ABUSE, AND NEGLECT OF THE ELDERLY, DISABLED, AND THE VULNERABLE. A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION IS NEEDED.


THE KUHNS REPORT

LAS VEGAS - Hello America, and how is the world treating you?

There is a call for a federal investigation into caregivers and nursing homes and health care providers that care for the elderly and disabled. The probe is long over due.  Last Thursday, the AP published a story laying out the need for the federal investigation. The AP wrote that it is often much easier to find health and safety information for local restaurants  than it is to learn about conditions at  facilities serving at least 1 million of New York states vulnerable residents. And, that 1 million people the AP wrote about are just in New York. If you multiply that figure by millions, and millions more people   in  all fifty states being forgotten, you have  the tip of an iceberg.

The AP cited the case of just one individual, 41-year-old. Steven Wenger who was twice  found to have  maggots crawling around his breathing tube in a state-owned and operated small group home in Rome, New York. Mr. Wenger cannot walk, , talk, or even feed himself, a result of severe brain trauma in a  horrific 1991 car crash.

One would wonder where the state of New York's Health Department was in Wenger's case. It's sad that the Health Department and state health services people allow  the most vulnerable (the elderly,  the disabled, and children) be treated like they don't exist and are less than worthless. And New York is not alone in dishing out this poor treatment. I would suggest that the feds look at all of the states across the country.. I call on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service to investigate each and every group home; nursing home; assisted living facility and skilled nursing home  throughout the nation. This poor, inhumane treatment, this abuse has got to stop.

It's frightening that the sick, the  disabled, the frail, vulnerable adults and children that have to depend on others for care are hidden and locked away, out of sight as a forgotten segment of society. What is the old saying? "Out of sight, out of mind."

I'm tired of hearing the same old excuses given by the health care community and other departments as Welfare, Social Services and  Child Services. They always fall back on the same excuses and rationalizations for their incompetent, inept treatment of the individuals they are charged to care for. Those excuses heard over and over again: "We are understaffed,"  "We don't have the funds or money," and  "We have large caseloads, the case load is too big for each worker." Truth is, many are just lazy workers, they look for shortcuts to get through to the end if the day. Many do not have compassion,or empathy for the elderly, the disabled, and the children's plight or circumstance.  Many of the worker's  assigned to  look out for the well-being of these frail, needy people choose to ignore  them. -- And, that's my opinion. Make your own decisions. You decide.


BRADLEY W. KUHNS, Ph.D., O.M.D.
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Dr. Kuhns can be reached by email at:
bradleykuhns@gmail.com