Inclusion Daily Express -- Senator Calls For Investigating Nursing Home Investigators

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Senator Calls For Investigating Nursing Home Investigators
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 28, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC--U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, from Iowa, wants the federal government to look into state agencies that inspect nursing homes to find out how they handle complaints of abuse or neglect.

"I have an obligation to protect Iowans, and all Americans, from substandard nursing care," Grassley said last week.

Grassley is asking the Government Accountability Office to look into the oversight agencies, and for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to give him state inspection reports for Midwestern states covering the last four years.

Grassley was prompted by the case of a nurse's aide who called an ambulance for an 89-year-old Iowa nursing home resident. The aide had called a family member of the woman to say she was not receiving adequate medical care at the facility.

The resident later underwent surgery for a potentially life-threatening condition. The aide was fired, however, for causing negative publicity.

But the state agency that investigates complaints found no problems.

"Unfortunately, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals investigation appears to have been wholly inadequate," Grassley said.

Related:
"Grassley: Study states' handling of nursing home complaints" (Des Moines Register)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2008/red/0128b.htm

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