Nursing Home Abuse

A congressional report which was released in July stated that the amount of abuse occurring in nursing homes in our nation is increasing dramatically. Physical, Sexual and verbal abuse is occurring and something needs to be done to stop it. "Thirty percent of nursing homes in the United States---5,283 facilities---were cited for almost 9,000 instances of abuse over a recent two-year period (Special Investigations Division of the House Government Reform Committee).

Reading this article on nursing home abuse really opened my eyes up to a whole new problem in our world. Before reading this article, I was aware of the abuse that goes on in nursing homes, but I had no idea that it occurred so frequently and seriously. My grandmother used to work in a nursing home and told me all about the different types of abuse that would happen. She didn't know if was going on until one day she realized it when the nurses would turn off all the lights earlier than supposed to, so that they wouldn't have to take the elderly to the bathroom or change them. Therefore, in the morning, they would have been sleeping in their own feces. After she became aware of this, she quit. I believe that people in our nation are not aware of this abuse. I believe that many people know that it goes on but there are a high number that do not even know of this kind of abuse nor how serious it is and can be. The articles gives a few examples of investigations into nursing home abuse and what they have found. One 83 year old woman was found laying in bed with her body covered in ants and ants going in and out of her mouth. That is disgusting and really sad. I do not understand why anyone could ever let that happen to someone. I believe that we as a nation need to rise the awareness of nursing home crime. Something needs to be done. Some people say that to get good nursing home care is to spend a lot of money, but that is not true. The nursing home that my grandmother worked in was one of the most expensive nursing homes around, It does not matter how much money one spends, nursing home abuse happens everywhere. Our nation could rise the salaries of nursing home attendants or make it harder to get a job there, but the demand for nurses is so high that there may be a shortage. More money from the government needs to be given to nursing homes. The elderly is one of the highest populations of people, and they should not be treated as the way they are being treated.