THE BASICS – FEDERAL LAW In 1965 federal law enabled the federal government to license nursing homes, under two categories; skilled nursing homes and intermediate care facilities that required less medical care and more personal care. In 1980 Congress enacted the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act which covered…
MANY ISSUES TO ADDRESS – PRIVACY AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS The issue of video cameras in nursing homes has exploded over the last several years. With the large scale saturation of such user friendly technologies as Skype, Facetime and similar video technologies it should not come as a surprise that…
NEW YORK LAW ON ELDER ABUSE New York, much like every other state in the country, has a system in place to deal with elder abuse. It is both preventative and remedial in nature. Many people are more familiar with analogous child abuse protection laws. Unlike child abuse protection laws,…
LAWS THROUGHOUT THE STATES More than half the states have filial support laws on their books. Most states that still have filial support laws as part of its statutory code rarely enforce them. The last time that Georgia successfully enforced its filial support law was 1936. Filial support laws are…
LEGAL RIGHTS The highly charged trial of former Iowa legislature Henry V. Rayhons is now over. Five months ago, jurors voted to acquit the Defendant of third degree sexual assault. One of the voting jurors was a local reporter who wrote a revealing and no doubt personally difficult article. The…
2015 REPORT ON LONG TERM COMMUNITY CARE FACILITY SAFETY AND INTEGRITY On April 21, 2015, the Long Term Care Community Coalition issued a 30 page comprehensive report to document and report on the state of the long term care community. It was a report card of sorts, where the report…
Screenwriter and director Woody Allen once said, “There are worse things in life than death.” Becoming incapacitated and unable to make medical treatment decisions for yourself may be one of those things. The case of Terry Schiavo is a perfect example of the problems that can arise when one does…
News regarding New York nursing home care in recent months has centered on one development–the privatization of formerly public-owned facilities. In the past, most New York counties owned and managed their own facilities to provide long-term care for seniors in their community. However, due to a range of factors, those…
The changing face of New York nursing home care continued this weekend as another county officially got out of the elder care business. As reported by Syracuse News, the Van Duyn Home and Hospital was transferred by Onondaga County to the “Upstate Services Group” — a private company that owns…
The look and feel of elder care in the United States is changing. In the distant past, most care was provided by friends and family members at their own homes. Later, larger facilities (nursing homes) were built to provide more consistent care to all seniors, especially those without options for…