Few Prosecutions in Elderly Abuse
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Infected feeding tubes and bed sores the size of dinner plates were just some of the signs of neglect found when reviewing nursing home deaths, according to one coroner’s Senate hearing testimony. During Monday’s Senate hearing on nursing home abuse Mark Malcolm, a coroner from Pulaski County Ark., testified that his office reviewed 2,400 nusing home deaths since 1999. A state law requires that all nursing home deaths be reported. “In the majority of these cases we have found the level of care to be adequate,” Malcolm told the committee. “In 56 of these death investigations we have uncovered a much different story. We have seen dinner plate-sized bed sores with infected necronic dying tissue, infected feeding tubes, rapid and unexplained weight loss, dehydration, improperly administered medications and medication errors that have resulted in death.” More : abcnews.go.com |