what is now described as "continuous streaming therapy."

"Our basic idea is simple," says Prof. Freeman. "We treat the wound by streaming a solution in a continuous manner. Traditional methods require wound scraping to remove necrotic tissue. That is expensive, painful and extremely uncomfortable to the patient. And while active ingredients applied with bandages on a wound may work for a couple of hours, after that the wound fights back. The bacteria build up again, creating a tedious and long battle."

Dermastream "flows" under a plastic cover that seals the wound, providing negative pressure that promotes faster healing. The active biological ingredient, delivered in a hypertonic medium, works to heal hard-to-shake chronic wounds. While traditional bandaging methods may take months to become fully effective, Dermastream can heal chronic wounds in weeks, Prof. Freeman says.

Prof. Freeman is working with the Veterans Association hospital in Tucson, AZ, to bring the technology to the U.S. market.

Dermastream uses enzymes that were previously applied to wounds as ointments but were slow acting and hard to apply. The continuous streaming therapy combines the enzymes with continuous flowing liquid that increases the effectiveness of the enzymes on the would site.

"My solution helps doctors regain control of the chronic wound, making management more efficient, and vastly improving the quality of their patients' lives," Prof. Freeman concludes.

MLA Tel Aviv University (2009, August 28). Washing Away Painful Wounds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 30, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/08/090826152601.htm

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Wiihabilitation Comes to Maluhia Nursing Home in Honolulu

Wayne Parsons — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:37:04 GMT

Some days are better than others. Yesterday was a great day. I was at Maluhia Nursing Home in Honolulu where I donated two Nintendo Wii games to the facility. A raucous group of residents gathered in the recreation room to see what Wii-hab is all about.

They know a lot about rehabilitation but Wiihabilitation was a new concept. Its a lot more fun the rehabilitation. In fact its a riot.

First up was Mr. Araki in the bowling game. After a little practice he got the ball going right down the middle. The fact that he must stay in a wheelchair didn't stop him for a second and he will be a star in the rec room at Maluhia soon. The KITV News cameraman, Sonny, stopped filming the event and gave tips learned from his daughter to residents about how to rotate the hand to get the right movement on the ball in bowling. Everyone was involved. Everyone was smiling and laughing and cheering.

Everyone was involved.

Let me just reflect on that concept for a minute. I love those words when it pertains to good cheer and good deeds.

This effort is part of a national campaign by over 60 Injury Board law firms in 25 states to bring some fun to the less fortunate in our communities and at the same time contribute to health by adding a little exercise to the lives of regular people.

Nintendo Wii Assists United Cerebral Palsy Therapy Program

Lombardi Law Firm Donates Wii to Blank Children’s Hospital Pediatric Therapy Services in Ankeny

We like to get into the community in Honolulu and support activities for kids and seniors and people who have unmet needs. In this economy places like Maluhia Nursing Home are short of funds and staff and services are strained. Still the staff and residents were full of smiles and optimism and I think they really enjoyed the Wii's we donated.

I'll be going back in a while to check on how they are doing.

People matter.

That's why I became an attorney.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Mandatory Binding Arbitration - Forced Arbitration - Is Bad For Consumers And Congress Should Act

Wayne Parsons — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:19:14 GMT

This week on National Public Radio (NPR) “All Things Considered” highlights new legislation banning pre-dispute mandatory binding arbitration clauses. A recent article posted on Injury Board is a good resource on the subject of forced arbitration and covers the NPR story: NPR Examines "An Arbitration Culture".

NPR spoke with Jamie Leigh Jones, who had a harrowing experience as a private contractor in Iraq when she was raped and beaten by her coworkers. When criminal charges could not be filed, she sought to hold her employer, KBR / Halliburton, accountable for their misconduct. But a forced arbitration clause buried in her employment agreement meant she could not have a jury trial. Instead, she would have to go to arbitration, on the corporation's own terms, for a secret, one-sided tribunal. Jamie’s attorney, American Association of Justice (AAJ) member Todd Kelly, and her appellate counsel is John Vail of the Center for Constitutional Litigation.

In April AAJ and other consumer, employment, and civil rights groups urged Congress to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act and the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act. These two bills would put an end to binding mandatory arbitration clauses (forced arbitration) in certain consumer, employment, franchise, and nursing home care contracts that unfairly target certain vulnerable people.

