Many people argue over whether there is too much government regulation concerning our everyday lives. However, we certainly could agree that when it comes to caring for our loved ones, the laws in the book should at least be followed.

In a report released just last week, Federal investigators have found that more than 90% of nursing homes were cited for violations of Federal health and safety standards last year. Most troubling, the for-profit nursing homes were more likely to have problems than any other types of nursing homes Federal investigators found. These problems included infected bed sores, medication mix-up, poor nutrition and abuse and neglect of patients. Inspectors received over 37,000 complaints about the conditions in nursing homes last year and they substantiated almost 40% of them. About 20% of the complaints verified by Federal and State authorities involved nursing home abuse or neglect of patients.

It’s often said that the greatness of a country is determined how it cares for people who can’t care for themselves. Certainly, the elderly fall within this category and no one can contest that these people deserve the best care possible. It is clear from this study that many elderly are not receiving the best care available and that they deserve.

Our firm has handled many nursing home cases throughout the years. We employ a full time nurse/paralegal to review these type of cases. She has over a decade of experience in the nursing field reviewing and evaluating our cases. Please contact us at Shaffer & Gaier, LLC if one of your loved ones has not received appropriate care at a nursing home.