The failure to protect nursing-home residents is by now a depressingly familiar fact of the pandemic in America — especially in the Empire State, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s grievous March order forcing homes to accept COVID-positive patients led to the death of at least 6,000 New Yorkers (the real figure could be double that).
Nationwide, these residents constitute 40 percent of deaths, though they represent less than 1 percent of the population. Yet the novel coronavirus has proved deadly to our elders in another, perhaps more insidious and invisible, way. According to barely noticed reporting from the Associated Press, straight-up neglect has killed another 40,000 residents.
Take the case of Donald Wallace. The 75-year-old retired trucker survived COVID-19, according to the AP, but neglect led to him becoming so malnourished and dehydrated that he dropped to 98 pounds, suffered septic shock and likely choked on his own food. “They stopped taking care of him,” his son Kevin said of the Alabama facility that took “care” of Wallace (the facility denied neglect).
Reports are coming from all over the country, including New York, of diapers left on for so long, the skin peels off when they are removed. Of bedridden residents who haven’t been turned for so long, you could see their bones through their sores. Often, the profound isolation leads to deaths that certificates simply label as “failure to thrive.”
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One big problem is the ubiquity of corporate-owned nursing homes that are chronically understaffed, and by employees paid less than a living wage. Rather than adequately supporting the institutions they own, per investigators, these corporations are more interested in passing on cost-savings as profits to their shareholders.
America is truly a barbarous outlier in this respect, as immigrants, especially those from cultures where filiality norms still reign, would tell you.
The practices were hiding in plain sight before, but the pandemic has forced Americans to examine how we treat our parents in the twilight of their lives.
An informed choice lies before us. We can continue to acquiesce to a throwaway culture that discards the most vulnerable among us, or we can begin to mobilize to protect and honor our elders.It’s significant this choice on eldercare comes amid a massive political realignment. For all his faults, President Trump and his populist uprising at least somewhat loosened the grip on the GOP of small-government fanatics and corporatists. Democrats increasingly represent the interests of corporate America, of the managerial class. That’s a golden opportunity for Republicans to champion a pro-family, pro-worker vision — to insist that profits and growth aren’t the highest end in themselves.
Reforming our eldercare institutions must be high on this new GOP’s priorities.
That will take time. We must resist a cultural slouch toward assisted suicide, a sinister choice increasingly available to underserved elders. Policymakers, moreover, must empower family oversight and support nonprofit homes like those run by religious groups.
Republicans should also work with Democrats and others to find ways to support families who want to care for their beloved elderly at home. I’ve been heartened to work with pro-life and religious groups that support Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, Jr.’s plan to have Medicaid (or a similar source) reimburse loved ones for such in-home care.
The price tag isn’t cheap, but because such care is still significantly less expensive than institutional care, it makes a good deal of fiscal sense. In addition, this plan would help keep extended, multigenerational families together in ways that are good for everyone. And it would disproportionately benefit communities of color, which have suffered from disproportionately bad eldercare, especially during the pandemic.
Washington needs an appropriations bill by Dec. 11 to avoid yet another shutdown. A COVID-19 stimulus package will be a part of those negotiations. Funding in-home care of the elderly should be included in whatever package passes both chambers.
Here, then, is the first test of whether Republicans will put the working class, racial minorities, economic populism and families ahead of corporate interests. We are watching intently. The lives of our beloved elderly hang in the balance.
Charles Camosy is associate professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University and author of the new book “Resisting Throwaway Culture.” Twitter: @CCamosy
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