Serious Injury Lawyers

The chairman and vice chairman of Assisted Living Concepts/Extendicare sold nearly all of their shares in the assisted living company over the last two weeks. The sales come as the company’s shares have fallen 51% this year and its strategies to boost profits have failed. Assisted Living Concepts, based in Menomonee Falls, WI has 216 residences with more than 9,000 units across the U.S.

Does the sale of this stock by the executives reflect their confidence in the company?

Chairman David Hennigar sold 80,000 shares for $313,000 while vice chairman Melvin Rhinelander sold 201,700 for $822,000. The company’s president Laurie Bebo said that the two directors sold the shares for tax purposes.

One of the company’s failed strategies involved dropping Medicaid patients. At the end of 2006, nearly 30% of its patients were on Medicaid. The company receives about two-thirds as much from Medicaid as it does from private patients. The company’s goal was to shift its patient base, bringing in more of the lucrative private patients.

The New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate started investigating Assisted Living Concepts after hearing about residents being involuntarily discharged once they had exhausted their life savings and were forced to go on Medicaid. The investigation is ongoing.

In February of 2008, ALC kicked out a 98-year-old woman from one of their facilities in Sumner, WA. Cordelia Robertson lived at the facitlity for 9 1/2 years and spent her life savings ($300,000) to live at the facility. The facility’s management assured Cordelia that she could stay at the facility when her money ran out and have Medicaid pick up the payments. Now the facility refuses to allow Medicaid to pick up her costs.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home neglect practice.  Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected residents in almost every county.  We know Wisconsin.

The final tally for Wisconsin highway deaths was 587. The 2008 total dropped 150 from 2007 when the state recorded 737 deaths.  Wisconsin hasn’t seen a total this low since WWII when the public was rationing for the war and roadway travel was restricted.

Record gas prices and the recession are believed to be the two main factors that helped limit the 2008 total. Experts also believe that a decrease in miles traveled, rising unemployment, lower trucking traffic and publicized enforcement of speeding and drunken-driving laws all played a role in reducing the fatalities.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Gov. Jim Doyle has said that he would support a requirement to install ignition interlocks for repeat drunken drivers and first-time offenders with blood-alcohol levels twice the legal limit if the Legislature approved it in the two-year session that begins Monday.

The Governor also supports criminalizing first-offense drunken driving, making third offenses felonies and allowing police to conduct sobriety checkpoints.

“I think technology in the long run is going to be a large part of the answer,” said Gov. Doyle. The Governor went on to say that he expected technology would advance eventually so computer chips could be implanted in offenders that would prevent them from operating cars.

According to a JS Online article, Rep. Tony Staskunas (D-West Allis) plans to introduce a bill that would require ignition interlocks to be installed on the vehicles of repeat drunken drivers and first-time offenders with blood-alcohol levels of 0.16 - twice the level considered evidence of intoxication - or higher.

Doyle said he would sign that bill if Democrats who control the Senate and the Assembly present it to him.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

The Illinois Department of Transportation and State Police officials announced the launch of the You Drink & Drive. You Lose. campaign in an effort to keep drunk drivers off the roads during the holidays. The holiday campaign runs from December 19th - January 4th. The holiday campaign precedes a law, effective Jan. 1, 2009, requiring a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID) to be installed for first-time DUI offenders.

The law requires that all first-time offenders who wish to continue driving must have a BAIID device installed in their vehicle along with a monitoring device driving permit. In other words, if you’d like to keep driving despite your recent DUI, then you’ll be required to install this device for the length of your driver’s license suspension.

The BAIID device requires the driver to submit a breath test every time they wish to start their vehicle and also at periodic intervals after their vehicle has been started. Illinois becomes one of just six states mandating BAIID use by first-time offenders.

Is it time for Wisconsin to do something similar?

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Waukegan firefighter Gregg Paiser, 36, was injured in a two-car crash allegedly caused by a 31-year-old Kenosha man driving under the influence.

According to Fire Chief Dan Young, Paiser suffered a broken femur and is scheduled for surgery at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee.

The police report says Paiser was traveling northbound on 39th Street, also known as Lewis Avenue in Lake County, IL, when his vehicle approached a rise in the roadway. Justin Peet was driving his 1995 Chevy Monte Carlo southbound when he passed two cars in a no-passing zone at a high rate of speed and collided head-on with Paiser.

Peet had to be extricated from the car and was flown to Froedtert to be treated for two broken legs. Peet’s passenger also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Peet is expected to be charged with two counts of causing injury by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle and one count of reckless driving causing bodily harm.

We’d like to wish Mr. Paiser a speedy recovery.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story about 24-year-old Ryan Hock. Ryan suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) when his Toyota Celica was hit head-on by Daniel Kannegiesser’s van last July in Waukesha County. 

Ryan suffered an incapicitating injury. An incapicitating injury is any injury, other than a fatal injury, which prevents the injured person from walking, driving or normally continuing the activities he/she was capable of performing before the injury occurred.

Unfortunately, incapacitating injuries in alcohol related accidents occur three times as often as alcohol-related deaths. In Ryan’s case, the accident left him in a semi-coma with two broken legs, a broken clavicle, a collapsed lung, and shearing in his brain.

