Re: States Move to Curb Nursing Home Suits

From: Anna Meenan, MD (annam@uic.edu)
Tue Jul 8 21:01:25 2003

This sort of stuff really gets me. LOTS of people die of starvation and dehydration in nursing homes. My own aunt recently died in a nursing home of sarvation and dehydration, surrounded by her loving family, including her sister, a former inspector for the Joint Commission, and completely in accordance with her wishes. The end stages of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cerebrovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses frequently involve an inability to take oral nutrition, and patients and families frequently refuse feeding tubes in terminal situations. What else could possibly happen at that point?

Yes, there are bad nursing homes, but bedsores occur even in good nursing homes. Nursing homes have a near-impossible task these days, trying to provide increasing levels of care on shrinking budgets, while navigating endless mazes of regulations. I wouldn't want the job of running one. 

--
                                   Anna Meenan, MD


>(Mr.  EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
>minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
>
>Mr.  EMANUEL.  Mr.  Speaker, we recognize older Americans each May.  This
>May we must address the unpleasant fact that too many of our elders are
>beaten, neglected, and extorted.  Like other family crimes such as child
>abuse and domestic abuse, elder abuse has existed for too long in the
>dark shadows of our society.  Elder abuse remains underreported,
>underresearched, and underenforced.  As high as 5 million elderly cases
>of abuse occur in nursing homes, nursing institutions, and private homes
>each year; but 80 percent never get reported.
>
>In my home State of Illinois, 186 nursing home residents actually died
>of starvation, dehydration, or infected wounds in 1999 alone.
>
>In response, with the gentleman from New York (Mr.  King), I will
>introduce the Elder Justice Act which makes elderly abuse a Federal
>crime, helps law enforcement work hand in hand with our health and
>social service agencies that have always fought alone against this type
>of neglect.  It is a bipartisan bill.  We have a number of Republicans
>here in the House, and 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats who are also
>introducing a bill in the Senate.
>
>Mr.  Speaker, the most meaningful way to honor our elder Americans this
>month is to pass the Elder Justice Act.
>
>END
>
>--
>Marilyn Ringstaff, CNM
>



use when must restrict search to only the ob-gyn-l forum...
Enter search keywords:
Returns per screen: Require all keywords:

Return to OB-GYN-L Mail a New Message to the Forum: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net
Forum Administrator: geffrey.klein@obgyn.net
Report Technical Problems: webmaster@obgyn.net
Last Updated: Wed Jul 2 04:35:55 2008

The American Medical Association is no longer designating CME hours for AMA Category II CME credit. However, physicians themselves may self designate learning activities as Category II CME credit hours if they feel it is of sufficient educational merit and meets the formal definitions of continuing medical education. OBGYN.net believes these interaction in this forum meets these criteria. For further information see the AMA web site.

home | medical professionals | women | industry | forums | international
e-mail | about us | advertising | our sponsors | contact us | disclaimer |

This information is provided for educational purposes only.
Please read the disclaimer. ©1996-2008, all rights reserved.
Do not reproduce without permission of MediSpecialty.com