[pinoy_guy]

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/37316/Su...-seniors-mouth

Suit: Dead rat found in senior's mouth

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Staffing was so inadequate at a California senior center that a rat crawled into an Alzheimer's patient's mouth and died there before staff noticed, a lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday on behalf of 90-year-old Sigmund Bock, alleges that administrators at the Paragon Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care Community in Mission Viejo overbooked their facility to receive corporate bonuses, but cut back on staff to increase profits.

"The facility so literally ignored the needs of their residents ... as to allow vermin in the form of a rat to become lodged in the mouth of Sigmund Bock and die therein," the lawsuit alleges.

. . .

He said Paragon records show a staff person noticed Bock "playing with a rat in his room and eating candy ... with the rat" on the morning of March 18. A short time later, Garcia said, paramedics called to the scene noted "possible ingestion of rat poison" in their report and an emergency room file says that Bock was "found in room in care facility with dead rat in mouth."

. . .

Last year, the state moved to revoke Paragon Gardens' license after a 71-year-old dementia patient wandered from the facility and was never found. The state Department of Social Services also claimed six clients were injured from improper care, according to spokesman Michael Weston. The company has appealed.

[UKRNinUSA]

yuck, yuck, yuck

[ingelein]

MY God!! How much more abuse can happen before LTC is REFORMED!Greed has allowed this industry to continue to critically understaff its facilities and to add insult to injury the oversight agencies are NOT enforcing their own laws to protect LTC patients. It is sickening, what will it take to FORCE change. After talking to many nursing home reform advocates from all over this country, I was told that NO CHANGE will happen in the current administration in Washington DC, STILL being unduly influenced by multibillion dollar a year LTC industry lobby. If the next administration, be they Democrat or Republican does not make reforms in LTC, LTC nurses will need to do as they did IN THE HOSPITALS and try to affect change IN THE LTC's, through a powerful union, like the CNA and get state staffing ratios that are doable and stiff fines if not followed. I really think that the nursing home wharehousing of our elderly needs to end anyway, there has got to be a better way. I was a LTC nurse for 27 years, and I am still disgusted at what these unscrupulous corporations have gotton away with and continue to get away with, its maddening!!!!

[pickledpepperRN]

Originally Posted by ingelein

MY God!! How much more abuse can happen before LTC is REFORMED!Greed has allowed this industry to continue to critically understaff its facilities and to add insult to injury the oversight agencies are NOT enforcing their own laws to protect LTC patients. It is sickening, what will it take to FORCE change. After talking to many nursing home reform advocates from all over this country, I was told that NO CHANGE will happen in the current administration in Washington DC, STILL being unduly influenced by multibillion dollar a year LTC industry lobby. If the next administration, be they Democrat or Republican does not make reforms in LTC, LTC nurses will need to do as they did IN THE HOSPITALS and try to affect change IN THE LTC's, through a powerful union, like the CNA and get state staffing ratios that are doable and stiff fines if not followed. I really think that the nursing home wharehousing of our elderly needs to end anyway, there has got to be a better way. I was a LTC nurse for 27 years, and I am still disgusted at what these unscrupulous corporations have gotton away with and continue to get away with, its maddening!!!!

Staffing and competence need to be improved.
We must improve the regulations!
I think it has to be nurses, RNs, LPN/LVNs working together with CNAs and the public.

Any of us could end up in long term care. Even worse it could be our loved ones.

[brendamyheart]

Originally Posted by pinoy_guy

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/37316/Su...-seniors-mouth

Suit: Dead rat found in senior's mouth

MY goodness! That poor resident!!!!

[Hopefull2009]

It makes you wonder...exactly WHAT does a facility have to do, to be shut down permanently?

[banditrn]

And, sadly, it has to come to something so awful BEFORE they're shut down!
I will be so glad when I get out of the industry for good.

[PeachPie]

Sadly, I think that this is related to dirt pay, lack of standards, and utilization of too many UAPs in nursing homes.

The big problem is that nursing homes need CNAs so badly that they'll hire any Tom, Dick, or Harry. Don't get me wrong: I was a CNA once, and I met some absolutely wonderful CNAs who need to be cloned. However, all too often CNAs only require a 3-week course, and sometimes not even that. It's a quick, easy-hire job that pays more than flipping burgers. I'm not saying that the nurses they work with are innocent or competent, but nurses have to go through enough education and training that there's more of a chance of them being serious about their jobs and wanting to go through with it, if that makes sense. Anyhoo, if they gave CNAs higher standards like more training that would weed out incompetents and ensure that more serious people became CNAs, I'm sure that things would be better. People all too often do not become CNAs as a calling or out of interest, they do it for the money. The money is incentive for people to become CNAs, but there aren't enough standards to keep it clean.

Another big issue is that the demand for these CNAs is so high that they can get away with crap and not have to worry about getting fired. This happened at my old facility. They even hired a manager who talked their language, so to speak, and encouraged their kind of attitudes. I saw them talking on their cell phones all the time, and slack their work, yet "outsiders" were nitpicked for every little thing, even if they were picking up everybody else's slack. The nurses, the good CNAs, and administrators get so sick of the crap and being short staffed that they go on to hospitals, which can afford to pay better and have better staff ratios.

[Pumpkin1621]

OH MY!

[hajer]

is this what those old peoples deserve to have it at the end of thier lifes ??? i dont think so .....