I am being Serious, How are the Patients really treated in Nursing Homes by the Staff? What goes on behind closed doors in Nursing Homes?

Jennie, I just found your question. My Mother was in a "rehab center" i.e. nursing home for a time after her hospitalization.

She went in at 116 pounds and came out a couple months later with an unreported broken hip requiring hip replacement surgery and weighing 73 pounds. I was in hospital in another state and calling in daily to inquire about her care, obviously to no avail.

I reported them to the state licensing board and an investigation was conducted. They received numerous federal and state violations, but were not shut down.

One of the chronic problems is slow call-light response time. They take an hour or more to answer and by then the person has urinated or defacated in the bed or fallen out trying to get to the washroom. The patient is yelled at for making a mess. Very abusive.

You probably heard about the very prominent lady in Illinois - it was on national news. She wandered out at night while all the staff were watching Dog the Bounty Hunter on TV. They found her a few hours later frozen to death in a snow bank. They carried her back in bed and tried to thaw her out with an electric blanket and then called 911 and never reported she went outside. They are facing criminal charges.

Currently several nursing homes here are under investigation for patients being assaulted, beaten, and raped by other patients. It is due to a law that allows mentally disturbed drug addicts and others to live in the same facility as the elderly and infirm.

My advice now is that if you have to put a loved one in a nursing home for any period of time, you will have to be with them or find or hire and pay someone you trust to sit with them day and night and watch over them, help them to the bathroom, etc. You may have to have several people to cover 24 hour shifts. Do the best you can and don't hesitate to file formal complaints at the first sign of abuse. Depending upon the severity of their condition and the intensity of medical care they need, you may be able to get a hospital type bed in your home, hire a general caregiver to sit with her every minute and an RN to come daily to dispense meds and provide any IV treatments, etc.

Good Luck and my best wishes to you and your loved ones!!

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