Current Events: Deplorable State of Nursing Homes

Nursing homes are supposed to be places that provide constant care to people who are deficient when it comes to performing their daily routines.

However, the state of nursing homes is deplorable.

• A study of Special Investigations Division of the House Government Reforms Committee has revealed thousands of cases of nursing home abuse. This abuse includes physical, mental, and sexual exploitation.

• To make the matters worse, the conditions of nursing homes have deteriorated ever since large private firms have entered the nursing home arena. Records collected by Medicare and Medicaid reveal a glaring reduction in the number of registered nurses. Budgets for nursing supplies, resident activities, and other services have reduced.

Nothing seems to be improving despite the regulators’ repeated warnings of inadequate staff levels. This is an ugly state of affairs where investors and operators are earning millions of dollars at the expense of hapless nursing home residents.

Over a period of three years, 15 residents at Habana Health Care Center in Tampa, Fla., died due to what the families contend as negligent care. Vivian Hewitt sued Habana when her mother died after a large bed sore became infected by feces.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Hewitt found that Habana’s owners and managers had spread their control among 15 companies and five layers of firms. Mrs. Hewitt’s lawyers were unable to establish who exactly could be held responsible for her mother’s death.

As our population ages in unprecedented numbers how will nursing homes fare in the future?

Families of nursing home residents must be adequately prepared to deal with the situation today which may hold promise for the residents of tomorrow.

If your parent or grandparent resides in a nursing home and has suffered grievous injury or wrongful death in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, don’t hesitate to contact a law firm to determine if there is evidence for a nursing home settlement.

Turning the other cheek is not an option.