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144 Comments
- thundercloud39, on 02/10/2009, -0/+53***** like this makes me terrified about growing old.
- Smokeydabear, on 02/10/2009, -1/+38Yeah because all the skeezy nursing homes have cropped up overnight like toadstools in the past 41 days that the guy has been president.
- Lucas123, on 02/09/2009, -1/+38As a former news reporter, I always found you could rate the quality of a nursing home by how strong the smell of ammonia (urine) was when you walked in the door. Strong smell = a poorly managed facility.
- Anim8tor, on 02/10/2009, -0/+33This reminded me of my grandfather's nursing home. It was terrible. He kept trying to escape.
- MattB123, on 02/10/2009, -1/+28Shameful.
"Residents said that when they voiced concerns, staff responded at times by pointing to the cemetery across the street. State investigators cited the nursing home, concluding that residents could not speak up without fear of reprisal." - Todynho, on 02/10/2009, -0/+26Billions are spent prolonging our existence on this planet, yet, when you pass a certain age no one has any more use nor respect for you. It's not just this "home" ignoring these people, it's everyone. A sad story, and sad commentary on our society.
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -0/+24I have a backpack ready to go, l have lost to many people to nursing homes. When I can't care for myself it's off to someplace cold with two bottles of whiskey!
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -4/+26This sounds and is horrible, but what are YOU going to do? Are you willing to pay more taxes so that the poor elderly can get better treatment? I think not. All I hear from Americans is taxes suck and socialized health care is evil. Sure, you complain that things must improve, as long as you don't have to pay a penny. Some of you are so farking stupid it's mind-boggling.
- drhuntzzz, on 02/10/2009, -0/+20As a paramedic, this is not at all surprising. I would not put any of my loved ones in any of our local nursing home. Even the best ones. I feel guilty every time I have to return a resident, especially our veterans, to one of these. It seems for some reason the VA prefers the lower quality care facilities.
- tchynerd, on 02/10/2009, -2/+20This ***** really pisses me off. Why the ***** are people not being punished more severley for this? I can see it being understandable to rate a hotel based on a 5 star system but a nursing home?! Also a place that gets 29 complaints in a year needs to be SERIOUSLY looked at. Hell these safety inspections should be a lot more common at all nursing homes. It just makes me sick to see our elderly treated this way.
- chesterogilvie, on 02/10/2009, -0/+18My grandfather has Alzheimer’s and was just diagnosed with lung cancer, which landed him in a nursing home. I went to visit the other day and his glasses were missing and they had dressed him in his roommates clothing. His roommate is 6'4", my grandfather is probably 5'8" and his goddamn name is written on his clothes. Not a good sign.
- widdershins, on 02/10/2009, -0/+17If I end up in a place like this, shoot me.
- Anim8tor, on 02/10/2009, -0/+17I should clarify that our/his poverty meant he could only afford to live in a place that accepted Medicaid. You get what you pay for, even when you can't afford anything else, and it's really sad.
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -1/+17No kidding. We can just hope for the 'massive heart attack in our sleep' exit from life. Seriously, if I make it to 70 or 75, have a stroke, and then wake up in the hospital because they 'saved' me, I'll cry for the rest of my pee-soaked days...
- bigkeeperrabbit, on 02/10/2009, -1/+16I guess free WiFi is out of the question?
- trafficlight, on 02/10/2009, -1/+16Don't be a dick.
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -1/+16I hope I never live to an age or level of incapacitation that lands me in a nursing home.
- ironhide, on 02/10/2009, -1/+13Worst job I ever had was doing maintenance in a nursing home, it wasn't a bad one mind you, but I sure as hell hope I don't end up at one.
- drhuntzzz, on 02/10/2009, -0/+12I should note that many of the nurses in these facilities are hard working and competent. However, the are given too many patients to take care of and not enough resources. The good ones get frustrated and typically don't last very long.
