When I first heard about the abuse happening in elder care facilities, it was heart-wrenching. Follow this link to read my first post about this crisis. This is the link to my next post. Earlier this week, Sen. Karin Housley issued this statement after conducting a hearing on the crisis, saying “On November 30, 2017, Gov. Dayton requested a ‘time-limited work group to provide guidance on steps the state should take to improve the health and safety of Minnesota seniors…’, with the recommendations due on January 26, 2018. It is now January 26 and I am disappointed to learn the work group’s recommendations have been delayed. It is my expectation that the governor’s office will release the unedited report, in full, on Monday morning. I expect to hold a committee hearing shortly to review the recommendations and chart our course forward. Elderly and vulnerable Minnesotans, and their families, have suffered for too long due to bureaucratic backlogs and inaction. Minnesotans should expect nothing less than full accountability and action from their state government.”
The Dayton administration has already taken too much time to fix this crisis. Some of the testimony in this video is heartbreaking:
Some of the testimony from the commissioners is infuriating. They’re so far out of touch that it’s maddening. What’s more maddening is this statement from Gov. Dayton:
While the health department takes heat for poor oversight, Governor Dayton blamed providers. “First and foremost, they are the ones to blame for these egregious abuses,” he said Wednesday.
Why do I think that Gov. Dayton won’t hold investigators and other bureaucrats accountable for not conducting investigations? Obviously, the ‘caregivers’ (I use that term loosely in this instance) have the primary responsibility but it’s equally true that the Dayton administration had an affirmative responsibility to investigate these situations. That’s what supervisors are supposed to do.
This testimony is disgusting:
“In my case, my father’s body laid in his room for seven days without the facility doing a wellness check,” said Kristine Sunberg with Elder Voices Family Advocates.
That’s inexcusable and unjustifiable. Period. How can something like that happen? A law needs to be written that the people like the ones who ignored Ms. Sunberg’s father are punished, prosecuted and sent to prison for a long time. What they did was sub-human.
Technorati: Mark Dayton, Elder Care, Abuse, Assault, Investigations, DFL, Karin Housley, Republicans
