Be aware that this article contains disturbing material, and may be very upsetting to many.<\/p>\n
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Amani Oakley, a medical malpractice lawyer who launched a class action against Nursing Home giant, Revera, in 2016, has now proceeded to file class actions against both Extendicare and Leisureworld.<\/p>\n
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Ms. Oakley is furious that nursing home residents are left to suffer, in the infinite ways she has learned about, from families who have called her office seeking assistance. Ms. Oakley observed, \u201cThere is no other segment of our society where we would tolerate these abuses, year after year, decade after decade. If our children suffered like this in daycare, there would be a government inquiry and heads would roll. If an animal shelter had animals suffering with the kinds of wounds we see on nursing home residents, there would be outrage, tears, and change at the top. To say that this is an unacceptable way to treat a generation which has given us so much, is to seriously understate the obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Amani Oakley means business in confronting these abuses.<\/p>\n
She has pulled together a team of high\u2010skilled, dedicated lawyers to handle these cases. As the senior partner of Oakley & Oakley, Amani has decided to partner with the class action powerhouse law firm of Howie Sacks Henry, and the well\u2010known law firm of Diamond and Diamond \u2013 famous for its ability to get the word out and its capacity to handle a huge workload of calls and claims.<\/p>\n
Amani has christened the newly created team, the Nursing Homes Action Coalition <\/b>and they\u2019ve established a number and a website:<\/p>\n
1 (877) 506\u2010NHAC <\/b>or 1 (877) 506\u20106422 <\/b>www.nursinghomeabuse.ca<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is a huge one, and one which seems to be ever\u2010present, despite decades of reporting by equally appalled journalists\u201d, Amani said, \u201cso it\u2019s time we met the challenge with a powerful legal team which is prepared to expose these abuses and attain some justice for residents and their families. Really, I think Canadians have to say \u2018enough\u00a0<\/b>already<\/b>!\u2019,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n
Ms. Oakley represents a family whose mother had maggots in her leg wound (a story first featured in the National Post), while resident in West End Villa in Ottawa \u2010 an Extendicare home. Her daughter, Lara Gerol, was moved to start legal action because she was \u201chorrified\u201d at the thought of maggots crawling around in her mother\u2019s leg wound, a wound which hadn\u2019t been cleaned in six days. West End Villa has a number of infractions, as identified by the Ministry of Health in their online database.<\/p>\n
The family of Shirley Murphy has also decided to proceed with legal action, after they witnessed Shirley\u2019s poor care in an Extendicare facility (Craiglee) in Toronto. Shirley suffered with an inserted catheter for more than two months, without it being changed, leaving her excruciatingly sore and unable to have another catheter inserted. After about four months in the home, Shirley was told by a PSW to \u201cclean up her own mess\u201d in the washroom.<\/p>\n
Heartbreakingly, while trying to follow these mean\u2010spirited instructions, Shirley fell \u2013 breaking her ankle. No one answered the emergency call bell for almost half\u2010an\u2010hour, while Shirley cried by herself on the floor. It appears Shirley died from sepsis, when the nursing home failed to administer the appropriate medications which had been prescribed for Shirley \u2013 including an antibiotic. Craiglee also has a number of infractions listed on the Ministry website.<\/p>\n
And one can only imagine the horror that Jose Novo\u2019s family endured, as they watched their dad and brother, be reduced to skin and bones, and his skin covered in gruesome bed sores.<\/p>\n
Tullamore Nursing Home in Brampton, run by Leisureworld, failed to look after Jose, failed to ensure he ate enough or received enough fluids and failed to properly and consistently treat his bedsores, which could be found in a dozen or more places by the time of his death.<\/p>\n
Jose\u2019s family was looking after him at home for years, but finally, his daughter (Ana) had no choice but to go back to work. She blames herself for putting her dad in the nursing home, though she knows all too well \u2013 as do her brothers \u2013 that the family struggled financially, as long as they could to keep him home. Within a month of his transfer into Tullamore, he was dehydrated and rushed to hospital. The family regularly noted that no one was feeding him and no one was ensuring he received fluids, despite the fact that he was entirely dependent on the nursing home for that care \u2013 something promised by their promotional materials.<\/p>\n
Tullamore also has a number of infractions listed on the Ministry website.<\/p>\n
The photos taken by this distraught family, tell all the story that needs to be told, about the failure of Leisureworld to deliver on those promises.<\/p>\n
Amani Oakley points out that while residents are suffering these terrible outcomes, the CEOs of these companies are making extraordinary salaries on the backs of these victims.<\/p>\n
The 2016 salary of Extendicare CEO \u2013 Timothy Lukenda \u2013 was $1,524,387s annual salary, and over $2.5 million when his long\u2010term compensation is taken into account. The 2014 salary of Leisureworld CEO Lois Cormack was over $1.5 million including stock options. It is also worth noting that in 2014, none of the \u201cperformance categories\u201d that the Leisureworld board of directors had to achieve in order to earn bonuses, had anything to do with delivering good, competent, compassionate care to Leisureworld residents:<\/p>\n
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