MA: Elder Advocates Raise Concerns on Assisted Living

In Stoughton, an elderly woman walked out of a locked dementia unit at an assisted living residence in May, wandered into another room and fell from a second-story window.

That same month, at a Framingham assisted living facility, two staffers were arrested for allegedly slapping and pinching two elderly residents who have Alzheimer’s, and filming a third who was partly undressed.

In July, an 88-year-old man with a history of falling, and who had a tube in his chest for dialysis treatment, apparently tripped in the bathroom of his Revere assisted living residence and bled to death before staffers reached him.

Residents in Massachusetts assisted living facilities are in harm’s way too often, and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, the state agency charged with overseeing the 224 residences, is ill-equipped to protect these increasingly frail residents, elder advocates say.

Even a key staffer at the agency is worried. Peter Antonellis, compliance officer at Elder Affairs who inspects the facilities, said the agency has just two ombudsmen to handle the thousands of complaints that pour in each year involving assisted living residences.

State data show that Elder Affairs has suspended just three assisted living residences for serious infractions since 2008 — an action that merely prevents the facilities from accepting new residents until they fix identified problems.

“I think most elders and their families think this is a regulated industry, but we don’t have the staff to regulate it,” Antonellis said.

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Elder Advocates Raise Concerns on Assisted Living