
nursing, home, staffing, levels, edna, care, center, loved, homes, families
In every nursing home throughout the country, staffing levels directly affects the quality of care residents receive. Far too many nursing homes are understaffed, under-funded, and not giving residents the comprehensive care they need. Nursing home abuse lawyers at Pintas & Mullins highlight a recent investigation by the Center of Public Integrity, which found that families may be overestimating the amount of care their loved one is receiving.
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that recently compiled years of data from Medicare databases on nursing home staffing levels. The Center analyzed data from more than 10,000 nursing homes throughout the country and found that a staggering 80% of facilities report higher levels of registered nursing care to consumer websites than in actual reports to Medicare.
Notably, eight out of then ten states with the largest differences in reporting are in the south; and Arkansas and Louisiana’s self-reported staffing levels were more than twice the actual numbers reported to Medicare.
The self-reporting system referred to in this report is the Nursing Home Compare website, which is extraordinarily popular and used by millions of families to find the “best” nursing home for their loved one. We have written about this website and its deficiencies in the past; the posts can be found here.
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Experts believe – and are proven correct – that the staffing levels on this website are artificially inflated and, in many cases, extremely overestimated. Families who are looking to place loved ones in nursing homes have few resources at their disposal for finding the best facility. Making matters worse, most are given only a few days to find a facility after their loved ones are discharged from hospital or rehabilitation centers.
As a result, families rely on websites like Nursing Home Compare, and genuinely believe that their loved one is in a well-staffed, high-quality nursing home when that is quite far from the reality. It is only after an avoidable injury or extreme deterioration in health that the truth becomes known, and quite often, that comes too late.
Further complicating the issue, some data indicates that at least 700 nursing homes in the U.S. (and 250 in Illinois alone) have staffing levels that are actually lower than what is required by state law. Only 33 states and Washington D.C. directly mandate staffing requirements.
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Too many Americans read stories like this and think it’s a problem that does not, or will not apply to them. As the baby boomers grow older, however, more and more Americans will need to be placed in nursing homes in the coming decades, and it is often their families who will have to make the decision.
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In its report, the Center for Public Integrity detailed the story of a resident admitted to nursing homes in Little Rock, Arkansas, and her family’s experiences. Edna Irving was placed in Chenal Heights Health and Rehabilitation Center when she was 80-years-old. Her daughters believed the facility provided quality care based on the upper-class neighborhood it was in and high ratings on the Nursing Home Compare website.
Just one week after being admitted, however, Edna was hospitalized for a bowel obstruction. After being admitted back into Chenal Heights, her daughter went to check on her and found her lying in her own feces. A month later, Edna fell from her wheelchair, suffering a large laceration to her forehead. One week after this Edna developed a urinary tract infection because of inadequate catheter care.
Edna suffered a second fall the next week, again hitting her head. By the end of that month, when Edna was telling her daughter about abdominal pain, her family decided to take her out of Chenal Heights. They moved her to the Sandalwood Healthcare nursing home, where the inadequate care persisted.
At Sandalwood, Edna suffered from dehydration, malnutrition, and blood clots in both legs. Her family believes the problems were caused by dismal staffing levels. Sandalwood has since been cited for its lack of staffing by the state. Edna’s daughter again requested that her mother be transferred to the Arkansas Health Center, where she is currently living.
Our team of nursing home negligence lawyers has worked on cases like Edna’s for over 30 years. We understand how difficult it is to place a loved one in a nursing home and try to keep an eye on their wellbeing. If you would like any more information on nursing home injuries and legal options, contact our firm today. Our legal consultations are always free of charge and available to concerned families nationwide.
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