Mentally Ill in Nuring Homes

There is an article today on MSNBC.com about how the mentally ill are causing disturbances in nursing homes, sometimes leading to the death of elderly nursing him patients. Nursing homes have been supplamenting their occupancy with the mentally ill since the elderly are healthier than in decades past and not utilizing nursing homes until much later in life. The occupancy rate of nursing homes has been falling so they make up the shortfall by allowing the mentally ill to become residents. Often the mentally ill patients are much younger, and much stronger, than the elderly residents.

The article sums up why this practice is happening more and more frequently:

Under federal law, nursing homes are barred from admitting a mentally ill patient unless the state has determined that the person needs the high level of care a nursing home can provide. States are responsible for doing the screening. Also, federal law guarantees nursing home residents the right to be free from physical abuse.

Families have sued in hopes of forcing states to change their practices and pressuring nursing homes to prevent assaults. Advocates say many mentally ill people in nursing homes could live in apartments if they got help taking their medication and managing their lives.

The problem has its roots in the 1960s, when deplorable conditions, improved drug treatments and civil rights lawsuits led officials to close many state mental hospitals. As a result, some states have come to rely largely on nursing homes to care for mentally ill people of all ages.

I find it particulary intersting that there is a law that guarantees that residents have a right to be free from abuse, but that’s discussion for another post and on another blog.

My mother is in a nursing home specifically for the mentally ill. She was in an assisted living facility prior to this home but she decided she did not like that place and got herself kicked out as she likes to tell anyone who will listen.

Like daycare, nursing homes are a necessary evil. You are putting a loved ones care in the hands of someone whom you only have known for a short time. And usually nothing bad will go wrong. However, both of these institutions have to take as many residents as possible to make a profit. The staff are paid poorly adding to the high turnover rate and questionable resume of the staff. Many of the staff in the assisted living facility were immigrants doing a job that no one else wanted to do for pay that few would find acceptable.

The ratio is often much higher than it should be for these kinds of facilities. When my daughter was in daycare the ratio of students to teacher was 8 to 1. It was lower for the littler kids and even lower still for the babies but still I can’t imagine being in charge of 8 kids all by myself. I’m not sure what the legal ratio is for a nursing home but where my mother is it is about 11-1. It isn’t profitable to have any more staff than the minimum.

I don’t know the answer except that if you must use either of these kinds of facilities then you must keep in contact with the staff and administration. You must keep yourself informed. You should also listen to the patient’s concern.