Health News
- Legislature Passes Bill On Personal-care Homes But Stalls On One To Regulate Pill Mills As Doctors Lobby Hard
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The effort to quash "pill mills" that feed one of Kentucky's worst problems, prescription drug abuse, stalled on the next-to-last day of the General Assembly's session and faces cloudy prospects on April 12, when...
- Amid Legislative Action On 'larry's Law,' Report Says Mentally Ill And Intellectually Disabled Don't Belong In Personal-care Homes
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News As state legislators move to change the procedure for admitting mentally ill patients to personal-care homes, a new report argues those patients shouldn't be in the institutions at all ? and neither should people...
- Second Death In Five Years Raises Questions About Placement Of Mentally Ill Kentuckians In Personal-care Homes
The second death in five years of a mentally ill person who has walked out of a personal care home has "prompted advocates for the brain injured and the mentally ill to question whether personal care homes, which do not provide skilled nursing care, are...
- Death Of Personal-care Home Resident Has Lawmakers From His Hometown Talking About Stricter Staffing Rules
The death of a missing personal-care home resident has a bipartisan pair of Kentucky lawmakers from his home town of talking about setting staffng standards for Kentucky's personal-care homes or even nursing homes, which have successfully lobbied...
- Poor Conditions Found At Letcher County Personal-care Home
State inspectors found pitiable conditions when they visited Golden Years Rest Home, right, in Letcher County in December, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave and Valarie Honeycutt-Spears report. Kool-Aid dripping on insulin bottles, expired...
Health News
Bills would require more assessment before a patient can be admitted to a personal-care home
Legislation dubbed "Larry's Law" is aimed at preventing what happened to Larry Lee from happening again.
House Bill 307, filed by Democratic Rep. Terry Mills, right, "would require an individual to be examined and assessed by a medical professional before admission to a personal care home, and it would require further assessment of the degree of disability for an individual with an acquired brain injury who was being considered for placement," report Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
House Bill 307, filed by Democratic Rep. Terry Mills, right, "would require an individual to be examined and assessed by a medical professional before admission to a personal care home, and it would require further assessment of the degree of disability for an individual with an acquired brain injury who was being considered for placement," report Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader.Senate Bill 115, filed by Republican Sen. Jimmy Higdon, left, would require that a potential resident be evaluated by a mental health professional before someone is admitted to a personal care home, a cost that would be picked up by the state. Higdon and Mills are both from Lebanon, where Larry Lee lived until he went to Falmouth Nursing Home in Pendleton County.
In August, Lee, right, disappeared from the home, one of 82 free-standing personal care homes in Kentucky. Lee, who had a brain injury from childhood, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and diabetes. He was found dead four week after his disappearance on the banks of the Licking River, which flows through Falmouth.
A pre-admission assessment "is the only thing that we found that could have saved Larry Lee," Higdon said. "His condition was too severe. He should have never been in a personal care home." (Read more)
- Legislature Passes Bill On Personal-care Homes But Stalls On One To Regulate Pill Mills As Doctors Lobby Hard
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The effort to quash "pill mills" that feed one of Kentucky's worst problems, prescription drug abuse, stalled on the next-to-last day of the General Assembly's session and faces cloudy prospects on April 12, when...
- Amid Legislative Action On 'larry's Law,' Report Says Mentally Ill And Intellectually Disabled Don't Belong In Personal-care Homes
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News As state legislators move to change the procedure for admitting mentally ill patients to personal-care homes, a new report argues those patients shouldn't be in the institutions at all ? and neither should people...
- Second Death In Five Years Raises Questions About Placement Of Mentally Ill Kentuckians In Personal-care Homes
The second death in five years of a mentally ill person who has walked out of a personal care home has "prompted advocates for the brain injured and the mentally ill to question whether personal care homes, which do not provide skilled nursing care, are...
- Death Of Personal-care Home Resident Has Lawmakers From His Hometown Talking About Stricter Staffing Rules
The death of a missing personal-care home resident has a bipartisan pair of Kentucky lawmakers from his home town of talking about setting staffng standards for Kentucky's personal-care homes or even nursing homes, which have successfully lobbied...
- Poor Conditions Found At Letcher County Personal-care Home
State inspectors found pitiable conditions when they visited Golden Years Rest Home, right, in Letcher County in December, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave and Valarie Honeycutt-Spears report. Kool-Aid dripping on insulin bottles, expired...