When state investigators were called into the Brainerd, Minn., nursing home in late 2008, administrators said one aide might have mistreated several residents with dementia.
What they found was far more troubling: A "pattern of resident abuse'' by at least 20 nursing assistants that included belittling elderly patients, telling a man to urinate in his incontinence briefs and removing a call-light from a confused female resident.
"This was a systemwide failure," said Stella French, who oversees state Health Department investigators. "It's a situation that the administration should have known about and should have stopped."
The home's owner, Good Samaritan of Sioux Falls, S.D., is the nation's largest nonprofit chain of nursing homes and the owner of the Albert Lea nursing facility where abuse of several elderly residents led to criminal charges against two aides last year -- a fact that caused some soul-searching at the organization.
"This is not another Albert Lea," said spokesman Mark Dickerson. "It's not that level of problem. Still, coming so soon after Albert Lea, both the state and we swooped in right away to get to the bottom of things.
"You have to realize, we have made a lot of changes, done a lot of training," Dickerson added. "It's not the same place."
Full Article and Source:
Brainerd Nursing Home is Cited for Abuse
4 comments:
This "pattern of resident abuse" can be found at many nursing facilities.
We need to keep the pressure on our elected reps to hold facilities accountable!
this is beyond abuse is this pattern of power and control, the cruelty towards another human being who cannot defend themselves the tormenters do this without any fear of consequences they do this with no conscience doesn't this describe makrkings of profile of sociopaths or psychopaths? to those who hear about this do and say nothing just wait til its you trapped in this institution of terror wait til it's your loved one then what? no mercy, no excuses, 20 years in prison with no early out should be the minimum sentene to send a message STOP IT!now
State investigators routinely inspect nursing facilities in my state, but the problem is the facilities always know in advance of when the inspection is coming, so they "get ready."
Absolutely right Stand Up and Jerri.
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