AT SOME NURSING HOMES, STATE FINDS SERIOUS PROBLEMS
| By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF |
February 15, 2009
The quality of the region’s nursing homes overall ranks below the state average, and some local nursing homes have been reprimanded in recent years for physical and sexual abuse, neglect and other serious mistreatment of elderly residents, according to state reports.
Health care regulators have found some local nursing homes lacking in areas ranging from cold food to filthy bathrooms to violations of patient rights — in one case a facility making no effort to help residents vote in a state election. Regulators also have cited medication errors and preventable falls in at least three patient deaths in local nursing homes over the last three years.
“You have to be there for your loved one constantly. You cannot trust,” warned Kevin Samara of Shrewsbury, who attributed his 85-year-old father’s death last spring to a downward spiral that began after the otherwise alert and vigorous man went to nursing homes in Worcester, then Marlboro temporarily to recuperate from a muscular condition that had required hospitalization.
Ten of the region’s 62 nursing homes account for nearly half of the state complaint investigations here over the last three years, according to the T&G analysis of state records.
Dr. Barry Lang, a Boston physician and medical malpractice lawyer who negotiated an undisclosed settlement with an Auburn nursing home in 2007, said his work with families of nursing home residents has convinced him that no one should put a loved one in a nursing home without thoroughly checking out the facility and its staff.
“A lot of them are just hell on wheels,” he said. “They warehouse people to take money. They’re understaffed, underpaid. People are hired with very little background check, if at all.”
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Research and Evaluation on the Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Elderly Individuals and Residents of Residential Care Facilities (pdf)
Posted: February 9, 2009
Application Deadline: April 10, 2009, 11:59 p.m. eastern time.
NIJ is soliciting proposals for research and evaluation in the areas of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of individuals over the age of 60 (“elderly”), including individuals who reside either in the community or in residential care facilities. For the purpose of this solicitation, the term “abuse” includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, abandonment and isolation, neglect, or financial or fiduciary abuse. The term “residential care facility” includes nursing homes; assisted living facilities; adult family care homes; adult care facilities for people with developmental, cognitive or physical disabilities; and other residential facilities that provide services to persons who are elderly, have disabilities, or have long-term chronic care needs.
For more information go to: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/funding/current.htm
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