News Tagged ‘reform

Mentally ill threaten safety of nursing home patients

Thousands of young and middle-aged adults with serious mental illnesses live in U.S. , putting frail nursing home residents at risk for serious injury or , according to a report gathered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services prepared exclusively for the Associated Press.

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Nursing home receives steepest penalty in resident’s death

paying fine 150x150The choking of a Fresno, California nursing home resident has resulted in the severest penalty under California state law and an $80,000 fine against the home for inadequate care, according to the Fresno Bee.

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Tennessee nursing homes lobby for caps on damage claims

Tennessee nursing homes are lobbying the legislature to put a cap on the amount of damages that plaintiffs can collect in court, according to a report in Nashville, Tennessee’s The City Paper. Sixteen states, including Tennessee, do not put monetary limit for damages such as pain and suffering, which has resulted in millions of dollars in damages awarded to victims for ‘ violations of patient care. The nursing home industry says without damage limits, in those states become a target for out-of-state trial lawyers.

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Alabama Among Worst

A review of the nation’s nursing home inspection reports by the Congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) lists Alabama among nine states with the worst records of inspection accuracy, saying inspectors missed serious problems in more than 25 percent of all inspections from 2002-2007. The report said most states still fared dismally, missing at least one serious deficiency in 15 percent of all inspections.

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2 million elderly victims

“Every day, American families face difficult decisions about whether to move a loved one into a nursing home. There are nearly 17,000 in the United States that currently care for 1.6 million residents — a figure expected to quadruple to 6.6 million residents by 2050. The quality of care provided by these has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years.” – U.S. Congress Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Chairman Henry A. Waxman, 110th Congress

According to the National Center on Elder (NCEA), no one knows precisely how many older Americans are being abused, neglected, or exploited. This is because there are no official national statistics.

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