Brain shearing, also referred to as a diffuse axonal injury or axonal shearing, is often seen in car accidents after high-speed stops. The damage is caused by twisting and turning of the brain tissue. An axon is a part of the nerve that carries impulses or messages between nerve cells. The shearing movement causes axons and small blood vessels to tear. This disrupts the communication between brain cells and can lead to cognitive, behaviorial and emotional changes. For more information on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) click here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the total cost of acute care and rehabilitation for TBI victims in the United States is $9 billion to $10 billion per year, not including indirect costs to families and society (e.g., lost earnings, work time, and productivity for family members, caregivers, and employers, or the costs associated with providing social services).

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Here’s a list of Wisconsin nursing homes that received the lowest possible rating in the Nursing Home Staffing category, according to the Medicare Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Rating System. All of these homes receive a one (1) star rating in the Nursing Home Staffing category.

According to Medicare’s web site, this information is self-reported by the nursing home and gathered during the most recent health inspection. This star rating is for overall staffing hours, which include Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs), and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Other types of nursing home staff such as clerical, administrative, or housekeeping staff are not included in these staffing calculations.

To calculate the rating, the number of staff hours per resident per day was used and then the information was case-mix adjusted. Case-mix adjustments take into account the different levels of resident needs (or mix of cases) in different nursing homes.

Belmont Nursing & Rehabilitation Center – Madison
Birch Hill Care Center – Shawano
Chilton Care Center – Chilton
Golden Living Center – Bradley – Milwaukee
Golden Living Center – Colonial Manor – Milwaukee
Golden Living Center – Dorchester – Sturgeon Bay
Golden Living Center – Southshore – Saint Francis
Grancare Nursing Rehab Center – Fond du Lac
Hartford Healthcare Center – Hartford
Heartland HCC Pewaukee – Waukesha
Highland Heights Healthcare Center – Milwaukee
Hope Health & Rehab – Lomira
Kewaunee Care Center – Kewaunee
Ladysmith Nursing Home – Ladysmith
Lincoln Village Conv Center – Racine
Manawa Community Nursing Center – Manawa
Mayville Nursing Rehabilitation Center – Mayville
Millway Care Center – Milwaukee
Monroe Manor Nursing & Rehab – Monroe
Parkside Care Center – Little Chute
Villa Marina Health Rehab – Superior
Waukesha Springs Health Rehab – Waukesha
Waunaukee Manor Health Care Center – Waunaukee

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home neglect practice.  Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected residents in almost every county.  We know Wisconsin.

Analysis of the Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Rating System has uncovered the ten worst states for nurse staffing.

The rating system gives nursing homes from 1 to 5 stars, overall and on 10 key quality measures such as performance in the latest three quarterly reports; percentage of residents with urinary tract infections; performance in the latest three annual health inspections; and adequacy of both overall staffing and staffing by registered nurses.

To get a five-star rating on staffing, homes had to provide at least four hours a day per patient of care by registered nurses and other nursing staff. 

The following 10 states have the highest percentages of nursing homes with the worst rating of 1 star for adequate staffing by registered nurses.

State                         #of nursing homes                       % of homes with 1 star

Louisiana                          269                                                      75.1
Georgia                             342                                                      66.1
Arkansas                           225                                                      54.7
Texas                             1,042                                                      47.2
Oklahoma                          295                                                     46.1
Tennessee                         293                                                     41.6
Missouri                            489                                                     41.1
Virginia                             263                                                     37.6
Indiana                              482                                                     32.6
Alabama                            218                                                     31.7

Although some nursing home execs say the ratings are not a true representation of their facility or may be skewed, the fact remains that the homes provide much of the information. “CMS is using their data,” says Illinois ombudsman Sally Patrone. If they’re poorly rated, they need to improve.”

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home neglect practice.  Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected residents in almost every county.  We know Wisconsin.

Approximately 16,000 nursing homes received their first “report card” from the federal government last week.  Early analysis reveals non-profit homes are more likely to provide superior care than their for-profit rivals.

The new rating system assigns homes one to five stars for quality, staffing and health inspections, in addition to an overall score.

The scores represent thousands of inspections records, complaint investigations and quality measures, such as how many nursing staff hours were provided each day to patients, how many patients developed bedsores and how many were placed in restraints.

Analysis of the data found:

• Twenty-seven percent of the 10,542 for-profit nursing homes were one-star, compared with 13% of the 4,182 non-profits (2,846 for-profit homes vs. 543 non-profit homes).
• Nineteen percent of non-profit facilities got five stars, compared with 9% of for-profits.  Most non-profits are owned by corporations, while about one-fifth are run by faith-based groups.

Studies show “a lot of the for-profit homes have low staffing, and it shows up in their quality, says Charlene Harrington, professor emeritus of nursing at the University of California-San Francisco and a member of Medicare’s technical advisory committee for the ratings. 

For more information on the Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Rating System, click on the following link http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ .

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home neglect practice.  Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected residents in almost every county.  We know Wisconsin.

The percentage of family income spent on auto insurance by Wisconsin residents is the third lowest in the country.  According to Auto Insurance Report, a family with a median income of $72,495 has an average auto insurance expenditure of $590.

Only North Dakota and Iowa had a lower ratio of auto insurance premium to family income than Wisconsin.  Wisconsin had a premium to income ratio of .81 percent.  The highest ratio was in Louisiana.

“Motorists in Wisconsin enjoy the benefits of a highly competitive insurance marketplace,” said Andrew Franken, president of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.