Someone needs to do time

[theletch1]

I head this on the radio this morning and had to look it up this afternoon. The condition this man was allowed to be in is criminal. Bed sores, an infected feeding tube, a partially inserted catheter and maggots in his eye before he was ever sent to the hospital. Here's the story.

 

[terryl965]

Thjat is terrible,what goes on behind closed doors

 

[theletch1]

Well, not really so much behind closed doors. Three shifts per day, 365 days a year. Another report that I found said he had hospice nurses in addition to the nursing home staff. Did the CNAs not pick up on this? Did the RNs not pick up on it when checking his vitals? What was the D.O.N. doing if not making sure the nursing staff were doing their job. I must assume that this man had no family to check up on him. My mother has worked as a CNA since I was a child and I've never seen anything like this in any of the places she's worked.

 

[tellner]

Welcome to the wonderful under-regulated world of nursing homes. The hours are long. The pay is lousy. Families seldom show an interest. Staff burnout is even worse than the rest of the profession, and that's saying a lot.

It happens more often than you think, and that's just the beginning of the abuse. Be ready for more stories like this as the population ages.

 

[theletch1]

Yeah, I know. I think that's one of the things that scares the hell out of me. I'm somewhat older than my wife and figure (barring accident) that I'll die long before she does. Our children are from my previous marriage and she and I won't be having any. I think that the time alone at work today got me to thinking what Erica's life would be like after I'm gone if she were to wind up in a nursing home. For the first time in many a year I had tears in my eyes from just thinking about a "what if".

My mother has told me stories from her 30 plus years as a CNA. Quite often though at least one member of the staff will make an anonymous call to the state board to kick off an investigation. Many, far too many, folks in these facilities have been dumped there by family that just don't give a damn. The stories of the family members that are engaged and carring are woefully few. The problem with calling the "state" is that before anyone comes for an inspection they always call ahead. Guess which days are fully staffed and spotless.