Then her health began to spiral downward, confining her to bed and leaving her helpless. Neighbors no longer saw her and trusted Clifford was handling her needs.

When Ruth died, medics came to their house and were horrified. The deceased woman had wasted away to a mere 79 pounds. Her frail body lay atop a soiled mattress. Excrement was smeared on the carpet below. A medical examiner called it the worst case of neglect she had ever seen, according to the Fort Myers, Fla., News-Press.

The sad truth, the paper later reported, is that abuse and neglect of the elderly is often hard to detect – whether it is in someone’s home or at a nursing facility. Elderly often refuse help or are too incapacitated to seek help outside the abusive environment.

Thus, it is difficult to know how many of the elderly population are abused, neglected or exploited, according to National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), an organization directed by the U.S. Administration on Aging that helps national, state and local partners in the field be fully prepared to ensure that older Americans will live with dignity, integrity, independence and without abuse.

Citing the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, NCEA reports that only 16 percent of abusive situations are referred for help, leaving 84 percent hidden. While some studies estimate that between 3 percent and 5 percent of the elderly population have been abused, the Senate Special Committee on Aging estimates that there may be as many as 5 million victims every year.

Clifford now sits in prison. He wrote a letter to his neighbors arguing that what happened to him – how he lost control of the care of his mother – could happen to anyone, according to the News-Press story. Neighbors still wonder why he didn’t get help.

Don’t be blind to elder abuse and neglect. Know the signs of elder abuse.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Elder abuse, neglect often goes unnoticed

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“We believe the vast majority of nursing homes are doing a very good job and working hard to deliver quality care,” Sen. Kohl told the committee. “But we must protect the rights of those who receive inadequate care to hold the facilities accountable.” He said the bill would “send a strong message to underperforming facilities that harmful care is not acceptable.”

Sen. Martinez said the practice of nursing homes requiring residents to sign mandatory arbitration agreements is an overreach of the original purpose of the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act, which he says provides for voluntary arbitration agreements. Requiring a mandatory arbitration agreement as a condition of admittance to a facility is taking advantage of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, he said.

“I was a practicing attorney for many years, and I believe alternative dispute resolution is a legitimate way to resolve disputes,” Sen. Martinez said, “but it should apply to … people in similar positions when entering an agreement to arbitrate. Prospective nursing home residents – our nation’s most vulnerable population – should not be forced to sign an arbitration agreement as a condition of being admitted to a nursing home.”

Senators Martinez and Kohl pointed out that when patients and their families are at the point of entering a nursing home facility, the patient often is in need of immediate care. Sometimes there are no alternative facilities in close proximity to the patient’s home. Families feel they must sign the agreement in order to ensure their loved one gets needed care right away. Most, they say, do not realize they are relinquishing their rights to go to court.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spoke in opposition of the bill. He expressed concern that removing arbitration arrangements from nursing homes will cause a rise in long term liability costs and ultimately result in a worse quality of care for the nation’s elderly. He said he believes the proposed Senate bill will result in small business owners going out of business and less well-off seniors unable to afford resulting higher prices.

“I am deeply concerned about nursing home abuse,” Sen. Hatch said. “The abuse of a patient’s trust cannot be tolerated.” However, he said, he feels the problems are being addressed by the nursing home industry.

Sen. Martinez disagrees. Arbitration, he says, “remov[es] the one incentive the industry has to self-regulate and police itself and provide a level of care that I believe is what all of us would like to see for our most vulnerable residents.”

A webcast of the meeting is available at the web site for the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › U.S. Senate debates arbitration

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Other states on the “worst reporting” list are Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.

Results of the report were published in the New York Times May 15, which says the study “reveals a widespread ‘understatement of deficiencies’ including malnutrition, severe bedsores, overuse of prescription medications, and nursing home resident abuse.”

The study was requested by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis., Chairman, Senate Special Committee on Aging). They have introduced a bill to upgrade nursing home care and increase penalties for federal standards violations.

Beasley Allen hears from people every day who are shocked and grieved to find their loved ones have suffered at the hands of the very people they expect to provide expert care and compassion. Certainly, increasing penalties seems like a step in the right direction.

David P. Sloane, a spokesperson for the AARP, which lobbies for older Americans, praises the effort, quoted by the Times as saying it is “one of the most significant nursing home reform initiatives” in two decades.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Alabama Among Worst

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