The North County Times had a good column on the cold reality that elder abuse or neglect can happen anywhere. Susan Reichel, CEO of Advanced Home Health Services in San Diego says that an estimated 2 million elderly Americans are victims of elder abuse, whether its physical, mental, emotional, or…
Last Friday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly bill 392, which provides funding for California’s long-term care ombudsman programs. The bill does not restore entirely the cuts that were made last year, but the $1.6 million appropriation to approximately 36 agencies throughout the state will provide sorely needed money to programs…
Researchers analyzing 82 different studies on nursing home care found that nursing homes that are run as not-for-profit businesses offer better care than their for-profit counterparts. In the United States, less that one-third of all nursing homes are non-profit. The 82 studies were from both the U.S. and Canada, and…
The Orange County nursing home Tustin Care Center has received a citation and a fine of $50,000 by the California Department of Public Health after a resident choked to death during lunch. A state investigation concluded that the nursing home’s failure to adequately assess the patient’s growing inability to eat…
As California starts to overhaul the regulation of its 350,000 registered nurses, one of the nursing board’s most promoted and trouble programs is under the microscope. The nursing drug diversion program, which seeks to help nurses maintain their licenses while they kick addiction to drugs, has apparently not been the…
The great recession hasn’t impacted everyone negatively. While the salaries and compensation for nurses has remained stagnant, the salaries for nursing home administrators have climbed to its highest rate in four years. According to a study by the Nursing Home Salary and Benefits Report from Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service,…
The California State Assembly voted overwhelmingly to approve Assembly Bill 392, which would immediately restore $1.6 million to Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs throughout the state. Much of the funding to the programs was cut last year when Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the Ombudsman funding request. In June 2009, a nursing home…
Elder abuse cases are rarely reported, and even more rarely prosecuted. “Elder abuse cases, for whatever inappropriate reason, are not considered as severe,” said Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco. The reasons for the low reporting and prosecuting are varied. There is the embarrassment of being a victim, and in…
It’s been almost six months since Nursing Home Compare was launched, and all of the nations 15,600 nursing homes were listed and rated by the U.S. government. The reviews are in, and it’s no blockbuster, but it isn’t a flop. For consumers, it’s been mostly a good thing. It is…
One nurse twisted a patient’s jaw until he screamed. Another grabbed an elderly man by the shoulders and slammed him against a mattress. Our 70-year-old client was punched in the face by an angry nurse while giving our client a bath. Charles Ornstein of the LA Times is out with…
