Society has changed.
Even in Japan nowadays, where care of one's parents was always considered a sacred and honored duty, the advent of two working spouses has led to the establishment and use of quite a number of nursing homes, some of which are actually located in Europe because of the scarcity of available land on the Japanese mainland. A phrase that is often repeated in our country that "one mother can take care of four children but four children cannot take care of one mother." Nursing homes, for better or worse, have become an ingrained part of our culture and life in every state.
In the last ten years there has been an avalanche of lawsuits against nursing home corporate owners, administrators, directors of nursing, medical directors and attending physicians for alleged lapses in care. The jury verdicts and settlements run into the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. This is not because the defense industry cannot find qualified attorneys to represent the staff working in these facilities, but that juries have clearly demonstrated a rising anger towards patterns of neglect, abuse and lapses in clinical care that many times could have been prevented by better communication and coordination of care.
That is the goal of this book, to impart to you the "secret knowledge" to protect those you love from these lapses before they can cause harm. It will help you to sort out truly legitimate concerns from those that are not realistic expectations and how to advocate for your loved one by knowing how to confront the "system"and win.
You can be the vital link to overseeing quality care for your relative involving dozens of professionals to whom access is often difficult and where frustration can be a daily occurrence.
