Op-Ed (Pennsylvania)
Sam Brooks
LNP News (PA)
August 2, 2015
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Nursing Homes, Seniors
Organizations mentioned/involved: Community Legal Services (CLS) of Philadelphia
DETAILS
As a legal aid attorney at Community Legal Services, I have seen it all: people with disabilities who were illegally discharged from a nursing home to a homeless shelter, senior citizens who experienced physical abuse, and residents who suffered serious harm due to deficient care provided by nursing homes, and more.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health enforces federal and state laws that protect nursing home residents. Over the years, CLS and others had been filing complaints with the department about nursing homes, with little to no result. So CLS began to analyze complaint and investigation data from the Department of Health website; what we found was quite shocking.
From 2012-2014, the department dismissed 92 percent of complaints made against nursing homes in Philadelphia. These complaints were made by nursing home residents, their families, facility staff, or advocates for nursing home residents. Although not every complaint against a nursing home may be valid, it is unbelievable that 92 percent would be dismissed.