A nursing home should be a safe place where seniors can live in peace, knowing that they’re cared for. But then you open your newspaper or go on social media and, every once in a while, you read a horrific story of neglect and abuse in nursing homes. How does it get to that? How does an elder get left in their bed, soiled, for hours? How is it possible that staff don’t give them their medication on time? How does anyone get severely injured in a facility that’s supposed to care for their residents?
These situations aren’t hypothetical – they’re happening every day, all across the state. Staff with too much on their plates, facilities without enough funding, and loopholes in regulations are only a few things behind these atrocities and a lot of families don’t even know what’s happening until it’s too late.
What’s behind this crisis and what can we do to stop it?
The Causes of Rising Cases of Neglect and Abuse
In short, this is a combination of issues with the system and the pressure of more and more seniors in the state. There’s a massive surge in the elderly populace down in California and already overstretched nursing homes are trying to manage the situation and maintain care standards; but it’s not easy, or simple.
When you put these conditions together with inadequate staff, cost-cutting measures, and all the other gaps in regulations, there comes a frightful trend of underperforming nursing facilities.
And the victims? Usually, it’s the residents (the elderly).
- Not Enough (Trained) Staff
This is one of the biggest issues – a chronic lack of staff and, more importantly, properly trained staff. There’s a growing number of people that need care, but there’s not enough staff to handle all of them.
Undertraining just adds insult to injury. A lot of caregivers aren’t even trained well enough to address the complex needs some residents might have, which makes the quality of care decline even further.
- Growing Elderly Population
By 2035, it’s estimated that one in five Californians will be over 65 years old. This puts a lot of pressure on nursing homes because a lot of them are already at or near capacity. There’s simply not enough nursing homes around, which makes the ones we do have overcrowded and it puts a strain on the resources.
- Profit-Driven Business Model
Nearly all nursing homes in California are for-profit. Opposite to non-profit nursing homes which are funded by the government or by donations, for-profit businesses are developed with pure capitalism in mind.
When the priority concern is money, the residents and their welfare are given the second (sometimes even last) place. Reduced labor costs, facilities are shortening employee hours, skimping on training, and cutting corners in the provision of essential supplies – all of that just to maximize profit.
For the residents, as you can (probably) imagine, this has devastating consequences.
- Regulatory Gaps
California’s regulatory framework is quite comprehensive on paper but falls short in practice. While inspections are frequent, penalties for violations aren’t almost serious enough to avoid future mischief, making it an enormous weakness.
How to Deal with Nursing Home Neglect?
There was a case in Los Angeles that saw an 88-year-old Alzheimer’s patient wander away from a nursing home. Making things worse, the patient later fell down four sets of stairs, and suffered an arm, hip, and leg injury (fracture and breakage).
The case has devastated the facility that specialized in memory-related elderly care. This has also left the family with no choice but to contact Los Angeles nursing home neglect attorneys to file a lawsuit against the facility.
Could such horrible incidents be avoided? Absolutely! But that would require a comprehensive approach.
- Stronger Policies on Staffing
Staff shortages are a huge issue and, to fix this, California could offer financial incentives (tax breaks or student loan forgiveness) to make more people want to become caregivers. At the same time, mandatory training programs would make sure all staff get enough education and they’re all able to meet even the most complex needs of the nursing home residents.
- Better Oversight and More Accountability
Regulations simply have to be enforced better to prevent neglect. There should be more surprise inspections and if violations are found, penalties need to be more serious. Higher fines and even license suspensions should happen more often, especially in nursing homes that are consistently failing to meet the standards for care.
- Involving the Community
Increased involvement of families and local communities is definitely something that’s needed. Visitors should visit often to see how their loved ones are doing, while a community can have resources and organize local advocacy groups.
The more visitors you have, the lower the chances are of nursing homes ignoring issues since there are going to be more witnesses involved. This approach will force the nursing home’s hand in making positive changes.
Conclusion
Unless you have a family member in a nursing home or an assisted living facility, you might think that this topic doesn’t concern you. But if you’re lucky, you’ll get old someday and you might move into a nursing home. When that happens, won’t you be grateful to the people that pushed for changes? Or, on the flip side, won’t you be mad at yourself for not doing something when you were young and when you were able to?
The fact is, this concerns everyone and we should all do whatever we can to raise awareness on this matter and fight for changes to be made.
