by James C. Sherlock
Virginia Department of Health inspectors, on page 11 of 66 of a statement of deficiencies dated June 21, 2021, wrote of a gut-wrenching discovery.
They found an incontinent patient at Autumn Care of Suffolk, a stroke victim unable to talk, tied to her bed by a staffer. She was terrified and humiliated.
The investigation resulted in lots of finger pointing but failed to pinpoint responsibility. Adult Protective Services found that the patient had been abused. The facility promised better training.
Autumn Care of Suffolk last quarter offered 17 minutes of registered nurse (RN) time per resident per weekday vs. a national average of 39 minutes. It provided five minutes of RN staffing per resident per day on weekends vs. a 26-minute national average. It is currently open and accepting new patients.
This article is for that poor woman.
And it is for the nurses, heroines and heroes of the pandemic, who consider nursing a vocation as well as a job. There was a shortage of RNs going into the pandemic. It is worse now because of burnout. Continue reading
To add to those revealed in James Sherlock’s excellent posts about nursing homes and the health care industry generally, here is another culprit–private equity firms. They buy up medical practices in an area, creating great bargaining power with insurance companies, and begin raising prices. The fight is between giant, merged insurance companies and giant, merged medical practices. The losers are patients and the winners are the private investors.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore
