An unidentified emergency room doctor in Washington, D.C. has informed ABC 7/News Channel 8 reporter Stephen Tschida he routinely sees patients from the Grant Park Care Center nursing home facility on the verge of death because of neglect.
As a result, the local ABC affiliate obtained inspection reports from the D.C. Department of Health that were done in February and May of 2008. The reports detail an abundance of deficiencies at the care facility such as, “nurse failed to notify physician of resident dehydration, resident with weight changes and of anemia. As a result, D.C. Long Term Care Ombudsman Jerry Kasunic says his staff “has actually filed over 100 complaints with the Department of Health,” calling Grant Park one, if not, the worst he’s seen.
My Take: Bad care just doesn’t happen overnight! It builds and gets worse over time. Where were the Health Department investigators? Where were the investigators from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid? Where were the police? In my opinion, they all share responsibility for the abuse suffered by the residents of this facility.