South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

Several Midlands law enforcement agencies recently joined together to announce their intent to issue public alerts to find missing seniors. Called Silver Alerts, the bulletins will be similar to the familiar Amber Alerts for missing children.

Some differences will remain, as federal law limits the use of message boards on interstate highways. Pending federal legislation may provide grants for more agencies to adopt Silver Alerts, but currently the programs are locally funded. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, the head of the state Office on Aging, told the media he would seek state funds if needed.

Nationwide, the incidence of adults wandering away from their caregivers is increasing as the population ages and more adults fall victim to Alzheimer’s disease. The South Carolina Alzheimer’s Association estimates there are 70,000 adults in South Carolina living with the disease and suggests that 60% will wander from their caregivers over the course of the disease. The increase in missing seniors has begun to impact the operations of law enforcement agencies in both operations and policy. Law enforcement agencies must wrestle with the difficult balance between privacy of an adult and the adult’s safety. Operationally, a full-scale search can occupy all available officers for hours or days while the adult is missing.

In Richland, Aiken, Horry, and Charleston counties, residents with an at-risk family member have another option. These counties have agencies participating in Project Lifesaver, a national non-profit organization that provides small tracking devices to participants, who include those with Alzheimer’s disease and autistic adults and children. Enrolled participants wear a tracking device on a wristband that can be located by local law enforcement using special radio tracking equipment. Caregivers initiate a search by calling the local agency. Nationally, the program reports it has been used over 1500 times with no serious injuries to missing participants and with an average search time of less than 30 minutes. The main drawbacks to this program are the costs of the equipment and the need for monthly maintenance and battery changes by program staff.

Thanks to The State, RCSD, and Project Lifesaver for reporting.

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According to press reports, the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was to release a shocking report today, showing the results of their investigation of nursing homes. Of the nursing homes studied, over 90% had violated federal or state health & safety regulations. The results showed poor performance by for-profit, non-profit, and government-run nursing homes. Non-profits generally had the best performance among these groups, although their record is still appalling, at 88% of homes receiving citations for deficiencies.

Among the findings in the report: One in six nursing homes were so deficient that there was “actual harm or immediate jeopardy” to residents.

Of the greater than 37,000 complaints received by HHS in 2007, 39% were found to be substantiated. Of these, about one-fifth involved abuse or neglect of residents.

The rate of deficiencies varied by state, from 76% of nursing homes evaluated in Rhode Island to citations issued in 100% of evaluated homes in Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and the District of Columbia. The Department identified 163 nursing homes that have a pattern of chronic deficiencies such that they will be under increased scrutiny.

A spokesman for the American Health Care Association, an industry group representing nursing homes, deflected criticism of nursing home compliance onto federal regulators, saying inspectors inconsistently interpreted regulations and the inspection system was broken. Still, the spokesman did acknowledge problems and said nursing homes need to do a better job.

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