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Reports of serious, physical, sexual
and verbal abuse are "numerous"
among the nation's nursing homes,
according to a congressional report
released today. The study, prepared
by the minority (Democratic and Independent)
staff of the Special Investigations
Division of the House Government Reform
Committee, finds that 30 percent of
nursing homes in the United States
— 5,283 facilities — were
cited for almost 9,000 instances of
abuse over a recent two-year period,
from January 1999 to January 2001.
Common problems included untreated
bedsores, inadequate medical care,
malnutrition, dehydration, preventable
accidents, and inadequate sanitation
and hygiene, the report said. Read
the entire story…
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Alice Oshatz is an 85 year old woman
who can no longer handle living on
her own but does not want to burden
her children. A nursing home seems
to be the only option, an option she
never wanted to have. She is not the
only one who feels that way. Eighty-three
percent of elderly Americans would
stay in their homes until the end
if they could. Thirty percent say
they'd rather die than go into a nursing
home. And their fears may be well
founded. Nursing home inspection documents
show that more than a quarter of American
nursing homes were repeatedly cited
for serious violations that caused
death or injury to patients. In California,
a third of the homes have been cited
for causing serious harm or death
to patients. In 1998, less than 2
percent of California nursing homes
had no violations. A CBS News analysis
of the federal government's nursing
home inspection database finds more
than 1,000 homes were cited last year
for hiring staff with a history of
abuse. Read
the entire story…
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Almost one of every three nursing
homes in the United States has been
cited for an abuse or violation, according
to a government report released Monday.
The report, prepared at the request
of Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California,
found that over a two-year period
from January 1, 1999 through January
1, 2001, all violations reported in
nursing homes "had at least the
potential to harm nursing home residents."
Of the more than 17,000 nursing homes
nationwide, 5,283 nursing homes had
been cited for an abuse violation.
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The nation is facing a severe crisis
in how it will care for its elderly.
In Massachusetts, 56 nursing homes
have closed in the last two years.
California is facing a severe shortage
of qualified caregivers as is Pennsylvania
and many other states. Forty out of
fifty states have task forces in place
to address this pressing issue. The
problems will only get worse because
the demand for adequate nursing home
and home care will increase as baby-boomers
age.
Susan Eaton is an
assistant professor of public policy
and has studied the link between human
resource personnel management and
the quality of patient care in nursing
homes. “The federal government,
through the Health Care Financing
Administration (HCFA), which is part
of the US Department of Health and
Human Services, has commissioned several
studies to examine mandating minimum
staff ratios. Many quality problems,
including safety, arise from under-staffing,
either because of too few trained
staff or because of poor management
practices. If such ratios are mandated,
nursing home managers will have to
rethink their human resource policies
and allocate more money to recruiting,
attracting, and retaining nursing
staffs. In addition, federal funds
are needed to study best practices
and to increase enforcement to punish
egregious repeat offenders as well
as to encourage states to experiment
with solutions.” Read
the entire story……
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Marion Heide’s life ended at
88, with Marion bruised and bleeding,
curled into a ball in a nursing home
bed, so scared of the nurses who were
supposed to help her that she cried
when they came near. Her decline began
with a scraped leg. Without the care
she needed, the scrape turned into
a sore. The skin around it turned
black, and infection sank to the bone.
Finally, doctors cut off her leg.
Marion died three months later.
Jurors understood
that she was near the end of her life,
sick with diabetes and a bad heart.
That didn't excuse her final 11 months.
They slapped the nursing home's owner
and its operator - a corporation that
runs more than 100 nursing homes across
the Southeast - with a negligence
verdict and $6.5 million in compensatory
damages. When the jurors said they
wanted to consider punitive damages,
too, the defendants' lawyers settled
for an even $10 million and ended
the case there.
Despite federal
and state laws, hundreds of inspectors
across the country and years of newspaper
and TV horror stories, neglect and
abuse of the elderly remain cruel
realities. One nursing home in four
has severe deficiencies that endanger
people's health or their lives, according
to a recent federal study. Advocates
for reform say that figure is low,
and they note that the aging of the
baby boom generation promises to exacerbate
the problem. Read
Article...
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In a written statement provided to
the Senate Special Committee on Aging,
Oliva says her mother Marie Espinoza,
who was suffering from a degenerative
brain disease, had bruises, bedsores
and a broken pelvis within months
after her 1995 arrival at the Orangetree
Convalescent Hospital. Food was often
left at the foot of her bed, out of
her reach. She began to lose weight.
"She always seemed to be starving
or begging for water," says Oliva
in her official account. At Extended
Care Hospital, Espinoza suffered severe
dehydration and bedsores. Last January
she entered Palm Terrace Convalescent
Center. The nursing home said she
died after choking on food, but Oliva
plans to tell the committee that this
makes no sense: Espinoza was supposed
to be fed through a tube. All three
nursing homes deny any wrongdoing.
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the entire story…
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Bessie Seday recounts her experiences
in a California nursing home, Creekside
Care Convalescent Hospital. Unfortunately
Bessie’s account is not a rare
thing anymore, as 1 out of 4 nursing
homes every year is cited for causing
death or serious injury to a resident.
She realized the nightmare that had
become her home immediately. "I
couldn't get anybody's attention,
starting on the fourth day,"
recalls the bed-bound 84-year-old.
"You'd have your call light on
for hours, but nobody came."
What made her waiting more desolate
was the near total deprivation of
sunlight during her four months at
Creekside. "It was a dungeon,"
she says. "I really would have
liked to see the sunshine, but they
never put us outside." Things
only got worse when the sunset, and
the staff ignored calls for help or
painkillers. "The screaming is
what got to me the worst, the screaming
when the lights went out," she
says. "I couldn't fall asleep
until 1 or 2 in the morning with all
that screaming going on." Read
the entire story…
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