Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse Blog

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Drawn Attention to Dysfunction in Nursing Homes

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on March 17, 2021 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

The COVID-19 virus is particularly deadly for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. Nursing home residents are both old and in physical decline, putting them at high risk for suffering serious consequences if they contract this virus. Unfortunately, more than 170,000 nursing home residents and staff members have contracted the virus and passed […]

Why Women May be at Higher Risk for Suffering Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on February 17, 2021 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

While nursing home abuse and neglect are problems for male and female nursing home residents, research shows women may be at higher risk for a few reasons. If you have a female or male loved one who is living in a nursing home or assisted living facility and you are concerned that he or she […]

55 Residents and 13 Staffers at Mechanicsburg Nursing Home Test Positive for COVID-19

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on November 10, 2020 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

Yesterday’s blog post from Messiah Lifeways nursing home revealed 13 more residents have tested positive for COVID-19. This increases the number of active coronavirus cases among residents to 55. There are also 13 staff members at the facility with active cases. Two residents at the facility died after contracting the virus. Fortunately, nine other residents […]

Family of Deceased Nursing Home Resident Suing Facility to Try to Prevent Harm to Others

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on September 05, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

The family of a Pleasant Acres Nursing Home resident who died last December has filed a lawsuit against the facility. In the lawsuit the family claims staff members did not watch their mother properly. She needed to be monitored closely because she had dementia and other medical issues. The family cared deeply for their mother […]

The Gardens at Blue Ridge Non-Compliant With Federal Regulations on June 28, 2019

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on August 23, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

After the Department of Health investigated The Gardens at Blue Ridge here in Harrisburg, surveyors reported it did not comply with Federal Regulations. The facility did not: Protect its residents from accidents when a nurse assistant brought food into a resident’s room and spilled it on the resident, burning her. The CNA for whatever reason […]

The Gardens at Scranton Non-Compliant with Federal Regulations on May 23, 2019

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on July 03, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

After the Department of Health investigated The Gardens at Scranton, surveyors reported it did not comply with Federal Regulations when failing to: ensure consistent resident accessibility to the nurse call bell system to request assistance from staff for a resident; implement nursing procedures designed to timely respond to changes in resident conditions, consistently provide necessary […]

Advocacy Organization Gives Pennsylvania Nursing Homes One of Worst Report Cards in Nation

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on July 02, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

Families for Better Care, which works to create awareness about conditions in our nation’s nursing homes, recently released a report grading the quality of nursing home care in each state and Pennsylvania received an F. In fact, 16 of Pennsylvania’s nursing homes are among the worst in the nation, according to this report. These facilities […]

16 Pennsylvania Nursing Homes Among Worst in Nation

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on June 04, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

For years, the federal government has kept hidden the names of hundreds of nursing homes nationwide still being cited by inspectors for consistent substandard care. This all changed on Monday when Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators Bob Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey publicly released a national list of these facilities as part of an ongoing investigation into […]

New Federal Data Shows Many Nursing Homes Have Inadequate Staffing

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on May 31, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

Many nursing homes nationwide are short on staff, leaving residents to unable to see a nurse or caretaker as frequently as they should, according to new federal data analyzed by Kaiser Health News. The records reveal ongoing and insufficient staffing levels, especially during the weekends. A typical facility on its worst-staffed days takes care of […]

Penn Study Uncovers Less Doctor Visits for Nursing Home Residents

Posted on behalf of Schmidt Kramer on April 02, 2019 in Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse

Nationwide, nursing facilities are evolving to not only include the long-term care of frail residents, but also complicated post-hospital care. Patients are being discharged sicker and quicker from the hospital to nursing homes in an effort to decrease readmission rates. However, once patients are in a nursing facility, the majority are not able to see […]

