Nursing Home Deaths / Elder Abuse
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Too often, elderly or disabled people, not
only in long-term care facilities, but in some home situations as well, aren’t getting the
attention they require, at times having to complete with dozens of other residents who
require help in the activities of daily living---feeding, bathing, toiletry, wound care.
Such neglect can lead to disastrous and deadly consequences.
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Police sometimes miss clues, dismissing certain reports
or information that alert them to trouble; coroners and medical examiners can miss
valuable information, signing the death certificate without seeing the body, and
prosecutors will point their finger at law enforcement and the medical examiners
for indifference and carelessness. Prosecutors, however, are equally at fault.
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The common denominator in nursing home deaths is the lax
response to the deaths; however, the problem with this issue of not investigating elder
abuse or nursing home malpractice isn’t exclusively the fault of the law enforcement
agency alone. It’s the system. The system is the problem.
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Families need to understand that there is no money to
investigate these deaths. The District Attorney (D.A.) doesn’t want to pay for the
investigations and autopsies. As such, people don’t realize that they can request that
an autopsy be performed at their own expense, however, knowledge of the medical examiner
system is grossly inadequate.
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Police can state to the D.A. that there should be
further investigation into a supposed ‘suicide’ or questionable death, and they are
told "no" by the D.A. The D.A. will ask what evidence law enforcement has, and then
state to law enforcement that the facts aren’t warranted; that the D.A.’s office can’t
afford it.
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Families must realize that the D.A. holds this position
of refusing to investigate because it comes out of the D.A.’s budget. If they run out of
money, they raise the taxes. Families must be assertive and aggressive—they must know their
rights with respect to autopsies, investigations, and politics. It’s imperative they
understand how the system works, and they don’t.
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If you feel a loved one has been victimized by nursing
home malpractice and/or elder abuse, we want to hear from you before an investigation is
denied, or you suspect an investigation was incomplete. We provide needed information that
should be requested by families and others of those charged with specific aspects of an
investigation, and the processes that must be followed.
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