On Arbitration Fairness Day, over 30 victims of forced arbitration from targeted states came to Washington D.C. to lobby for the passage of the bills. The day was marked with a noon press conference at which the sponsors of the Arbitration Fairness Act, Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Hank Johnson, spoke about the need for the legislation. Also speaking at the press conference were Jamie and other individuals who have suffered terrible consequences as the result of forced arbitration.

I have written articles on this issue before on my Blog and you will find lots of background information and resources in those articles.

Forced Arbitration: Tort Reform By Contract

Fact Sheet For Arbitration Fairness Act

Public Justice, the great consumer advocate has a 15 year record of challenging these abusive corporate tactics in Court and I am sure that Arthur Bryant an Paul Bland, consumer giants and great attorneys at Public Justice will celebrate the passage of these Bills. If you are interested in a true American hero, Paul Bland is a role model for that category:

Top Dog for the Underdog For his all-consuming dedication, some recognition from his countrymen
David Deal
When he was in law school, Paul Bland knew only that he wanted to pursue public service. He didn’t foresee a career as an award-winning champion of consumer rights.

If the world of consumer rights law is a battle against modern-day Goliaths—banks, HMOs, mortgage brokers, credit card companies and others with powerful resources—then F. Paul Bland Jr. ’86 is more than ready to play David. And, he says, the stones in his slingshot include some lessons learned at Harvard Law School from a giant of another kind: the late Vern Countryman, who taught at HLS from 1963 until 1987.

So when the National Consumer Law Center recently honored Bland’s contributions to consumer rights advocacy with the Vern Countryman Consumer Law Award, Bland felt a renewed sense of connection to the professor he encountered at HLS more than 20 years ago.

As a staff attorney at Public Justice, a public interest law firm with headquarters in Washington, D.C.—and especially as director of the firm’s Mandatory Arbitration Abuse Prevention Project—Bland has fought some of the more egregious injustices committed against consumers by major companies. Though mandatory arbitration is designed to prevent a glut of consumer claims from tying up the courts, he explains, some companies add arbitration clauses to their consumer contracts—including clauses compelling consumers to give up the right to pursue class-action litigation—that make it nearly impossible for customers to bring cases. The provisions take many forms, he adds, but their goal is the same: to make the arbitration process discouragingly opaque and intimidating.

“People think of alternative dispute resolution as having so much promise—giving fairer, faster ways to deal with claims,” Bland says. “But what’s happening in a lot of cases is that the more powerful party takes advantage. A subprime lender is taking advantage of a poor person, or a car dealer of a consumer, or a nursing home of the person going in.”

Bland says his views of the problems faced by the powerless were influenced by Countryman during law school, even though he never took a class with the professor. In his third year, as president of the Journal on Legislation, he solicited Countryman to write an article on an important piece of bankruptcy legislation. At first, Bland found bankruptcy law “unbelievably boring,” but he says he began to understand its importance and its relevance to consumer protection in conversations with Countryman, who repeatedly tried to rouse his interest in it.

“As I got into the world and I started representing low-income people, a lot of the ideas that he was trying to explain have become a lot clearer to me,” Bland says. “What I’ve come to see is that [bankruptcy law] really stands between a lot of people and the equivalent of debtors’ prison. It’s an incredibly important protection.”

Bland’s caseload has taken him to state and federal courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. But even when he travels, he makes time to meet with other consumer advocates (“a community of lawyers who really stick together,” he says) to share some of the finer points of fighting uphill battles.

“The asymmetry of resources is huge,” he says, “but it can be fun to be the underdog.”

Voices count. People matter. Your opinion matters. Even the great attorney Paul Bland and the team at Public Justice cannot do it without you. The corporate schemes to undermine the rights of American consumers by tricks like forced arbitration have been stymied by individual attorneys like Paul Bland and Arthur Bryant, but they need more tolls like The Arbitration Fairness Act to make sure that justice is possible for all Americans. So speak up for your rights and take America back from the corporate CEO's and CFO's and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, their lobbying tool! Never forget that Together We Are Strong".

