Word: gao
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...according to the GAO, it has contributed to a litany of abuses. One resident lost a third of his body weight over seven weeks. During this time, the nursing home failed to weigh him, give him prescribed painkillers or alert his doctor to his worsening condition. Another resident had a bedsore, and the doctor ordered the bandage to be changed twice a day; it was unchanged for nearly two weeks. A third nursing-home resident was brought to a hospital, where the patient was found to have had a broken leg for at least three weeks and the nursing-home...
...GAO report, following up on a story that appeared in TIME last fall, says more than half the suspicious deaths studied in California nursing homes were probably due to neglect, including malnutrition and dehydration. The study says that nearly 1 in 3 California nursing homes has been cited by state inspectors for "serious or potentially life-threatening care problems" and that the same problems probably exist across the nation. These are likely to grow as the baby boomers become grandparents and the rocketing elderly population puts even greater pressure on the nation's nursing homes. Senator Charles Grassley, the Iowa...
...coolly to Clinton's punitive tone, saying a "collaborative effort" is needed to solve the problems. "Enforcement activity alone is not the answer," said Paul Willging, executive vice president of the American Health Care Association. "In fact, a single-minded emphasis on enforcement will ultimately hurt quality." But the GAO report argues that many nursing homes have become dangerous places largely because they are understaffed--and underregulated. Nursing homes spend 2 out of every 3 dollars on payroll, so the most tempting way for them to increase profits is to cut personnel. And the Federal Government isn't halting this...
...Dina Rasor of the death certificates of all Californians who died in nursing homes from 1986 through 1993. In more than 7% of the cases, lack of food or water, untreated bedsores or infections were listed as a cause of death. This probe led Grassley to order the GAO to California to investigate. The GAO's medical review of 62 residents who died in trouble-prone California nursing homes showed that 34 of them received poor care that probably contributed to their demise. Applying the GAO's percentage of negligent California deaths to the nation's nursing-home population suggests...
Evidence like the GAO report is sure to encourage even more lawyers to file suits seeking damages for alleged wrongdoing by nursing homes. And if jurors keep awarding multimillion-dollar verdicts to grieving families, nursing homes could end up embracing stiffer rules and penalties as a way to deter such claims...