STATE OF NEGLECT: How Louisiana allows nursing homes to endanger its most vulnerable citizens
Sunday, April 17th, 2005.
Louisiana’s nursing homes suffer little in the way of licensing or financial penalties when care drops below acceptible. In the past six years, 33 deaths have been blamed on poor care, and financial penalities for these deaths have averaged less than $2000, two thirds of the amount most residents are paying per month for care. During the same six year period, another 760 cases of non-fatal neglect were reported, including broken bones, malnutrition, and infections so severe amputation is required.
Experts say nursing homes are less likely to break the rules when they know they’ll be punished. A 1998 study on New York’s nursing homes found that the average number of violations dropped 36 percent to 78 percent at homes that were fined for violating regulations. The average fine during the four-year period was $7,500.
In California, where the maximum state fine for a nursing home death went to $25,000 in 1999 and then to $100,000 in 2001, the percentage of homes cited for serious violations dropped from 30 percent to 6 percent in the past six years, records show.
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