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$10,043,952.13 Personal Injury
Schmidt Kramer, P.C.partner Gerard C. Kramer won a personal injury action for $10,043,952.13 in Northumberland County on behalf of a volunteer firefighter who was the victim of Intentional Tort. The 50-year-old volunteer firefighter was seriously injured when a barn collapsed, causing a spinal injury which left him a paraplegic. The claim was brought against the arsonist who intentionally started the fire. It is believed that the verdict is the highest ever in Northumberland County.
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$4,034,000.00 Personal Injury
Yesterday a Judge in Union County (Lewisburg, PA) awarded a couple from New Berlin, Pennsylvania, over $4,000,000 because the husband was shot while turkey hunting.You might ask yourself, how does a turkey hunting accident end up with that type of verdict? In order to understand the verdict you would have to know our clients. They are good people who had their life wrecked. Plus, you would have to know the defendant, who should not have been hunting with a gun because he was prohibited after a previous criminal conviction.It is a good verdict, because the Judge was able to do two things with his decision. First, he communicated to two very good people that their losses were something that those of us on the outside could appreciate and value. Mike Hobbins (our client) is a 51 year old guy who lost his sight because a convicted felon --who should not have even possessed a gun-- went hunting illegally, and broke with impunity the most fundamental rule in hunting: identify your target before you pull the trigger. The Judge accepted the financial loss Mr. Hobbins' suffered, but listened closely to the evidence of less tangible losses. When Mike broke down on the stand, because his daughter would end up walking him down the aisle at her wedding, as opposed to how it was supposed to go, the Judge was listening. When Mike could not keep it together, because of how emasculating it was for him not to be able to provide financially for his family, the Judge was listening. It was facts like these that the Judge cited to support the $2,000,000 award for non-economic damages. Second, the Judge wanted to send a message. Union County is a hunting county. Many of the residents hunt there, and people from outside the area come to Union County to hunt. It was my impression, from the Judge's statements as he rendered his decision, that he wanted to send a message to the people in Union County to protect them in their sport. The rules in place to restrict people convicted of crimes not to have a gun are not to be broken. Hunting is serious and you have to identify your target before you shoot. When you turn your back on the rules that are set to provide safety in a sport, you risk being an example. Here, the $1,000,000 punitive damage award sends that message loud and clear.When it really comes down to brass tacks, the right action was taken against a Defendant who may never truly appreciate what kind of impact his reckless choices caused.At Schmidt Kramer, we are injury lawyers. That means we work with people who were hurt in car accidents, who were hurt by the neglect of nursing homes, or those that were seriously injured because of the reckless, thoughtless acts of others. If you or a loved one have been injured in Pennsylvania, we may be able to help. While the verdict yesterday is not one that is representative of every case we do, it does show that serious and dedicated representation can bring good results.Joe ChapmanJanuary 18, 2013
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$2,200,000.00 Auto Accidents
On Monday, January 6, 2014, Schmidt Kramer accident lawyer Scott Cooper obtained a verdict on behalf of his client who is the widow of a man who died in a fiery crash on Interstate 78 in Lebanon County. The awarded verdict of $2.2 million was in a nonjury proceeding before a federal judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. That verdict includes $100,000 in punitive damages assessed against the owner of the trucking company.Kamilah Claxton won summary judgment in November after the defendants, Sukhwinder Singh and the trucking company for which he worked, failed to file a brief in opposition to Claxton's motion, which was made in September. The verdict in Claxton v. Singh was issued after the court held a non-jury assessment of damages earlier this month."Mr. Sukhchan Singh, the employer, is liable on the basis of respondent superior, but was also grossly negligent in failing to maintain his vehicle in compliance with state and federal law, particularly with regard to having required safety inspections and correcting defects in its braking equipment," said U.S. District Judge William W. Caldwell of the Middle District of Pennsylvania in his opinion accompanying the verdict."He was also grossly negligent in entrusting his vehicle to Sukhwinder Singh, an inexperienced truck driver who had failed the written test and driving test multiple times before finally earning his commercial driving license," Caldwell said.
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$1,200,000.00 Personal Injury
A Dauphin County jury has awarded a $1.2 million verdict to the parents of a 5-year-old who had an anoxic brain injury and stopped breathing after he had a tonsillectomy.2012-06-26 10:00:00 AMDate of Verdict: June 19. 2012Court and Case No.: C.P. Dauphin County No. 2009-CV-14003-MMJudge: Scott EvansType of Action: Medical malpracticeInjuries: Anoxic brain injuryPlaintiffs Counsel: Terry S. Hyman, Schmidt Kramer, HarrisburgPlaintiffs Experts: Dr. Anna H. Messner, liability; Lucille Packer, Pediatric Otolaryngology, Palo Alto, Calif.; Terry P. Leslie, vocations and earning capacity, Lancaster; Dr. Hilary B. Berlin, pediatric psychiatry, Great Neck, N.Y.Defense Counsel: Andrew H. Foulkrod, Darlene K. King, Foulkrod Ellis, Camp Hill, PADefense Experts: James C. Reilly, Pediatric Otolaryngology, Wilmington, DEComment: A Dauphin County jury has awarded a $1.2 million verdict to the parents of a 5-year-old who had an anoxic brain injury and stopped breathing after he had a tonsillectomy.The entire verdict came against Dr. Andrew M. Shapiro, the doctor who plaintiffs Reginald Graham and Tykeisha Metz alleged chose to have the boy monitored at a pediatric ward. The plaintiffs argued Shapiro failed to tell nurses caring for the baby about, and how to care for, the boy's enhanced risk for respiratory failure.The jury came back on June 19 and awarded Reginald Graham and Tykeisha Mets $500,000 in non-economic damages and $686,170 in loss of future earning capacity, according to the plaintiffs counsel.According to the statement, the baby's mother brought him to Shapiro because she was "'afraid that he might stop breathing during his sleep,'" the plaintiffs' pretrial statement said. Shapiro performed a sleep study and observed the baby's Apnea Hypopnea Index to be 43 — four times higher than what's considered severe. A tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy were performed.According to the plaintiffs, the baby's sleep study results put him at an increased risk for post-operative respiratory complications. Despite this, they argued in the statement, Shapiro ordered the pediatric nurses at the Harrisburg Hospital general pediatric ward to observe the boy as they would any other patients — about once every four hours.The pretrial statement said that one in four children who have an AHI in the 40s and oxygen desaturation below 80 have some type of respiratory problem. The younger the child, the greater the risk of a respiratory problem, the statement said.According to the statement, Shapiro took off the child's pulse oximeter, the finger-mounted device used to measure blood oxygen, and ordered a heart and respiratory rate monitor. The child was 11 months old at the time.The plaintiffs pled that the baby was last seen at 4 a.m. There was no record of his oxygen saturation for the next hour and 45 minutes. He stopped breathing a 6:40 a.m., and his brain was without oxygen long enough to cause demonstrable injury on an MRI."Immediately prior to his surgery, [the child] was a normal child, who could say mama, eat finger foods, and was just on the verge of walking," the statement said. "After his code, [he] was like a newborn. He could not lift his head or sit up. He could not talk. He could not move."In his pretrial statement, Shapiro argued that he recognized the child's pre-operative sleep study showed he was driven to breath by decreased blood oxygen saturation, which he said was typical in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.He argued the American Academy of Otolaryngology dictates that admission to the intensive care unit is not the standard of care. In the statement, he said nurses did not observe signs of respiratory distress. No alarms sounded until the child arrested, the statement said.He said the baby likely arrested as a result of hypoglycemia and/or an acute aspiration, which he argued would not have been identified by blood oxygen saturation.— Ben Present, of the Law Weekly
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$1,024,040.80 Auto Accidents
Scott Cooper settled a wrongful death case on behalf of the widow of a police office who was killed in a car accident in the line of duty for $1,024,040.80. The claim against the other driver was amicably resolved before suit was filed for the entire available policy limits for the other driver. The case took place in Adams County, PA.
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Testimonials

