At some time in our lives, most of us will deal with the realities of aging loved ones.  The questions we ask ourselves are demanding, and, often, heartbreaking:

How long can my mother or father continue to live alone? What happens when my parents are no longer able to care for themselves? Is a nursing home the right choice for our family?

The fact is, as our population of elderly citizens rises each year, the quality of nursing home care continues to decline. Last year in Mississippi, the Attorney General’s Office made surprise midnight visits to investigate more than 1,700 complaints about nursing home care. These visits found: Supervisors, nurses and aides asleep on duty; Calls for assistance from elderly patients that were ignored through the night; and Residents’ charts being filled out before medicine and other care was given.

In Mississippi, complaints of abuse, neglect or exploitation of vulnerable adults at skilled nursing and personal care homes increased from 104 in 1990 to a projected 2,500 last year. For nursing home residents, and their families, the results of the Attorney General’s investigation is evidence that nursing home care is in serious trouble.

On the national level, the news is the same. Most homes, according to a federal report released last year, were dangerously understaffed and such shortages were directly linked to the suffering and even death of residents. This short staffing is the primary contributor to neglect and abuse in nursing homes and is a theme that replays itself in every one of our cases.

So how do we solve this problem to make sure our elderly family members the ones who cared for us for so many years -- can live their lives with dignity and in a caring and safe environment?

The inadequacies of the current system demand we reinvent a long-term care system that gives families real options while providing better care. Unfortunately, the nursing home industry refuses to acknowledge these problems.

Recently, our firm has become the focus of the industry’s criticism because of several large multi-million dollar jury awards. The nursing home industry dismisses these verdicts as the acts of wild, runaway juries. We think they’re wrong. We think that citizens who sit on juries serve as the social conscience of our society.

These juries are sending us a strong message of disapproval and declaring to all of us that this system of warehousing the elderly is a failed concept. We must shift our focus from institutional settings to community-based care systems that have proven effective. We must begin funding and providing incentives for small adult family homes, adult day care, adult respite care, custodial home help and other proven concepts. These programs have been shown to save taxpayers’ money and improve care while allowing our older loved ones the chance to live with respect and self-esteem. It’s time that we heeded their message!

Jim Wilkes is the co-founder of Wilkes & McHugh, a law firm that has been nationally recognized for its work on behalf of nursing home residents. If you would like more information on choosing a nursing home contact Wilkes & McHugh at (800) 255-5070.

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