Ensuring Quality Care for Your Family Member in a Nursing Home

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, over 5 percent of the 65+ population currently resides in nursing homes or other skilled nursing facilities.

Of the baby boom generation, it is expected that 5 percent, or 3.9 million people, will eventually be cared for by these facilities on either a short or long-term basis.

Even though these homes are entrusted with the duty to take care of our elderly and disabled family members, and are required to follow regulations set up to ensure that quality care is provided, proper care is not always provided. 

Many of these institutions have been failing to meet these safety standards for over two decades. As baby boomers begin entering these facilities, it is imperative that we examine these issues sooner rather than later.

After years of investigating cases of patient neglect, I have seen countless heartbreaking instances of bed sores, falls, overmedication and dehydration, which have resulted in disabling injuries and even death to nursing home residents.

Although nursing home liability cases are often defended on the grounds that damages are limited because the injured person has exceeded his or her statistical life expectancy, the focus in these cases is properly on the dignity of the patient – regardless of age – and the failure to deliver that quality of care to which the patient, and all patients in skilled nursing facilities, are entitled.

For decades, poor quality patient care has been an enduring feature of American nursing homes. Regulators are required to inspect these facilities annually to determine whether minimal standards are being met, and to investigate complaints of deficiencies. Specific nursing home deficiencies can be found on the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website. 

According to data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the profit-making nursing home industry generally provides fewer nurses, sometimes below minimum legal requirements, and poorer quality of care than non-profit homes.  

Large private investment groups now own most of the country’s largest nursing home chains, making it difficult to enforce regulations and to levy against negligent entities. 

Patients of nursing homes and skilled care facilities have a right to expect good quality care which promotes their dignity and well-being, regardless of their health or age.

These licensed facilities, most of them for-profit, are required to meet minimal standards of care in order to be in business. They should be held accountable when their failure to meet these requirements results in preventable injury or death to those whose care has been entrusted to them.