This is So Wrong on Many Levels
Today, we get news that the House of Representatives passed the Immunity Act last week, and Governor DeWine seems to anxiously wait to sign it and make it law in that ends September 2021, yes that is right, 2021! . Many residents in Nursing homes, Assisted living and Skilled Care have and are experiencing neglect during this crisis, many families are convinced their loved ones died from neglect. For the most part there has been no regard for their rights, they have been kept in the most restrictive environments instead of least restrictive. We have the stories, pictures, video recordings, and the documentation of ER Visits. This will not stay hidden forever of how the residents were not protected from bad actors.
Ignorance of the situation from those that had the authority to do something will never be accepted or forgotten. For those are the same ones who CHOOSE to support the long-term care facilities having free rein to do what they wanted, to run things to their liking, when they could have done better. They allowed them to have no regard for residents rights. They allowed no outside oversight of the most vulnerable elderly population. They choose to shut the families out and at the very least, no law allowing cameras in the rooms.
And…these facilities knew an immunity was in the works and would be retroactive for them! With no real knowledge of what was happening in nursing homes, an immunity bill would make sure there was no accountability or consequences for what families could only know later.
How could a law be made when those making the law had no idea what was truly going on in nursing homes nor honestly seeming to care. How did they make the decision that nursing homes should be treated as “mom and pop stores” or “restaurants” or any place that the public had a choice about visiting. These residents had no choice, they needed care whether there was an emergency or not.
In the end, we think we get away with something, but at some point, we don’t. In our eyes, this was a reckless decision to put the ones needing help the most into a bill without any effort at all to protect them.
Ohio got this very wrong. Ohio could have shined in taking care of the most vulnerable, instead they turned their backs on them. Bring all the businesses on tv to show their appreciation for civil immunity, then bring in all the residents in long-term care that have declined due to neglect. What a bill signing that will be!