Nursing Home Abuse
Four employees and a supervisor are being charged with abuse of a 94 year old Alzheimer’s patient. They punched the woman and stomped on her feet among other things.
This abuse occured at night at the Kane Regional Center’s Glen Hazel facility. Another employee finally reported it after six months. The abuse occured during overnight shifts.
This is probably the reason it went on for so long. There are no visitors during overnight shifts so the accused would know that it would have to be someone on the inside.
The cowards names are Mary Ann Bower, 57, Danielle Taylor, 46, of Pittsburgh; Shelly Keene, 35, of West Mifflin; Karen Perry, 46, of Homestead; and Shalaya Hatten, 30.
There were no other reports of abuse by any other residents or staff, so authorities can’t figure out why this one woman was singled out.
Well how about this for an explaination, there was other abuse but no need to report it since these idiots are already being fired and charged.
You must understand that no matter how you say you will protect them, you can’t. These helpless residents are there by themselves at night, at the mercy of the staff, and they are afraid. They can hear them come into their rooms at night and steal from them, but they know the best thing for them to do is to pretend they are asleep and live with it.
I would urge administrations of nursing homes to occasionally have departments heads come in for surprise checks during overnight hours to at least slow down the neglect and abuse. Many staffers spend the night hours sleeping themselves and only care for the residents right before staff changes in the morning, and the only way to catch this is to bust in during the night and check the residents.
Findings from Japans New Study
This is one of those studies which reminds us why studies are done, and in this case that’s a stretch.
Even though the outcome of a study is or should be obvious, without proof through the study, it’s still just another theory. This particular study from Japan which made the newspapers, concludes that teens in Japan who do not eat breakfast have sex at an earlier age, from 19 to 17. They attribute this to the way things are done in the home.
So those families that value good eating habits also have better values and pass them down to their children. They’ve also found that teens that dislike their mothers at an earlier age also tend to have sex a couple years earlier.
So I guess they have found that if you are a good parent at one thing thing you must be a good parent all around.
I can’t help but think that serial killers like Ted Bundy must have had yellow rotten teeth and bad hygiene.
FDA Warns Against These Diet Pills
The FDA has found that the below list of weight loss aides have unsafe amounts of the following chemicals.
Sibutramine, which is considered a controlled substance, Rimonabant which has not been approved here, Phenytoin, which is an anti seizure medicine, and Phenolphthalein, which is possibly cancer causing.
The FDA is seeking product recalls, however so far the companies selling the drugs have not been too cooperative. It’s very important that you stop taking these drugs and see your doctor. Sibutramine can produce seizures, high blood pressure, heart attacks, palpitations, tachycardia, and strokes. It also can bad interactions with other medications.
Rimonabant has been approved in Europe but it could be responsible for thoughts of suicide and depression. It’s so far been linked to 720 adverse reactions and has played a part in five deaths.
| Fatloss Slimming | 2 Day Diet | 3x Slimming Power |
| Japan Lingzhi 24 Hours Diet | 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming | 3 Day Diet |
| 7 Day Herbal Slim | 8 Factor Diet | 7 Diet Day/Night Formula |
| 999 Fitness Essence | Extrim Plus | GMP |
| Imelda Perfect Slim | Lida DaiDaihua | Miaozi Slim Capsules |
| Perfect Slim | Perfect Slim 5x | Phyto Shape |
| ProSlim Plus | Royal Slimming Formula | Slim 3 in 1 |
| Slim Express 360 | Slimtech | Somotrim |
| Superslim | TripleSlim | Zhen de Shou |
| Venom Hyperdrive 3.0 |
Be smart. You don’t need this junk to loose weight. Just say no.
New Nursing Home Ratings
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site now has a five star rating for 15,800 nursing homes. Many see this as a beginning for pay for performance for Medicare & Medicaid reimbursements.
Nursing home owners see this system as not fair and incomplete. From one to five stars, five being the highest, the home is rated on 10 “quality of care measures”.
Once again the government has way over complicated something which should be pretty simple. For instance they are mainly using state surveys over a three years period. However the state surveys are only about two weeks long in which the nursing home is aware they are being watched and rated. Out of the three years, more weight is given for the last years surveys than the previous two years.
Another couple of flaws would be that they are taking the total number of nursing homes and dividing them into percentages so that the top 10% only will recieve a five star rating. So even if all the homes are terrible the top 10% will get a high score. The other main flaw is that we are talking about nursing homes. Most of the residents are elderly and in ill health. The state and the feds will fault the homes where the residents health and mobility are not getting better, duh! It is possible for some residents to improve, however a lot of their ideas here are very unrealistic.
Some of the nursing homes insist that only a visit will tell the complete story and they are correct.
The main thing is that this whole concept is not new. The states and even the feds have been giving different monies for certain extra services provided and taken away for those standards they set which were not met.
Final Thoughts On Hospice
It’s been a while since my last post because I’ve lost both my parents. My mother unexpectedly died December 2 morning, and my father died December 4.
We had hospice take my dad to a hospice unit in a hospital, where they were better staffed and equiped to care for him. I believe that my mother felt so much better and relaxed that he was being taken care of, she just let go of her own struggle.
I spent the afternoon with my dad the next day and brought him a nice picture of mom. My sister and I saw he was suffering so much we told him mom went peacefully in her sleep and it was time for him to let go and be with her. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. Hours later he took his last breath.
He was cleaned and turned on his side when we visisted him, however when I asked when the last time he got his morphine was they responded 10:30 that morning, it was after 1:00 in the afternoon. When I pointed that out, the hospice nurse said he was resting comfortably. The man was given no food and water and could not speak or hardly even moan. He was far to weak to move even a finger.
I told her that just because he can’t tell you he’s in pain doesn’t mean he isn’t and she better go get some morphine for him unless she wanted me to do the scene from “Terms of Endearment” where Shirley McClaine has to scream for her daughters meds. She immediately got the meds and administered them to him. That made me wonder how they cared for him during the long night when we weren’t there. His mouth was so dry and cracked from lack of moisture. He couldn’t swallow they said but he could have someone wet a cloth and wipe the inside of his mouth and lips. We did it for him while we were there but what did they do? I don’t know, I’ll never know.
Another Look At Hospice
I’ve had a fist hand look into hospice and want to change my opinion from my last post about the subject.
My father is laying here with me right now in a hospital bed which was just put in his living room.
He is out of it, with the severe pain, the morphine, and the vicadin I am giving him. He’s with it enough to know it still hurts and that it’s me he’s yelling at for making him move and take the medicine.
He was let go from the hospital while he could still speak rather easily and eat a little. Now he cannot eat anything and hasn’t. He is severly (in my opinion) dehydrated. His lips are cracking badly, and try as we might we cannot turn him over so that he doesn’t get bedsores.
Hospice is only coming for a short visit twice a week. We are unable to take care of such a sick man. I’m going to find out tomarrow when the nurse comes about upping his dosages of pain meds and getting him an IV to at least keep him hydrated.
I know hospitals are overcrowded, but how can they send someone in his condititon home like this? He needs real medical care so he can have an IV,and be turned every two hours. He’s been combative with us, and my sister and I are almost at wits ends. I am measuring out morphine, watching oxygen, and trying to make him as comfortable as possible and he is fighting me the whole way. I thought that hospice was going to help, but how can they help when their not here?
I believe my mother said she would have to pay out of pocket for a hospice nurse to be here almost all the time, and she can’t afford it. So am I to watch him dehydrate and starve to death in severe pain? I don’t think he should be home like this. We’re doing the best we can but it’s beyond difficult.