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    Maggots to Sex Abuse -- America's Nursing Home Scandal

    By Sherry Tomfeld | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Nov 21, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    COMMENTARY | Earlier this year, maggots were found in the throat of one patient, and where the catheter is inserted on another. These incidents were in a Michigan nursing home. Reports of sexual abuse in Iowa nursing homes recently made the news. These are a mere handful of violations that grabbed headlines. Every day, across America, seniors are being abused. Disturbing and ongoing abuse includes filthy room conditions, lack of patient hygiene, dehydration, lack of supervision of wheelchair patients and sexual predators.

    Families rely on nursing homes to give their loved ones peace of mind, safety, health care and proper diets. They trust that the nursing staffs and administrators have the patients well-being in mind, not the facilities bottom line.

    In the maggot and sexual abuse stories, there was one common denominator. The aides/workers were not allowed to speak out about violations without losing their jobs. They were not allowed to talk about it or to contact the families. Nurses aides are the backbone of nursing home care. They know the patients better than anyone, but they cannot divulge heinous acts of neglect and abuse. To break this rule could mean the loss of their jobs. Silence or loss of job is a hard choice to make.

    The elderly and sick are at the mercy of those who manage and work in the nursing homes. They have no voice. Many cannot speak or are afraid to because of perceived repercussions. The woman with maggots turned down a shower when asked. Why? Her hip was broken, and she was in pain when she was moved. She begged them for a bed bath. This woman can talk and is telling her story. How many untold stories are there?

    Baby boomers would be wise to start demanding nursing homes get cleaned up and function properly. Does the problem lie in management, personal responsibility of nurses and aides, or no legal oversight? Fines seem to be the standard way of handling nursing home infractions. Is it time to adapt new laws for these violations?

    It is a scary proposition to think about moving into a nursing home as we age. To have to endure physical and mental harm by those bound to take care of you, is unacceptable. Will America continue to ignore their treatment of the elderly or will they take a moral stand and do the right thing?

     
     
    Top Locations New York

    1 comment

    • Jp
      Jp  •  New York, United States  •  6 mths ago
      Owners convicted of running these hellholes should be stripped of their assets, and then CONFINED IN THE SAME CONDITIONS FOR LIFE, with video shown on schmootube.
     Post a comment
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