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Exercise Programs Most Effective In Helping Elderly Prevent Injuries From Falls

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:00:01 GMT

In a ScienceDaily article on April 17, 2009 - Exercise Reduces Falls In Older People, Review Suggests home safety improvements, vitamin D supplements and other prescriptions to help elders avoid injury from falls, are not as effective as exercise programs. So if you or a loved one are getting into the golden years, get up off the couch and join a good seniors exercise group.

Lead researcher Lesley Gillespie, who is based at Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand reached that conclusion after a systematic review of the available evidence.

For senior citizens a fall can result in a serious injury. Broken hips are common and can be life threatening. Even less serious injuries from a fall may impact an older person's quality of life. For example, after a fall, they may feel less confident and decide to restrict their own activities to avoid further accidents. It is therefore important to consider how falls can be prevented in order to provide peace of mind for those at risk, as well as family members.

Exercise may help to prevent falls by improving strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance. "Programmes that contain a combination of these components reduce falls. These include exercising in supervised groups, participating in Tai Chi, and carrying out individually prescribed exercise programmes at home," says lead researcher Lesley Gillespie, who is based at Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand. "What remains less clear is whether some other interventions really do reduce falls. Some may be of more benefit to those at higher risk of falling. There also seem to be differences in the effectiveness of some kinds of interventions when carried out in different health care settings."

Data from 111 trials that included 55,303 older people were reviewed. They looked at group and individual home-based exercise programs as well as vitamin D for reducing muscle weakness, home safety improvements, cataract surgery for improving vision, and combinations.

Participants in an exercise program had fewer injuries from falls and they also fell less frequently. Combination interventions based on individual assessments also reduce falls.

Other things also reduce fall injuries in the elder population. For instance:

1. Gradual withdrawal from certain drugs taken to improve sleep, reduce anxiety and treat depression;

2. Cataract surgery on the first affected eye;

3. Anti-slip shoes for icy conditions.

Vitamin D showed potential for reducing the risk of falls only in those with vitamin D deficiencies. Home interventions were relatively unsuccessful, except in high-risk groups.

Gillespie says further research may help to determine which components are crucial to an effective exercise program. "We need more research to see which components of an exercise programme are most important, but the trials would need to be large trials to discern any differences," she says.

The Journal Reference is:

Gillespie et al. Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Reviews, 2009, Issue 2. Art.No.: CD007146 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007146.pub2

I will report on another Cochrane review focusing on prevention of falls among older people living in residential care facilities and hospitals is nearing completion.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

80 Year-old Nursing Home Resident Evicted and Left at Emergency Room - What do you think about that?

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:21:50 GMT

Florence Ko, 81, had lived at Nu’uanu Hale in Honolulu for 18 months when a week before Christmas the staff at Nu'uanu Hale dropped her off at Straub Clinic & Hospital Emergency Room dressed in a hospital gown and holding her only personal belongings – a purse and a cell phone, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.

The nursing home claimed she had not paid her bill in months, and they had no choice but to discharge her. With no family to call on, nursing home officials dropped her off at the next best place they could think of, the hospital emergency room. Later that evening, Ko was taken to an Aiea respite home for temporary care.

“I wish someone (at the nursing home) had the courage to tell me what was going on,” Ko told the newspaper reporter.

A Hawaii state agency determined that that no abuse had occurred because the nursing home had dropped Ko off at a safe place, a hospital. However, the Department of Human Services called the drop-off inappropriate, and said it would refer the case to the Department of Health.

Nu’uano Hale is rated as “poor” on a new rating system recently unveiled by the federal government, earning one star out of a possible five.

Ko is in a situation referred to by officials as the“gap group.” Her personal finances did not allow her to qualify for Medicaid but she earned too little from Social Security and an annuity to cover nursing home costs.

“We will likely see more people needing assistance,” says Anne Holton, a long-term-care ombudsman specialist with the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging. “With the boomers coming up, there’s going to be a whole new tide of people looking at that.”

This story has been reported all the way to Alabama where it showed up in web story from a prominent consumer advocate law firm, Beasley Allan . Their website is a good place to get the truth about health and safety risks and your rights. In the Rob Perez story in the Honolulu Advertiser it is interesting that the comments on the Advertiser website are highly critical of Ko and the Ko family. website includes a much more detailed analysis.

So what are your thoughts Honolulu? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons