WASHINGTON — As baby boomers age and more families turn to long-term care for seniors, an increasing number of older Americans living in nursing homes is being subjected to physical and verbal abuse, according to a government report released Monday.
During a two-year period ending in January, more than 30%, or 5,283, of the hursing homes investigated were cited for abuse, according to the review, which was requested by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles). Nearly 10% of the abuses resulted in serious injury or death, the report found.
The figures represent a continuing increase in nursing home abuse nationwide, lawmakers and health-care officials said. The percentage of nursing home violations has risen every year since 1996, the report found, with more than twice as many homes cited for violations in 2000 as four years ago. The study marks the first time officials have studied the problem by comprehensively evaluating reports from state inspectors, officials said.
In California, more than 40% of the state's 1,352 nursing homes were cited for abuse, according to Waxman's office. In Los Angeles County, 37% of 424 homes were cited.
"The senior citizens who live in nursing homes are frail and vulnerable," Waxman said. "They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity--not to live in fear of abuse and mistreatment."
At a news conference Monday, Waxman--the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee--announced the proposed Nursing Home Quality Protection Act, which would seek to stem abuse and neglect. The bill would increase funding to nursing homes; set mandatory nurse staffing levels; impose stricter sanctions on subpar homes; require criminal background checks on employees; and increase Internet access to records of nursing home conditions.
The report details a range of abuses, including instances of nursing home residents being punched, kicked or choked by staff members. Other abuses included untreated bedsores, inadequate medical care, malnutrition, dehydration and inadequate sanitation and hygiene. Some residents also complained of workers groping and sexually assaulting them.
The report cites specific examples of abuse where patients were either physically or verbally degraded, including several in California: In February of last year, at a nursing home in Pomona, a resident was pushed to the ground by a staff member who kicked her in the side and face. And at a home in Santa Monica last August, a male staff member approached a 90-year-old female resident, exposed himself and made a lewd comment.
