We hear it all the time: nursing homes do not have enough money to provide proper care to their residents. When neglect or abuse is uncovered and serious problems are identified–often insufficient staffing levels–then the first line of defense is usually the difficulty these companies have in bringing in enough money to pay for the care needed. Of course, the actual front-line care workers are rarely to blame for issues like lack of staffing; they are just doing their job the best they can, often with unmanageably low support. But just because a company claims to lack resources does not mean that they actually do not have the funds they need to provide proper care.
After all, most of those making these complaints are private businesses. Why would they be running these facilities if it was not profitable? Would they continue in business if the cost of providing adequate, safe care was more they they received from those paying for it? The truth is, they wouln’t. The owners and operators continue to make steady profits on these businesses, and claims about lack of resources often just mean one thing: they do not want to cut into their healthy profit margin.
There is no harm in making a profit in business–that’s the whole point. But when your business is providing skilled medical care to others, then it is not acceptable to make excuses of profit when poor care leads to serious harm to those vulnerable consumers counting on you. Sadly, that is exactly what happens in so many corners of the skilled nursing home business world.
Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog
