Florida High on Elderly Abuse
The rate of resident abuse in Florida nursing homes surpassed a national average described as ``widespread and significant'' in a congressional report released Monday.
The study of reports filed nationwide in 1999 and 2000 showed that Florida inspectors found incidents of abuse in 265 nursing homes, 36 percent of the state total. The national rate was 31 percent.Across the country ``we found examples of residents being punched, choked or kicked by staff members or other residents,'' said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who called for the study.
Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, announced the proposed Nursing Home Quality Protection Act, which would seek to stem abuse and neglect.
The bill would increase funding to nursing homes, set mandatory nurse staffing levels, impose stricter sanctions on homes with sub par standards, require criminal background checks on employees and increase Internet access to records of nursing home conditions.
Roughly 1.5 million people live in 17,000 U.S. nursing homes.
Bruce Rosenthal, spokesman for the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, said Congress should focus on the troubled centers rather than create cumbersome standards for all.
``We strongly believe nursing homes that exhibit consistently poor performance should either clean up their act or be put out of business,'' said Rosenthal, whose group represents 5,600 nonprofit homes and centers.
The American Health Care Association, which represents for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes, supports a federal criminal background check system for potential employees.
``Recruiting, training and keeping frontline nursing staff are among the most important things we can do to ensure our patients continue to receive quality skilled nursing care,'' said Charles H. Roadman II, president of the group.`Warehousing ... Does Not Work'
The Florida Legislature this year passed a law increasing staffing, staff training and inspection requirements. It included $76 million to pay for the improvements.
But the government can't solve the problem by giving nursing homes more money, or even by imposing stricter rules, said Jim Wilkes, a Tampa attorney who has made millions in successful nursing home abuse and neglect cases.
``How many reports do we need before we accept the fact that warehousing the elderly in institutional settings does not work?'' Wilkes said. ``I hope our legislative leaders will ... begin moving this country away from our dependence on nursing homes and towards a system of community and home-based care systems.''
The congressional report was based on inspections, required for all nursing homes at least every 15 months, and complaint investigations. It showed that all forms of abuse - physical, sexual and verbal - are on the rise.
More than twice as many nursing homes were cited for abuse in 2000 than in 1996. In 1996, 5.9 percent of all nursing homes were cited for an abuse violation during their annual inspections. In 2000, 16 percent of nursing homes were cited.
``It would have been intolerable if we had found a hundred cases of abuse; it is unconscionable that we have found thousands upon thousands,'' Waxman said.
The study found that in 1,601 nursing homes - about one in 10 - the reported abuse was serious enough to harm residents or put them at risk of serious injury or death.
In one case, a resident was killed when another resident with a history of abusive behavior picked her up and slammed her into a wall. In another, a blow from a worker broke a resident's nose.
The rate of serious abuse in Florida was 16 percent, according to investigators.
Investigators said many violations are neither detected nor reported, meaning the real problem could be much larger. But they also said the increase they found between 1996 and 2000 could be the result of improved state inspection procedures.
``At any rate, this is a cause for concern,'' said Waxman spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot.
In addition to studying the national database of state inspection and investigation reports, Waxman's staff also reviewed reports of 50 homes in 10 states, including Florida.Residents Victims Of Cruelty
The report mentioned the case of a resident whose wrist was broken in a Winter Springs nursing home, though it didn't describe the circumstances or name the home.
The report also described an incident in a St. Augustine home, where a worker pried a call light from a resident's hand, placed it out of reach and disregarded the resident's calls for help.
The worker, on a night shift, refused to bring the resident a bedpan and the resident had to urinate while lying in bed and wait until morning for a diaper change.
The report described abusive incidents across the country. In a Missouri nursing home, an 80-year-old resident with dementia was locked in a bathroom, hit with a belt, dragged on his knees and hit in the head with a book by employees.
In an Oklahoma nursing home, when a resident asked for medications, a nursing aide told her that she hoped she choked on them.Home
PIG Private Investigators