A Pennsylvania county coroner is pushing for law changes that would require eldercare providers to publicly report all resident deaths.
Scott Grim told the PennLive news website in January that the plan is meant to ensure that facility residents who die from neglect aren’t slipping through the cracks.
“I’m a firm believer that all nursing home deaths and assisted living facility deaths — whether they are natural or not — are reported to the coroner’s office just to make sure everything is appropriate,” said Grim, who is the Lehigh County coroner.
His comments come in response to a recent investigative series, which documented that nearly 50 nursing home residents died from care-related errors over a two-year period. Current laws only require Pennsylvania nursing homes to report deaths that were not caused by natural disease processes. Grim’s suggestion is to have all providers call their local coroner, regardless of the cause, and be subject to a series of questions. If anything unusual arises, the local coroner could then choose to conduct an investigation.
Arkansas and Missouri already have such laws on the books, as does Illinois in all counties except for Cook, its largest. Provider advocates, meanwhile, expressed reservations about the proposal.
“We focus on supporting that family and meeting their needs. Adding another layer of review could increase trauma for families,” LeadingAge PA President and CEO Adam Marles said in a statement to PennLive.
From the February 01, 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
