Study shows safety violations at homes
About 70% of nursing homes in Texas have "serious deficiencies" that threaten the safety of patients, according to a new study released by federal investigators. Similar problems were found in about 40% of nursing homes on Long Island, NY, and in New Jersey, and at more than half the homes in Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The investigation was requested by members of Congress and carried out by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Government Reform. They used federal data to study nursing home compliance with federal regulations, examining a sample of annual inspection reports. The report delivered to members of Congress states that there were widespread problems in the nursing homes surveyed, including "violations that caused actual harm to residents, or had the potential to cause death or serious injury." Those problems were found at 26% of nursing homes in Texas, 17% on Long Island, 18% in central New Jersey, 15% in Chicago, 19% in Los Angeles, and 41% in San Francisco.
What they found
The investigators did not name specific nursing homes in the report. Some of the allegations in the report involved gross neglect. The report says the investigators found an 83-year-old patient in a San Francisco nursing home with ants crawling on her face and in her mouth; and in a Los Angeles nursing home, they witnessed a nurse assistant bathing a resident in her bed with a cloth soiled with feces.
The inspectors were in a Chicago nursing home when they heard a resident calling out for help, and they watched as nearby staff did not respond. The inspectors finally went to the patient’s room themselves and found her trapped, wedged between a bed rail and a mattress.
Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX) was one of the representatives who requested the investigation. Upon receiving the report, Rodriguez responded by saying the high rate of deficiencies was unacceptable and that he blamed the problem largely on a shortage of staff. The shortage is caused by the low level of reimbursements paid by the state under the Medicaid program.
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