By Gregory Crofton
Profit shouldn’t be the priority when caring for older people but that’s a reality and it producing “systemic negligence” across the nursing home industry.
Running a long-term care facility, another way to describe a nursing home, as a for-profit business leads to intentional short staffing and in turn bad care.
Families featured in “Stolen Time,” a documentary directed by Helene Klodawsky, sought out long-term facilities to improve care for their loved one but instead found increased misery and sometimes early death.
“Stolen Time,” released in 2023, examines what’s happening in Canadian nursing homes by exploring cases of elder rights and personal injury attorney Melissa Miller. In an industry known for non-disclosure agreements, this documentary does the tough job getting us a peek behind closed doors.
“The individual staff, they want to be doing a better job, they just aren’t being given the resources to do it,” Miller says in the film. “Where I’m placing blame is with the corporation who have the decision-making power to do something for these residents but are simply choosing not to.”
Staff often wants to give more personalized attention to residents but don’t have the time. But still staff members get blamed when mystery falls happen or a bedsore appears.
These type of events and injuries are signs of systemic negligence that can lead to an early death. I can speak to this issue because it recently happened to a relative of mine who lived in a care facility about 15 months.
She was sedated to make her hostile behavior more manageable for staff but then wasn’t repositioned on a regular basis and developed a pressure sore (also known as a bedsore) near her tailbone.
Soon we heard she was in “hospice” and prescribed excessive amounts of morphine to manage pain caused by the growing bedsore. Months later she stopped speaking, her digestive system shut down, and she died a lonely death.
I was not there to witness the process, but it all seemed very much like euthanasia without compassion or the companionship that should come with it.
As the population of seniors in the United States booms, more of us will have to decide whether and when to leave our mother or father in the care of such a facility.
Will it be better than we could have provided at home? Or will we show up to the facility and try to provide the needed care ourselves? When we turn 82, will we have the ability to determine our fate?
“Stolen Time” is not currently available for viewing but you can learn more about the documentary and how you might be able to see it here.
Watch the trailer below.