By Edmund White
A new study conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services reveals that the country's nursing homes are almost uniformly detrimental to their residents' health. "All across the board, we found startlingly high mortality rates among inhabitants of these facilities," said Dr. Catherine Ford, who headed the study, at a Washington press conference. "The situation appears to be far worse than anyone could have anticipated."
The five-year case study followed resident populations at more than 800 nursing homes, convalescent centers, and assisted living facilities across the country. Among some of its more disturbing revelations was the discovery that 71% of the senior citizens living in nursing homes in 2000 have since died. "We thought it might be a statistical anomaly, so we expanded our data set," Ford said. "We looked at nursing home rosters going back an additional five years, but the trend was even worse." According to the results of the study, there was a 94% mortality rate among seniors who were checked into nursing homes in 1995.
DHHS experts were at a loss to explain the causes of the astronomical death rate. "This study seems to have brought up more questions than it's answered," said researcher David Lee. "For example, aside from typical causes of death like heart attacks and terminal diseases, a significant number of subjects passed away unexplainably in their sleep." He shrugged, saying, "Perhaps the nation's nursing homes are prone to gas leaks. We just don't know right now." Added Ford, "One of the things we do know is that clearly, these places are virtual death traps."
Even for those who survive for any considerable amount of time in the nursing homes, the facilities take a devastating toll on their personal health and wellbeing, the study found. Long-term effects included increased bone brittleness, weight loss, and a gradual degradation of mental capabilities.
Many of the nation's nursing home residents did not seem particularly surprised by the news. "You've got to get me out of here. It smells like Lysol and death," said 87 year-old Horace Wilkins from his bed at the Sunbrook Senior Home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Continued Wilkins, "I hope we have pudding with lunch today," raising his voice to be heard over the loud tuneless humming of his roommate, 94 year-old Jasper Stone.
Others, however, expressed shock and dismay. "We were going to move my dad into Greenbrier [Convalescent Center] next week," said Roger Carroll of Baltimore. "The place looked great and the nurses were really nice. But now I see I was about to send him off to an early grave. Thank God we heard about this study." Carroll's father, 81 year-old Arthur Carroll, will instead sleep on a cot in the garage where his son can "keep an eye on him." His son refused to comment.