Challenging warehousing of the elderly

BUFFALO, N.Y., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- As baby boomers age, they are demanding changes in how society, government and the courts deal with aging-related chronic care, a U.S. researcher says.

Anthony H. Szczygiel, a professor in the University at Buffalo Law School, says two recent federal court decisions give support to nursing home residents and their families challenging the warehousing of chronically ill elders, where the resident may benefit from continued physical or occupational therapy.

"Too often the nursing home staff gives up on the patient and stops providing such therapy," Szczygiel says in a statement. "The cases provide a way to reverse the unintended negative consequences of Medicare's nursing home and home care coverage standards."

Traditional nursing home stays are being replaced with new ways of dealing with chronic needs, rethinking nursing home facilities and care or the aging-in-place village movement, Szczygiel says.

Throughout the country, "village" programs provide a range of low-cost home, medical, shopping and social services and activities to senior members to help them stay in their homes through their 70s and 80s and, in a growing number of cases, into their 90s.