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Abuse Site news regarding Nursing Home Neglect
Major Congressional
Findings
Thousands
of nursing homes have been cited for abuse violations. Over thirty percent
of
the nursing homes in the United States -- 5,283 nursing homes -- were cited for
an abuse
violation that had the potential to cause harm between January 1999
and January 2001. These
nursing homes were cited for almost 9,000 abuse violations
during this two-year period.
Many of these abuse violations caused harm to
residents. Over 2,500 of the abuse
violations in the last two years were serious
enough to cause actual harm to residents or to place
residents in immediate
jeopardy of death or serious injury. In total, nearly 10% of the nursing
homes
in the United States -- 1,601 nursing homes -- were cited for abuse violations
that caused
actual harm to residents or worse.
Many
of these abuse violations are discovered only after the filing of a formal
complaint.
State inspectors can find evidence of abuse either during annual inspections or
during
an inspection after a formal complaint is filed. The data indicate that over 40%
of the
abuse violations -- over 3,800 in the two-year period -- were discovered
only after the filing of a
formal complaint. In over one-third of these cases,
the violation was determined to have caused
actual harm to the resident.
The
percentage of nursing homes with abuse violations is increasing. The
percentage
of nursing homes cited for abuse violations has increased every year since 1996.
In
2000, over twice as many nursing homes were cited for abuse violations during
annual
inspections than were cited in 1996. The reasons for this increase are
unclear.
Minority
Staff, Special Investigations Division, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House
of Representatives July 30, 2001
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