Word: neglected
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Critical Care trumpets the same basic message over and over: contemporary American health care is all about money, and that's bad. The filmmakers are so busy wielding a sledgehammer of morality that they neglect a plot and characters, both style and substance. Instead, they take broad potshots at the health care machine that could have fit into a three-page pamphlet and turn them into a laborious, uncharacteristically amateurish work...
Demographics show, furthermore, that the cognitive and moral abilities of juvenile delinquents are disproportionately impaired by drug addiction, gang-mentality, developmental delays, mental illness, moral ambiguity, socialization in a culture of violence and psychological trauma often stemming from abuse or neglect. The story of the 15-year old New Jersey teenager charged with sexually assaulting and strangling an 11-year old neighbor boy is all too common: sexually assaulted by a pedophile, the teenager turned around and inflicted harm on someone even more helpless than himself...
Packard and his investigators, referred to as "hearse chasers" by some in the nursing-home trade, have begun contacting relatives of deceased patients whose California death certificates cite malnutrition, dehydration and other signs of neglect. They're often shocked to learn what killed their loved ones. "They don't know their parents died of malnutrition," says Dina Rasor, an investigator working for Packard, "until we tell them." Even more telling, the causes of death on California death certificates are often listed by doctors affiliated with the nursing home involved, suggesting that Packard's list may well understate the number...
Generally, the nursing-home industry likes to settle lawsuits quietly and often hands over money only in exchange for silence. But that didn't happen at Creekside, where lawsuits alleging neglect have recently been getting into the public record. Four former residents of Creekside have won more than $2 million in settlements after alleging poor care. An additional four suits are pending. In fact, Packard's California death list contains the names of dozens of people who died there...
Creekside owner Richard Schachten, who trained and spent his early years as an undertaker, disputes any suggestion that neglect was endemic. "The quality of care was very good," says Schachten, who sold the business in 1995. "I have not paid one dime in fines, there's never been an admission of guilt, and the facility's license was never revoked or suspended...