Dear Scott,
Hello there! I’m a little late to the game here, but I wanted to be certain I wrote to you. Oops—sorry for the typo! As you’ve probably gathered, I am writing you from a typewriter. Do you still use these in the office? Back on topic, I wanted to take a moment to express my deep gratitude for your guidance and support throughout the entire legal process for my accident. Can you believe it’s been five years?? Your attention to detail, professionalism, and delicate handling of my case made an incredibly difficult time more manageable for me and my family. We’re forever grateful.
From the moment you stepped foot in that hospital room with me, I felt relieved to have someone in my corner like you and your team. You took the time not only to explain each legal step in a way that made sense but also to acknowledge the emotional weight of what I was going through. That delicate balance—handling the intricacies of my case with precision while also being sensitive to my well-being—is something I will always be grateful for. In many ways, the outcome of the case reflected your dedication, but what has stayed with me even more is how you treated me throughout the process—with patience, respect, and compassion. You listened to my concerns and reassured me in moments of uncertainty. And even now, I feel your compassion each year on my birthday when I receive a text from you!
Thank you, not just for the outcome, but for the way you handled each moment. You are an incredible lawyer, but more importantly, an incredible person, and I was fortunate to have you in my corner.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Ricky D
Definitely were people of their word. Certainly helped me through my whole case
The legal team was very professional and met my needs I would highly recommend them
Monte cargile
Very great experience working with you guys continue the great service timely response communication well understand
jackie duffus
Schmidt Kramer is simply definition of hardworking, they are trustworthy and get best claim you could never think of.