“Inhumanity of the System”
“The coronavirus pandemic has hit nursing homes hard and highlighted the inhumanity of our system of shunting away elderly and disabled people in isolated congregate institutions.” Too true. We need to do better.
Slate had an interesting article condemning the inhumanity and William Barr’s corrupt political investigation into nursing home deaths. The department is acting in a transparently political manner. He is only looking at “blue” states with Democratic Governors. The state with the worst death rate in nursing homes is Massachusetts. See federal data. The Republican governor received no similar letter.
What about Florida, Georgia, and Texas? Incredible. Barr is a political hack.
Throughout the pandemic, the DOJ has refused to use the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. This Act could protect nursing home residents and others in isolated communities. .
“The devastation underscores a truth we have known for years. Institutions separated from the mainstream of society—nursing homes, long-term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals, or jails and prisons—cause intense harm to the people who are confined there. And they frequently harm the physical and mental health of those who must live there with the tragic consequences we are seeing today.”