We speak to families all the time who have watched a loved one suffer because of an incident involving a nursing home or assisted living facility. We even hear of cases where long term neglect leads to death or permanent injury in health care facilities.
When I tell my friends or family I do “elopement” cases, they wonder if an elderly person has left a facility to get married.
No. Elopement simply means leaving a facility when you are unsupervised. It would be like a child leaving a day care center.
When I tell friends and family I do abuse cases, they wonder who would ever neglect or abuse an elderly person and act shocked at stories I share.
In the last few weeks, there has been some amazing national press about assisted living facilities in Florida. The Miami Herald did a long series on the topic and suspicious deaths in Florida assisted living facilities. The St. Pete times did one as well.
NPR also had a show last week that spoke about this topic. To hear the show, you can visit their online Talk of the Nation Thursday Podcast.
Quite simply, in Virginia, Assisted living facilities are NOT health care providers and as such have very little oversight under State law and None under Federal law.
They also have no legal duty to provide medical care. WHAT? I know.
Read the above articles.
Listen to the above interview and hear the stories about families that have suffered.
It is worth our time to repair the system.