U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) recently requested a federal investigation of the way states investigate nursing home complaints.  Grassley made his request after an investigation of the care received by Maizie Bickley, an 89-year-old nursing home patient.  Bickley was found in poor condition at the facility by her daughter.  The nursing…

Families in Kentucky are supporting a bill that would require nursing homes to have specific numbers of nurses and aides on duty to care properly for their patients.  The bill would require one aide for every nine patients during the day shift, one aide for every 13…

A state department of health recently awarded $800,000 of research money to 16 nursing homes to study pressure ulcer prevention.  Pressure ulcers (pressure sores, bed sores, decubitus ulcers) are injuries to skin and underlying tissue that result when patients aren’t turned and repositioned frequently enough and aren’t kept…

One patient was burned and 23 others were treated for smoke inhalation after a fire erupted on a patient’s bed at a nursing home.  A fire investigator stated the blaze started at about 7 pm.  A lighter was found on the bed, prompting the…

An 86-year-old patient of an assisted living facility died recently after he was found so neglected that half his face was consumed by cancer.  The man, who had been a patient at the facility for about two years, was found when a representative of the court system paid the…

An 86-year-old nursing home patient died recently after being transferred to a hospital for breathing difficulties.  When he arrived at the hospital from the nursing home, hospital personnel noticed he had maggots in his left eye, an infected breathing tube, and sores on his left elbow.  An article on the…