The Pending Nursing Home Crisis
Consider this all too familiar story. Texas resident Noe Martinez, Sr., lived with his son and daughter-in-law up until they could no longer care for him. He suffered from late stage Alzheimers and needed constant care. His son took him to the McAllen Nursing Center, where late one evening a nurse gave him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mr. Martinez had no teeth, and without his dentures or glass of water he choked on the sandwich and suffered a heart attack. Mr. Martinez eventually died as a result of the heart attack.
However, bringing suit against the nursing home is extremely difficult thanks to the sweeping tort reform laws passed in Texas in 2003.
The problem begins with the Republican majority in the Texas legislature. The nursing home lobby in Texas stuffed the pockets of Republican campaigns. This money, along with money from corporations and insurance companies, funded illegal Party tactics to put more Republicans in office. The indictments continue, but not before the damage was done.
Nursing homes in Texas are currently regulated by the state less now than in the last decade. With minimal state regulation, and caps on nursing home negligence cases, there is little deterrant for a nursing home to minimalize care in the name of big profits.
When you consider the current state of nursing home care in Texas with the aging baby boomer population, the potential problems are frightening. You have a potentially overwhelming population headed for facilities that are poorly regulated and protected from lawsuits.
Read the full article here.
I am an agency nurse who works in various long term care facilities. There is one in particular that I go to that does not have suplies for treatments frequently (i.e. non-adherent pads, 2x2's, 4x4's, kling, saline, H2O for O2 concentrators, etc.), no spoons avail. to pass meds., we used plastic forks. One weekend several patients went without heart medications, psych meds, inhalers and such for days (very upset family members who went out to fill scripts) The pharmacy was notified several times prior to running out, to no avail. There is plenty more that goes on at this place regarding the medical care. The staffing is a whole other story!!!! What can the family members do? Who can they turn to with this?They have already gone to the ceo's and Umbudsman several times. Two families refused to have the patients sent back to there from the hosp. due to the abuse and neglect. What can the staff do? The staff is awesome---but, are disgusted abouted the working conditions as well.