ABC News Channel 7 in Washington D.C. bring us a story about an anonymous emergency room doctor who has alerted authorities to the fact that he has repeatedly seen patients from the Grant Park Care Center adult home who have been seriously neglected and who may die due to their neglect. The doctor told the story to reporter Stephen Tschida.
The doctor said, “They are coming in with acute kidney problems. They are coming in with severe pneumonias. They are coming in with, you know, malnutrition. They have been malnourished and they’ve been just flat out neglected while in the nursing home.”
Inspection reports confirm the doctor’s fears: The Washington, D.C., Department of Health found that there were a great number of violations and deficiencies found, especially in the area of patient medical attention. Specifically, there were notes that nurses did not notify doctors of dehydration, significant weight loss, or anemia.
Carolyn Long removed her loved one from the Grant Park nursing home after she had to take her relative to the hospital on a number of occasions due to problems like dehydration, which can be a red flag for nursing home abuse and neglect.
“She would have died; she was dying,” said Long. “On a number of occasions they had to take her to the hospital; I believe it might have been dehydration at one point in time.”
D.C. Long Term Care Ombudsman Jerry Kasunic said that they had filed over 100 complaints against the adult care home and that Grant Park is one of the worst nursing homes that he has seen.
Although the officials at Grant Park declined to comment on the story, a general statement was released saying that the staff at Grant Park are committed to continuous quality improvement and that they had recently hired new management.