But in this
case, it seems absolutely justified, since the great—well, at one time—state of
Wisconsin passed a law that forbids…OK, here’s the headline:
New
state law conceals records of abuse, neglect in nursing homes
I came upon
it via Ralph Nader, whom you can see and hear below, on his
talk on the defining question / issue of our time: the corporation. And, in passing, he mentioned that tort
lawyers are finding it difficult to sue nursing home chains. Why? Because the
homes are owned by a corporation with few assets that are owned overseas
(probably a tax shelter) by another corporation, which in turn may be
owned by another corporation. So even if you sue successfully and get a
judgment, can you collect? Nope!
Well, that
was sufficiently interesting to turn off Nader—sad the things you can do
cybernetically but not in real life—and google “tort law nursing homes.” And
that’s where I came across the state law, which was meant to promote a more
business-friendly environment in the state.
And what’s
the essence of the law? Here’s the State Journal:
The law, which went into effect in February 2011, bars families from using state health investigation records in state civil suits filed against long-term providers, including nursing homes and hospices. It also makes such records inadmissible in criminal cases against health care providers accused of neglecting or abusing patients.
What does
that mean? It means that if you—as did Joshua Wahl, in the article cited
above—leave Mother in a home and she is lying in her feces for hours at a time,
she will very likely develop a bedsore. And if, as happened to Wahl, the
bedsore is never adequately treated, Mother may develop an infection that may
turn into septicemia. And that’s life threatening.
Now, let’s
imagine you are the incredibly slacking type who doesn’t turn Mother over every
two hours and perform a thorough inspection along with good skin care. You
shockingly assume that that’s their job, after all. What resource do you
have, to make sure that old Mother is getting the proper care? The friendly
smile of the home’s administrator?
You know,
of course, that the state inspects the facility, and there’s that
official-looking certificate on the front door (or next to it). And so you
decide to go online and check if the Wisconsin
Department of Health Services
has any info on Mother’s nursing home (now euphemistically called a “skilled
nursing facility”). Well, I did—and came upon a page which, in miniscule type
said this:
Wisconsin
Nursing Homes: State Citations Issued from 10/01/2012 to 09/30/2013 Information
is current as of 10/28/2013
OK—I’ll
save you a trip to search for the magnifying glass—it’s Wisconsin’s citation of
nursing homes for an entire year, from October 2012 to October 2013. And guess
what? I was looking up my own mother’s old nursing home, Ingleside in Mount
Horeb, Wisconsin. So I was on the “I” page, and how many citations were there
for an entire year for nursing homes beginning with “I” in Wisconsin?
One.
OK, it’s
diluted but it’s there. Jack, my old journalist father, sometimes spurs me to
action. And so I went page by page counting nursing citations in Wisconsin. I
can hear the bated breath out there….
There were
28.
Here’s the link: try it yourself.
Yeah? Well,
let’s do a posthumous—in my mother’s case—search for records on Ingleside. So I
did a search in the “providers” page, entered the name, the county, and the
city. And guess what? The search turned up this:
No records
were found for your search criteria
(At least
that’s what happened to me. It has to be said, however, that the talented Ms.
Taí came up—somehow—with a helpful six-page report. Here’s the link, and good
luck!)
OK—Ingleside
doesn’t exist, what about the Attic Angels, where I worked many a night shift?
Also not
found….
Four Winds
in Verona?
Curiously,
the site found it! Wow, and there was a map!
What wasn’t
there?
Anything
else….
All
right—time to trot over to Google, to check out how many nursing
homes—including the phantom one that had sheltered my mother three times in
three years—there are in Wisconsin. And I chose what must be an industry (word
used quite intentionally) site. Here’s the dough:
Wisconsin
contains 390 certified Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes. These nursing homes
have a total of 34,876 available beds for skilled nursing residents and at the
time when we updated this data 82% of those beds were full. The overall average
Medicare 5 Star Quality rating for Wisconsin skilled nursing homes is 3.5 which
ranks 13 nationally.
What! We’re
only 13 nationally when in an entire year we only had 28 citations for 390
certified homes! Wow, those twelve other states must be immaculate!
Walker,
with his “Wisconsin is open for business” slogan, seems to have gutted any
effective regulation of at least nursing homes. And you know, I spent a portion
of today inventing new, Walkeresque
regulations. Things like:
Inspectors are encouraged to choose between on versus off site inspections.
Or how
about…
Inspectors are under no circumstances permitted within 50 yards of the facility. Inspections should be limited to general questions—e.g. “everything going OK in there”—to passing staff members. Non-responses will be considered a “overwhelmingly positive.”
You know, I
worked for years in those places. I know perfectly well that in even the best
homes I could have found a dozen citations, had I been armed with the
regulations. Considering a little time to rest up in a nursing home?
Enter at
your own risk!
