Nursing and retirement home statistics:

6 Million elderly and disabled people receive care in a nursing or retirement center.

There are 16,800 retirement and nursing centers in the United States.

The Federal government provides funding to the State government to conduct on-site inspections.

The State is responsible to recommend sanctions against nursing homes that violate health and safety rules.

NURSING HOME NEGLIGENCE:
A Silent Epidemic.

Presently there are new Federal initiatives to crack down on those nursing homes and retirement centers that do not follow the rules and put your loved ones at risk. Some of the new initiatives provide:

• Target States with weak nursing home inspection systems.
• Make inspection timing less predictable.
• Crack down on nursing homes that repeatedly violate safety rules.
• Require criminal background checks on all nursing home employees.
• Reduce the incidence of bedsores, dehydration and malnutrition.
• Combat resident abuse.
• Publish standardized nursing home quality rankings.

The new emphasis on assisted living safety will provide additional protection from abuse by nursing home or retirement center employees. Despite an effort to combat abuse, some assisted living centers and their employees may choose to not follow the rules.How do central Indiana Nursing homes rate? The Indianapolis Star published a special report. The results were as follows:

• Nine out of 10 central Indiana nursing homes inspected were found to be substantially out of compliance, meaning the facility had at least one violation serious enough that a nursing home resident was harmed or could have been harmed.
• Nearly eight out of 10 facilities had "pattern" or "widespread" violations, meaning violations that affected several residents or nearly everyone in the facility.
• Of the central Indiana nursing homes inspected, 26 ranked as "good" (23%); 51 ranked as "fair" (44%); and, another 38 ranked as "poor" (33%).
• Nearly 63% of the homes did worse on their most recent inspection.
  Inspection results were significantly worse, since the last round of inspections.

If you suspect patient abuse, report it, by calling your local law enforcement personnel and your State agency charged with assisted living center regulation.

If your loved one has suffered any physical injury as a result of an assisted living center's negligence, please call or email Attorney Dan Chamberlain, 800-269-3443.

To learn even more about Nursing Home Negligence, read this document.