Kentucky Governor Orders Immidiate Action On Nursing Home Neglect & Abuse
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has ordered state officials to immediately implement changes meant to curb nursing home abuse.
The changes were recommended in a report released this week and include more training for law enforcement officials and prosecutors on elder abuse and neglect.
A review of nursing home abuse was ordered by Beshear after a series of articles in the Lexington Herald-Leader found that only seven of 107 serious citations issued at Kentucky nursing homes over a three-year period were prosecuted as crimes.
The citations involved 18 deaths, 30 hospitalizations, five broken bones and two amputations.
The new report says the system for investigating nursing home abuse should be similar to the one Kentucky has already created for abused and neglected children.
Advocates on Friday told the Herald-Leader the recommendations were a step in the right direction.
