Giving voice to the neglected voiceless
In many of our neglect and abuse cases, the victim is unable to testify regarding the bad care because of dementia or death. I read an article today about a man who is competent and speaking up for his rights and the rights of others at the facility where he lives. Mr. Crawley is a competent 48 year old man who resides at Sunrise Rehabilitation & Care in Marion, N.C. "I am not being treated like, I feel, as a human being," said Crawley.
Crawley became a paraplegic as a result of a car wreck in 1982. His 81-year-old father, Joe Crawley Sr., can no longer take care of him and he started living at Sunrise Rehab on Oct. 15. For the first two weeks there, the staff didn't give him a bath or shower. "I don't know what is going on here," he said. "It seems like they make a lot of errors in simple things."
Crawley said his elderly roommate will talk incoherently and constantly yell about having to urinate, and, rather than listening to him, the staff will shut the door. With the heater running, that makes the room get hot for both Crawley and his roommate. He said he has called the nurse's station to have the door opened but is ignored.
His sister said the staff once left a feces-soiled blue pad on his wheelchair for more than two hours. His father, who visits him twice a week, found it and thought his son had had an accident. He bagged up the soiled pad and took it to the nurse's desk. "That's an unsanitary condition and that's neglect," said Pilgrim.
Crawley said he's confined in his bed 21 hours a day. This will increase the likelihood of developing pressure ulcers.
Crawley added he's paying $879 a month to stay at Sunrise Rehab, which leaves him with just $30 out of his monthly disability check. He wishes he could go someplace else.
"I don't know if they think I am incoherent or lost my faculties or don't know what is going on," he said. "But I do know what is going on. I need more than anything to be transferred to a place that deals with wound care."
"They are neglecting the people," said Buckner. "That is why there is a waiting list at Autumn Care."
The official Web site for Medicare contains information about nursing homes across the nation. The site states that Sunrise Rehab had 11 health deficiencies, which are above the state and national averages. One of the deficiencies included failure to "write and use policies that forbid mistreatment, neglect and abuse of residents and theft of residents' property." Another deficiency found on May 10 by inspectors was failure to "give professional services that meet a professional standard of quality."
In addition, inspectors found on Aug. 30 that Sunrise Rehab failed to "make sure that residents are safe from serious medication errors" and it also failed to "make sure that the nursing home area is free of dangers that cause accidents."
See full article here.