- wesniles, on 02/10/2009, -2/+14i cant wait until im old :D
- ilovepo, on 02/10/2009, -0/+11I did some work for the corporate offices of some one star rated nursing homes. The three partners each made over $400,000 a year, not counting $20k/month in expense reimbursements. Anything and everything they spent money on was run through the nursing homes, e.g. the company maintenance team has done renovations on each of their houses, their family members appear on payroll reports for homes they've never even seen, the company plane is used almost exclusively for personal use... Meanwhile the homes need new roofs, vendors have to sue to get paid, staff get minimum wage and residents are treated just like the article says. They are constantly audited, get a few things rejected every year, but the bulk of it slides through and is paid by you and me through medicare and medicaid.
- pintocat, on 02/10/2009, -3/+13Horrible.
But what am I supposed to do about it? I already don't make enough to save for my own retirement... am I supposed to get taxed more so medicaid/medicare will do better for them? - inactive, on 02/10/2009, -0/+10I'm totally pulling a Hunter S. Thompson...
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -1/+10This is why I pray that when I get that massive heart attack or stroke, that it just puts me down for good. I have little desire to spend the last 5-10 years of my life drooling into my lap and pissing myself before I finally choke on my own vomit because some 19-year-old punkass 'care' worker couldn't be bothered to turn me over in my bedbug-infested bed.
I really think that nursing homes are this unspoken seedy underbelly of our society. No one really speaks of them, because once you go there, you're not coming back. All these once vibrant and strong and important people in their day, now reduced to mumbling to themselves and sitting slouched over in their wheelchairs just waiting to die.
Oh, and you'd better damn well believe that every one of them in there probably wishes physician-assisted suicide was legal. Just read stories like this and spend a little time in one of these nursing homes and you should come to the conclusion that every one of them wishes they had the means and the strength to blow their brains out and end it all. - j0hnk377y, on 02/10/2009, -0/+9Plan now and save lots of money so you will be able to map out your own future care. Don't rely on the government for your future self care or you will end in a low cost, high volume place like this.
- Glassmentality, on 02/10/2009, -1/+10Really, what's the point of living when your "heel is red and mushy" and you have bed sores on your ass the size of "golf balls" from laying in your own *****. For ***** sake man, shoot me already!
- Shakermaker, on 02/10/2009, -2/+11I don't think you need to be a "news reporter" to figure that if it smells like piss or ammonia it probably sucks...
- BDOUG, on 02/10/2009, -1/+9No, but Lucas123 was smart enough to have a pre-posted reason for visiting a lot of nursing homes, probably because he knows Digg is full of "gotcha" smartasses.
- du1834, on 02/10/2009, -3/+11I nominate you as national Inspector and Corrector of Nursing Homes. Of course, I can't pay you because I currently take care of my mother financially to prolong the time when she will need to enter a nursing home. I'm sure you don't mind doing it as volunteer work though because you seem extremely agravated and ready to move toward action.
Your first assignment is the nursing home nearest you. Report back when you've taken care of it. - inactive, on 02/10/2009, -0/+7Why would anyone in government or business care about old people. once a "human resource" is finished with and you can no longer be exploited for work or soaked for profit, it is time to be thrown out.
- drmangrum, on 02/10/2009, -2/+9That's why you have to drink, smoke, and eat lots of meat now. Better to enjoy yourself and die young than live with in those hell holes.
- adikt, on 02/10/2009, -1/+8'You can judge a society by how they treat their weakest members."
-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - jsdratm, on 02/10/2009, -1/+8I used to work in the kitchen of a nursing home. It wasn't as bad as this, but I saw staff abusing residents mentally and physically. One old lady even asked me to kill her. :\
In all fairness though, the old men could be real perverts. They would often grab and grope the nurses. But still, that doesn't justify abusing residents.
It wasn't all depressing though. I could always get one nice guy in a wheelchair to "raise the roof" and wave his arms around while waiting for dinner to be served and there were a number of other residents who were real fun. - FuZi0nDET, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6These are "for profit" centers that they've cited in this article. It is disgusting that some one is turning a profit off of the suffering of the elderly. Talk about blood money, I'd never put a relative in one of these places. If it was my ass looking at one of those places I'd ask to be rolled off a cliff.
