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In Many Nursing Homes, Resident Deaths Are Kept Secret

NPR
Published January 20, 2016 at 10:52 AM PST
Nursing home staff members often refuse to admit a resident has died, even when their friends ask where they've gone, reports Bob Tedeschi of STAT. (Pixabay)
Nursing home staff members often refuse to admit a resident has died, even when their friends ask where they've gone, reports Bob Tedeschi of STAT. (Pixabay)

Imagine you’ve been living in a nursing home for a few years, long enough that you’ve made close friends. Maybe you eat with them every day. And then one day, one of your friends doesn’t come to dinner, or to breakfast the next morning. They’re just gone. And no one will tell you what happened.

Bob Tedeschi, a senior writer for the new national health and medicine publication STAT, has discovered this happens in many nursing homes when a resident dies. The staff won’t confirm the death or discuss it with the other residents.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks with Tedeschi about why that is, and the effect it has on those who are left behind in the nursing home.

Guest

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