Saturday, April 28, 2012

Editorial: Nursing Homes May Be Inevitable; Abuse Is Not

When I served as special counsel to the U.S. Senate Aging Committee, we investigated fraud and abuse in public assistance programs. Medicaid provided health care to those that could not afford it and Medicare funded seniors’ medical needs. Both systems were rife with corruption and abuse.

Our undercover operations proved that not only was the medical care poor but government programs were being ripped off by unscrupulous providers. When it came to nursing homes, only one, in all we investigated, delivered appropriate care.

Full Article and Source:
Nursing Homes May Be Inevitable, Abuse Is Not

5 comments:

Thelma said...

It's a sad state of events.
I'm health proxy for an aged individual in a nursing home, and am really pleased with staff and the care he gets. I feel he is very fortunate to be there and not in any of the other awful places.

StandUp said...

Boy, I wish you were right, sir. Unfortunately, if you have a loved one in a facility, you have to be there to bird dog the staff into doing their job.

There are some good facilities, of course, but far too few.

Norma said...

Sadly, abuse will always be where there is great profit.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Norma. Abuse shouldn't be, but it is.

Emily Brown said...

You can read Patrick Palmer’s books, he wrote these books on caregiving after his wife was diagnosed with cancer. His books are a Must-Read Books for Caregivers.