Calif. Dept. of Public Health’s Cover-Up in Nursing Home Abuse Exposed

 Posted by on October 30, 2012  No Responses »
Oct 302012
 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said, "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman."

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, in the public domain. (Photo credit: Harris & Ewing Collection at the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, circa 1916)

California Department of Public Health’s cover-up, misconduct in nursing home death case to be exposed by Elder Abuse Exposed.com

As visitors of Elder Abuse Exposed.com know, U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a staunch and longtime advocate of elder abuse victims in nursing homes, has exposed the dirty secret about the corrupted and broken nursing home oversight and enforcement system in California and throughout the U.S. This system “has been seriously corrupted” by an intertwined, “unspoken political presence” and “high-level state bureaucrats” and “state lawmakers acting on behalf of facility administrators” who pressure state nursing home inspectors to overlook or systematically downgrade even high-level citations and quality-of-care deficiencies, said Senator Grassley. He revealed the disturbing truth about the nursing home inspection and complaint investigation process in his July 7, 2004 letter to Mark McClellan, past administrator for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Unfortunately, this “seriously corrupted” and “broken” nursing home oversight and enforcement system, which deliberately understates and covers up serious care problems and criminal elder abuse in nursing homes, has continued unabated over the years despite:

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Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes Smoking Ban inside California Nursing Homes

 Posted by on October 23, 2012  5 Responses »
Oct 232012
 

Mahatma Gandhi said a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members

Mahatma Gandhi, humanitarian and civil rights leader (1869–1948), in the public domain. (Photo credit: Unknown author via Wikimedia Commons, 1940s)

Governor Jerry Brown rejects bill prohibiting deadly secondhand smoke inside California long-term health care facilities

“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members,” said the great and compassionate political leader Mahatma Gandhi. Unfortunately, California’s chief executive, Governor Jerry Brown (D), has a disappointing record, as California’s immediate past attorney general and current governor, regarding the treatment of some of our weakest members—our frail, vulnerable, and aging parents and grandparents suffering in nursing homes.

On September 27, 2012, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed Assembly Bill 217, which would have prohibited smoking inside nursing homes and other long-term health care facilities in California and “eliminate[d] dangerous secondhand tobacco smoke exposure to protect non-smoking workers, non-facility workers and patients.” Introduced by Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto), AB 217 would also have “eliminate[d] the unique fire risk due to oxygen tanks, flammable chemicals or other combustible items found in long-term health care facilities.” The bill, however, would have permitted smoking outside in designated patient smoking areas where smoke cannot enter a facility or patient rooms. Continue reading »

California Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Advocates Launch New Blog

 Posted by on October 15, 2012  2 Responses »
Oct 152012
 

California elder abuse and nursing home advocacy group Elder Abuse Exposed.com launches new website and blog

Welcome to Elder Abuse Exposed.com’s brand-new website and blog! We want to thank all of our supporters who have been waiting patiently while we have been rebuilding our website. Although our new website is far from complete and will only continually improve with new information and features in the coming days and weeks, we want to launch our website today to help carry out our important mission.

Originally founded in 2004 and based in California, Elder Abuse Exposed.com is a public-interest advocacy and watchdog group for vulnerable elder abuse victims and nursing home residents who do not have the advantage of having powerful corporate lobbyists in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. We are dedicated to strengthening and reforming the civil rights and protections that state and federal laws guarantee, but unfortunately elude, California’s vulnerable and often abused elders and dependent adults. Please read more about who we are, how we achieve our goals, and what motivates us. Continue reading »

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