Violent nursing home attacks are on the rise
by Nora Lockwood Tooher
Dolan Media Newswires
April 3, 2009
Boston — Criminal offenders and mentally ill residents are fueling an increase in patient-to-patient assaults at nursing homes, according to experts.
This growing violence is sparking a rise in civil lawsuits by families of patients who have been assaulted by other residents, according to several elder law specialists.
In a recent survey, Wes Bledsoe, founder of A Perfect Cause, a nonprofit nursing home residents’ advocacy group in Oklahoma, found 1,600 registered sex offenders in nursing homes.
The organization has also documented more than 60 rapes, murders and assaults committed by criminal offenders in nursing homes.
“It’s a huge problem,” Bledsoe said. “The issue of nursing homes being dumping grounds is nothing new, and certainly for years we’ve had nursing homes serving not only the disabled and the elderly, but more people with mental illness, behavioral problems, drug rehabbers, alcohol rehabbers and criminal offenders being placed in these facilities by state agencies.”
No comments:
Post a Comment