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10/27/98, 4:48 pm
Melvin's Letter about Nursing Homes
Oct. 27, 1998Melvin Douglas
1414 Court Rm 203
Memphis, TN 38104To the Editor:
I have lived in a nursing home for nine years. I have seen a lot of unhappiness and abuse, verbal, physical and sexual. My legs were amputated because of neglect and abuse at a nursing home. It is a nightmare that does not end. I would not wish an enemy to go through what I have.
There is so much there is no place to start. A lot of people do not need to be in a nursing home. Taxpayers are not getting what they deserve. People should have a choice of where they want to live.
It is overwhelming. You are identified by a number, a nursing home number. You have a band like an animal with that number on it. They have no respect for you in a nursing home, they will yell at you "Hey you, come here." I have witnessed Medicaid money and paperwork being misused. I have seen much neglect; it is not a place to live. People die without notice.
The person signed off to bathe you has never come near you with water. The assistants have a circle of power over you that they pass on to each shift. You must submit. There is constant theft and if you report it your nightmare has just begun. Family members bring you clothes and money and it is stolen before they leave the home. Reporting theft just gets thrown out. They say they do not have time to investigate the complaints of patients.
It is like a penitentiary. If I die someone will have me bed tomorrow. I want nursing home administrators and Governor Don Sundquist to live in a nursing home for a day. They would change their minds about home options if they had face the neglect, smell the human waste, eat the food they give you and sleep on sheets that have not been changed for weeks. Will anyone open their eyes and see the people jailed by the nursing home industry? Go and see for yourself.
Sincerely,
Melvin Douglas
The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org
MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency
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