One small senior care facility in McMinnville, Oregon has been the scene of repeated sexual abuse and assault, theft, violence among residents, and severe patient neglect – all in the last five years.
The Oregon facility, now known as Emeritus Osprey, has had three separate corporate owners in the last three years. It is currently owned by one of the country’s largest assisted living companies: Emeritus.
Emeritus – and this McMinnville senior home – are part of an ongoing ProPublica investigation into the corporations taking over elder care.
Corporate chains have taken over a big part of the assisted living business in the U.S.
It’s an alarming trend: these are private companies that have to generate revenue. They are under pressure to produce returns for investors, are already in debt from buying the facilities, and as a result, they cut corners in nursing staff training, maintenance, and other basics.
The McMinnville facility is an example of what can go wrong when big corporations have no real stake in the health and safety of assisted living residents.
This is particularly concerning in Oregon, which does not have a great record of prosecuting or even monitoring reports of sex abuse in nursing homes – see Oregon’s safety net for vulnerable elderly in long-term care riddled with holes.
So far, the investigation of Emeritus uncovered disturbing company policies that resulted in the neglect and even the death of elderly residents.
We will learn more about the failed corporate policies and government oversight as injury attorneys representing neglected nursing home residents go to trial against corporate nursing home chains.
