Is it possible that a nursing home patient, in the United States, could starve to death while under the care of health professionals?
Well, to my dismay, I learned that the answer was yes. It is now over 12 years since two adult children came to my law firm and told me the story of their father. He was a stroke patient, in an Arizona nursing home, who died because he wasn’t given adequate assistance with eating.
So began my journey, representing families of injured and deceased nursing home patients who were neglected and abused.
No one chooses to live in a nursing home. It only becomes necessary when poor health or advanced age demands skilled nursing or rehabilitative care.
Quality Care.
“Quality Care” are words that have more than passing importance to families of nursing home patients. But what can families do to obtain that level of care for their loved ones?
Nursing homes, by federal mandate, are required to deliver quality care to every patient. That means every patient deserves attentive and professional nursing care as the primary purpose of a nursing home is to provide skilled nursing care.
As you will see, the greatest threat to quality care is inadequate nursing care.
Who is at Risk in a Nursing Home?
Although any patient in a nursing home can be at risk of not getting quality care, it is those patients who are non-ambulatory or who are unable to feed themselves that are at the greatest risk of being neglected and abused.
Frail patients, incapacitated patients or patients with dementia are also vulnerable to abuse and neglect because they lack the ability to protect themselves.
Appropriate Staffing is the Key of Good Care.
Nursing homes are dependent on nurses and nurses' aides to provide patient care. The appropriate number of nurses in a facility is dependent on the acuity and functional ability of the patients needing care. The greater the patient needs, the greater the number of nurses and nurses' aides required to care for those needs.
Patients who are unable to perform activities of daily living, such as dressing, walking, or eating independently, require more nursing and nurse aide hours per day than patients who are able to perform these tasks independently.
By accepting patients who are unable to care for their own needs, nursing home owners promise to provide enough nursing staff, both in quality and quantity, to deliver the appropriate care to each of those patients.
Poor Staffing Equals Poor Care.
Nursing home profits are tied to income and expenses. There are some expenses that are variable, which means they are not fixed and can be increased or decreased as the nursing home owners wish. Nursing hours are one of the most important variable expenses in running a nursing home.
Some of the other expenses that are variable are: food, supplies, and support staff (such as dietitians and rehabilitation specialists).
Nursing homes become dangerous places when their owners, in an effort to increase profits, fail to provide enough nurses or nurses' aides to care for the needs of their patients.
Our Next Article.
Our next article will discuss staffing specifics and provide a method of assessing the adequacy of staffing.
The “Guardian Blog” will continue to provide information to help families assess the quality of nursing home care in Arizona and the Guardian Blog will encourage dialog with and among its readers.
