Elderly Incorporated

Fault Lines’ Josh Rushing investigates the growing business of elderly care, and finds out what happens when corporations put profits ahead of care.

Elder abuse and neglect is one of America’s fastest growing crimes targeting its most vulnerable populations. In long-term care facilities, cases of abuse and neglect are largely out of view and underreported. As a result countless elderly victims are suffering alone in silence.

One in three patients wound up in facilities failing to meet basic care requirements, while over $5 billion went to substandard homes in one year alone, according to the U.S. government.  Many nursing homes reported staffing levels insufficient to provide adequate care, including some of the largest for-profit chains in the U.S., according to a study.

Enforcement agencies say they are limited by new budget cuts. While, the business of elder care is growing. Fault Lines investigates how problems of government oversight and corporate accountability persist in many states, and how poorly rated facilities continue to operate without penalties, despite repeated offenses.