From the Boston Globe:

Hundreds of Massachusetts residents with intellectual disabilities will leave nursing homes for more independent settings under a settlement announced by state officials yesterday.

The agreement is part of the resolution of a 10-year-old lawsuit on behalf of 1,600 people, in which disability advocates argued that the nursing home placements violated federal mandates. Many of the plaintiffs had been placed in nursing homes even though they are significantly younger than the senior citizens the facilities are designed to serve, reducing their quality of life and contribution to society, the suit contended.

From the BBC:

The human rights of people with learning disabilities are frequently breached, according to a report from the British Parliament.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights says vulnerable adults are particularly likely to be abused and neglected. The report highlights cases where people in care homes or hospitals were inappropriately restrained with straps or sedated with drugs.

The committee was shocked that even in cases of horrific abuse, staff did not know they were doing wrong.

Improvements are being made, the report says, but a culture based on outdated negative stereotypes needs changing.

“The evidence has shown us that the consequences of a lack of awareness of people’s rights can be devastating,” said Andrew Dismore, chairman of the committee.

By Marie-Therese Connolly in the Washington Post:

In recent years, the nation’s energy and resources have been disproportionately focused on helping people live longer, not better. What we’re now seeing is a generation of frail elderly people who are increasingly alone and more vulnerable than ever to victimization and abuse. Connolly, former coordinator of the Elder Justice and Nursing Home Initiative for the Department of Justice, says the number of abuse cases could reach 5 million per year, with 84 percent unreported.

The problem is magnified by understaffing in nursing homes and sparse federal oversight. Connolly is baffled by the nation’s failure to attend to this issue, particularly considering the impending “tsunami of 77 million aging baby boomers,” and wonders: “Why has there been no public outrage?”

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Powerful antipsychotics used to subdue elderly; Huge Medicaid expense.

From the Wall Street Journal:

In recent years, Medicaid has spent more money on antipsychotic drugs for Americans than on any other class of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, AIDS drugs or medicine to treat high-blood pressure.

One reason: Nursing homes across the U.S. are giving these drugs to elderly patients to quiet symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Nearly 30% of the total nursing-home population is receiving antipsychotic drugs, including 21% of the patients who don’t have a diagnosis of psychosis, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS.

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From the Chicago Tribune:

Five people with disabilities living in nursing homes across Cook County sued the state Wednesday, claiming Illinois is violating federal law by not providing adequate resources for them to live in their communities instead of institutions.

The class-action suit claims people with disabilities are being segregated and forced into nursing homes because the state dedicates most of its long-term care funding to the institutions instead of home and community-care options.

… More than 31,000 people live in nursing homes in Cook County, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Of those, almost 60 percent of non-elderly, disabled residents would prefer to receive care in their own home or community, the agency said.