Pennsylvania’s Department of Health is cracking down after a shocking report last year that elder abuse throughout the state’s thousands of nursing homes goes largely unnoticed and unpunished.
It’s the holiday season, and many of us will be visiting our elderly loved ones in care facilities around the country. That’s a beautiful thing in itself. But why not going beyond the visit to give a special gift this year - the gift of extra vigilance.
According a recent review article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 10 percent of elderly Americans have suffered some form of physical, emotional, or financial abuse. Worse, researchers behind the article suggest that this figure is an underestimate.
Most people are very surprised to learn that, when a dispute arises between residents and nursing homes, residents are often forced to bring their case against the nursing home through arbitration instead of through a court of law.
