11/19/2001

Neglect and Abuse in Nursing Homes

A reader recently sent me the following exposé about the quality of care that her mother is receiving in a nursing home. I think this subject is a critical one and needs to be addressed by all of us. When we get old and infirm, this is not how we want to be treated! Any and all constructive suggestions are welcome -- to be printed in future Viewpoints articles.

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Dear Beth:

My mother is presently in a nursing facility in Connecticut. What I have come to experience there is even worse then any rumors I had heard about such places. The situation became so horrible that I contacted an ombudsman to assist me.

On my mother's second day at the facility, I was horrified to witness a resident in the dining room being laughed at by staff members. They were also making jokes about a resident who had fallen earlier and was being transported in an ambulance to the hospital at the very moment they were making their comments.

During her first week my mother also took her first fall, which would become the first of three falls in five weeks. My mother has dementia and is at high risk for falling. Despite knowing this, there were no alarms on her bed and the wheelchair alarm wasn't working. On the day she fell, I was advised by a resident that my mother had fallen and when I entered her room, I found her naked from the waist down with her slacks thrown over her wheel chair.

On another visit, I found my mother alone in her wheelchair in the dining room facing a corner! She was dressed in a duster type gown with white socks and black shoes. It was pathetic. When I asked the nurse why she was dressed like that, she grabbed my mom by the front of the gown, yanking her forward and thinking nothing of it. When I told her to stop and asked her what she thought she was doing, she replied that she was only checking to see the label on the clothing to see if they were my mother's clothes.

On another visit, when it became apparent that no one was taking care of my mom, I contacted the nursing supervisor. In my presence the aide told the nursing supervisor that he was unaware that my mother had been assigned to him for that shift.

Just this morning I called the facility and discovered something as important as a Vitamin B12 shot hasn't been administered, something she has taken for anemia for the past three years.

These are only a few of the incidents that have taken place. The facility's response to me regarding my concerns has been even more of a nightmare. They actually act as though nothing like this has ever happened before. Yet, these very issues that I speak of are similar to those that have been reported and investigated by the State in the past.

This facility has four floors. Since the middle of September, when my mother arrived, only one of the two elevators has worked.

I am concerned for my mother's safety as well as for the safety of the other residents at the facility, many of whom may not have any family members to advocate or express concerns for them.

I am aware of the shortages of nurses and other medical staff in our country. But, I am also aware that many facilities do only minimum background checks on their employees. One of the reasons, I have been told, is the rapid turnover of some employees and therefore, it becomes costly to do, for example, criminal background checks.

We must not forget our senior citizens, and if circumstances exist that force them to spend the rest of their lives in such facilities, then we need to guarantee their safety and general welfare.

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Note from Beth Bruno: I applaud your efforts to right the wrongs in a place where your mother should be receiving kind and thoughtful medical and personal care. Perhaps in discussing such abuses as an online community, people who read your letter will increase their vigilance and use their personal influence to improve care for the elderly in their towns.

If you find a way to correct the bad situation your mother is in, please let me know, so I can share that with readers, too. Thank you for writing to me and bringing this critically important issue out in the open.

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Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.