Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse
| Main Page About Us Attorney Profiles Practice Areas Verdicts & Settlements News Publications Seminars Law Library Announcements Contact Case Inquiry Directions Add Navigation |
Death of Patient Caused By Negligence of Linwood Convalescent Center
Goldsmith Harz, LLP client, Linda MacIntyre, is to be interviewed regarding the death of her mother, Elsie Provenson, as a result of an overdose of methotrexate. Thursday, July 20, 2006 on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (Times will vary depending on time zone. Check you local listings.)
Elsie Provenson was an 84-year-old widow who was being treated with methotrexate for her rheumatoid arthritis. For years, she would take 10 milligrams once per week by mouth in pill form. Methotrexate can also be used as part of a chemotherapy regimen to treat certain types of cancers. If a patient is overdosed with methotrexate, it can be deadly, particularly in senior citizens.
Elsie Provenson was transferred to Linwood Convalescent Center in Southern New Jersey for some rehabilitation after a lengthy hospital stay to treat congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation. From the day she was admitted on January 30, 2006, she was given 10 milligrams of methotrexate every day for 7 days. The order and prescription were written appropriately. Every day for seven days, a different nurses kept giving another dose of the drug.
Elsie Provenson took a week to die in excruciating pain. The effect of the methotrexate overdose was to cause her body's bone marrow to stop producing all blood cells (red, white, leukocytes, neutrophils, etc). This is a condition called pancytopenia.
What is worse is that once the nursing home discovered the nursing error, they did not bother to send the patient to the hospital.
Thankfully, a nurse who felt guilty about the overdose being kept secret from the family told the daughter who on the following day insisted that her mom be transferred to the hospital. Even when the transfer occurred, the nursing home provided no documentation that the patient had overdosed on methotrexate or that she was even taking this drug!
If you would like to report a nursing home for abusing your family member, please use our Case Inquiry for or call us at: 201-363-1122
 |
- For more information, go to Contact
- Email G H at info@goldrich.com
- Copyright © 1997-2008 by: Goldsmith Harz, LLP
- Website and Internet guidance by: Windco.com, Inc.
 |