- PaisleyTeal, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6i think a lot depends on where you live. i worked in a nursing home in high school and this didn't go on. care providers are poorly paid and it's not always a pleasant job. it takes a special kind of person to do this job well; until wages are raised, the most compassionate people won't always be attracted to the field. i know, i know, nobody's getting what they deserve in the wage department. i'm a teacher and i work at a second job with the developmentally disabled so that i can make ends meet. it's tough all over, but the elderly (and anyone who needs assistance like this) deserve their dignity above all else. it's about treating people as humans and not as annoyances.
- shaka999, on 02/10/2009, -1/+7Yep, Chicago's problems were all orchestrated by Obama. Its obvious....right?
- rft3rd, on 02/10/2009, -6/+12This kind of care is what I am paying out of my taxes for!? Our elder's deserve better care then that regardless if they have no family around or are poor.
The problem with the welfare state we live in is that we (taxpayers) pay for healthy adults to lay on their backs and spit out kids for a paycheck (that bitch with 14 kids) while the men and women who CANT work and have no other choice then the failed mediare and medicaid programs live in their own *****. maybe this will open up some eyes.
Maybe Obama can stop touring towns with high unemployment rates just so he can talk about it on TV and look like the compassionate president, and tour the living poor, the homeless and they places like this that make a buck off of the medi- programs while the residents fester away to "the cemetery across the street" - chesterogilvie, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6Back in the day, before the government took every penny they could get from you before you even got to see it, people could afford to DONATE to CHARITIES or better yet save for their own care. But no, you want people to be forced to give and you want some of that money to be wasted on bureaucrats instead. Government will fix everything. Maybe that's the problem?
- adikt, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6FTA: Since last spring, Miller said, the home has been under new management. She said, "The bad, bad employees we got rid of."
I guess they kept just the bad employees. - darkbannanna, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6I cant believe some of these reports, in this day and age you think we could have proper facilities.
- shaka999, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6Nicely put.
Its easy to be indignant and upset, much harder to find a solution that we can afford. - jsdratm, on 02/10/2009, -2/+8Give it a rest
- 11oops, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6Have a living will and a DNR. Problem solved (unless you're in Florida and the governor gets involved, then there's no guarantees).
- intrepidia, on 02/10/2009, -0/+6I once visited a nursing home in Sweeden. There they took care of their own, 16 staff for 25 residents, Rooms off a large and homey comunal area, relaxed and friendly staff... Ongoing therapy etc.
Dignity and respect were the order of the day.... - Konrad9, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5I said *that old*
I did not say "I hope I die before I hit 30!"
As in, I hope I am never at the point where I need help getting out of bed, can't remember what my family looks like, and have trouble with every aspect of the bathroom. - MatthewDuke, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5Some old people are kick ass. I work with a patent attorney that is 70 years old and runs circles around me mentally and physically. He is my hero.
- mwalker05, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5you are "A male from the United States" so why would you lie on your digg profile page if you hate our country so much?
- UrinalPooper, on 02/10/2009, -6/+11The strongest argument for Carousel I've heard all week...
- MatthewDuke, on 02/10/2009, -2/+7I think that's a respectful way to finish a good life. Why suck 100k out of medicare, or even your family just to extend your pants-pooping existence another 5 years.
- vertigo32, on 02/10/2009, -0/+5Want to take odds that the majority of these '1-star' nursing facilities are located in 'urban' areas and the majority of their residents are minorities?
My Grandma was in a pretty nice Medicare facility too. It was private, but the people were nice and treated her well. I can't imagine having to work with the elderly every day like that, those people deserve a far better wage then they make...but nobody is going to pay more in taxes for it.
Ah, here we go..."Berwyn home sits along busy Harlem Avenue. "
Answers that question. -
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