But the Daily News would have us think otherwise. Together, these homes have over 50,000 employees and 42,000 residents. The real story here, especially in light of the numbers involved, is not how bad but how good nursing care is in the metropolitan area. What the Daily News did was to identify a few isolated incidents that occurred in a few nursing homes over a six-year period and then string them together to create an impression of abuse, neglect, suffering, and threat to life. But it is precisely such sensationalism that is shameful, abusive, and inimical to the well-being of both nursing home residents and the community at large.
Nursing homes deserve better.
They deserve respect. They deserve to be better supported by government in the form of increased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. And they deserve an apology from the Daily News.