In my post dated March 22, 2009, I discussed a dangerous trend in America's nursing homes in which young, mentally ill individuals are mixed in with frail, elderly residents in order to maximize the nursing homes profits. Brutal attacks on the defenseless elderly residents at the hands of the mental patients are often the result.
Sadly, my blogpost foreshadowed a Chicago Tribune article printed yesterday that reported the rape of an elderly resident at the hands of a younger mental patient:
A 69-year-old woman was sexually assaulted by a 21-year-old mentally ill resident at a nursing home in Elgin, Illinois. Maplewood Care's administrator tried to cover up a brutal rape by calling it consensual sex, and encouraged employees to lie about it to cover it up.
It is also example of how mixing frail elderly residents and younger mentally ill tenants in nursing homes can lead to violence if facilities do not monitor potentially dangerous residents.
Christopher Shelton, 21, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder with aggression when he was admitted to the nursing home in November. The state report showed he had told the nursing home staff in December that he was sexually frustrated, but the facility failed to monitor him more closely. The state and federal governments fined the nursing home $44,400 for violations related to the incident.
The victim's family was not told the nursing home had admitted young adult residents with a history of violent and aggressive criminal behaviors. Shelton, a convicted felon and a former resident of the Elgin facility, was readmitted to the home without a proper review of his criminal history. If the home had checked, it would have discovered Shelton had an outstanding arrest warrant on felony battery charges.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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