Veterans in one state are experiencing negligent healthcare, leading to injuries, sickness, and even death. Family members are transferring their loved ones to other homes based on lack of care due to high ratios of staff to patients. One individual stated: “There are deaths the public isn’t even aware of and there have been a lot more near-misses — lab work not done in a timely fashion or not at all; one nurse having to pass meds to 50 people within one hour of a meal; three aides to feed, toilet and clean 50 patients on a unit. When you spread people that thin, bad things are going to happen. And it’s veterans who are suffering.”
A now deceased patient was described by a worker at the veterans' home. “By the time he left that facility, he didn’t have any skin down his shoulders, all the way down his backside and the back of his legs. He had decubitus ulcers (pressure sores or bedsores) — that’s from not turning or repositioning a patient. Those that are not treated spread and tunnel and spread throughout the body, causing sepsis and infection throughout the body,” the worker said. “He didn’t have many baths. They would just sponge off his front. And they couldn’t change the dressings or his sheets, so they would just reinforce the dressings with new on top of old and then slip pads in between him and the bed.” For more, read the story.
