nursing homes

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Feds Slam Nursing Homes for '1-Star' Care

(Newser) - Rife with mistreated patients and poor conditions, nearly one quarter of US nursing homes received 1 out of 5 stars in a new Washington rating program. “The conditions described are grim and, at times, deadly,” Sam Roe writes in the Chicago Tribune of Illinois’ one-star homes. Cold food,...

Elderly Trapped in Houses That Won't Sell

Lack of buyers forces frail elderly to postpone plans for assisted living

(Newser) - The collapse of the housing market has left many elderly people marooned in their own homes, the New York Times reports. Retirement communities require hefty down payments that many elderly were expecting to raise by selling their homes. With no buyers out there, frail people requiring daily care are stuck...

The Battle to Get Elderly Back on Their Feet After Falls

Falls treated as complicated medical events instead of routine part of getting old

(Newser) - Falling and breaking a hip is so common among the elderly it's been considered an inevitable sign of aging, but medical experts have now developed complex protocols to both prevent and treat breaks that often trigger a spiral of decline, the New York Times reports. Even minor falls "need...

Court: Cops Wrong to Tape Man's Sex With Comatose Wife

Privacy law violated in sexual assault case

(Newser) - A Wisconsin court today threw out evidence against a man police videotaped having sex with his comatose wife in her nursing-home room, the AP reports, arguing that authorities violated his constitutional rights. The court ruled that David Johnson, 59, who’s been charged with felony sexual assault, had an expectation...

Antipsychotic Drugs Triple Health Risks in Elderly

Dementia research finds even brief use is dangerous

(Newser) - Elderly dementia patients given antipsychotic drugs, even briefly, are three times as likely to end up hospitalized or dead within a month, new research has found. The study looked at 40,000 elderly Canadians, half of them in nursing homes, and found that the drugs increased the risk of...

Slow Medicine Lets Elderly Go More Gracefully

Approach prefers less aggressive stance in fighting signs of aging

(Newser) - In a medical culture seemingly aimed at reviving and resuscitating, the slow medicine approach instead allows elderly patients to weigh the risks and burdens of treatment against the likelihood that it will significantly extend their lives. For many seniors, the philosophy offers the freedom to choose comfort over cure, dying...

Nursing Homes Pressure Patients to Forgo Lawsuits

Elderly required to sign away their right to sue

(Newser) - Nursing homes are pushing patients to give up the right to sue, writing binding arbitration clauses into standard contracts for admission, the Wall Street Journal reports. The homes say the practice lets them concentrate resources on care instead of costly litigation, which soared in the '90s, but critics charge that...

Robot Dogs Cheer Up Elderly
Robot Dogs Cheer Up Elderly
Mar 1, 2008 8:02 AM CST

Robot Dogs Cheer Up Elderly

Study says robo-mutt relieved loneliness as effectively as a real dog

(Newser) - Robot dogs are almost as effective as the real thing in cheering up elderly nursing home residents, a new study at St. Louis University has found. Once the patients had some time to get used to him, researchers say robot mutt AIBO lowered loneliness levels about as well as a...

One of Last Remaining US WWI Vets Dies

At 109, oldest-known American veteran of 'Great War' never actually saw combat

(Newser) - The oldest-known American World War I veteran—one of only three remaining—has died at age 109, the Toledo Blade reports. J. Russell Coffey, who enlisted in the Army a month before the war ended, was never comfortable with that recognition because he never saw combat. He preferred to be...

Nursing Homes Fight Drug Addiction
Nursing Homes Fight Drug Addiction
Dec 20, 2007 1:30 PM CST

Nursing Homes Fight Drug Addiction

Use of anti-psychotics for dementia soars; alternatives sought

(Newser) - Despite known dangers—including an increased risk of death—the use of anti-psychotic drugs to control elderly dementia patients has surged, to an estimated 30% of all nursing home residents. Under pressure to cut back, some homes are experimenting with alternatives, like letting distraught patients do what they want to...

Nursing Homes Misuse Meds to Control Patients

'Off label' antipsychotic use drives up costs, sparks concern

(Newser) - Understaffed US nursing homes are increasingly turning to antipsychotic drugs to control elderly residents, even though most display symptoms of dementia rather than the psychotic disorders the drugs are intended to treat, the Wall Street Journal reports. Such “off-label” usage defies FDA warnings that elderly patients using the drugs...

Nursing Homes Raise Profits, Cut Care

Private equity firms buying up, stripping down facilities

(Newser) - Caring for grandma has become big business for private firms that are buying nursing homes and making them profit generators. But to do it, they’ve severely cut staff—sometimes below legal levels, the New York Times found. “Chains have made a lot of money by cutting nurses,”...

Nursing Home Owners Acquitted in Katrina Deaths

Jury finds couple innocent of negligent homicide after 35 patients drowned

(Newser) - The owners of a Louisiana nursing home were acquitted of negligent homicide and cruelty yesterday in the deaths of 35 patients who drowned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The charges were based on the couple's failure to evacuate the home as the storm approached; the defense argued that the...

The End Is Near: Hospice Cat Senses Death

Oscar picks patients just about to die with uncanny accuracy

(Newser) - An upscale nursing home in Rhode Island is home to a cat that can sense impending death, the Boston Globe reports. Oscar, whose domain is the dementia ward, shows little interest in patients who are ill but not dying. But when he curls up in a bed, the patient usually...

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