Residents in nursing homes are some of the most vulnerable citizens in the United States. And as difficult as it is to believe in the richest nation in the world, many nursing home residents are being neglected and abused on a daily basis.Legislation was passed by Congress in 1987, with a goal to improve nursing home care. However, following an in-depth investigation, a recent report released by Consumer Reports, found inadequate care in nursing homes is still very common, particularly in the large for-profit corporate chains.
One of the worst examples of documented harm to the nation's elderly began in February 2006, during an annual review by Kentucky state inspectors that found an extremely high number of serious health and safety violations at the 286-bed Lakeside Heights Nursing Center in Highland Heights.
According to a report by the inspectors, obtained by the Cincinnati Post through an open records request, inspectors found 10 residents had been placed in what the state termed immediate jeopardy because of substandard practices and procedures, including one patient who died in November 2005, after the staff failed to respond with proper treatment.
The report said the facility was often critically understaffed and that on 24 occasions only one licensed nurse was assigned to the entire facility and at times, the nurse on duty was not trained to administer intravenous fluids which placed three residents in jeopardy.
According to the report, residents often could not get services or supplies from outside vendors because of bills that the nursing home had not paid. The report said the local water district threatened to shut off service to the facility if the nursing home did not make immediate payments on an overdue bill of $40,000.
Nursing assistants are the least trained, lowest paid, and most over worked employees in nursing homes. Their job description requires them to feed and bathe residents, assist them in and out of bed, help continent residents to the bathroom, clean and change the diapers of incontinent residents, reposition those who are at risk of developing bed sores, perform range of motion exercises on residents to prevent painful contractures of the hands and feet, help residents in walking, and provide other personal assistance to the residents in regard to their everyday living. (OP Ed)
