PBS documentary explores problems at Emeritus' assisted-living facilities

The for-profit assisted-living industry came under the harsh spotlight of PBS' “Frontline” investigators Tuesday night as the news program took Seattle-based Emeritus Corp. to task for a number of deaths and injuries involving residents with dementia at Emeritus facilities across the country.

Emeritus, which was founded in 1983 and has 483 facilities around the country, is the one of the country's biggest assisted-living operators.

The hour-long documentary included interviews with former Emeritus employees, both low-level workers and high-level executives, who described corporate pressure to fill rooms without regard to whether people were so sick or cognitively impaired that they really needed a skilled-nursing facility. The former employees described undertrained staff members who were ill-quipped to provide the complex care many residents with dementia and complex chronic conditions required. One Emeritus executive said employees staffing the memory-care units were required to attend only eight hours of training to work with patients suffering from dementia.

The documentary opened with an account of the death of former Chicago Bears running back George McAfee, who died in 2009 after drinking a caustic, industrial-strength dishwashing liquid at an Emeritus facility in Georgia. McAfee, 90, suffered from dementia. Records showed that no one was on duty in his wing for almost half an hour at the time of the incident, and the closet containing the liquid was unlocked. The state issued a fine of only $601. Emeritus CEO Granger Cobb, interviewed on the PBS program, called the incident tragic and attributed it to human error.

The program, a collaboration between Frontline and the investigative journalism organization ProPublica, went on to highlight other instances of alleged neglect and abuse, including residents who suffered sexual assault, froze to death, jumped out of a window and died, and died from bedsores. In March, a jury in California hit Emeritus with a $23 million punitive damages verdict for the death of an 81-year-old woman, who was found with severe bedsores. The family was awarded $4.1 million in compensatory damages, which was reduced to $500,000 under California law. Emeritus has said it plans to appeal the verdict.

The program highlighted sobering trends in senior care: an aging population with complex medical problems, the growing number of elderly with cognitive issues and family members who see assisted living facilities and their popular memory-care programs as the answer to sterile, hospital-like nursing homes for ailing relatives.

It reported that for-profit companies have entered the assisted-living business in droves because of high demand, little or no regulation compared with government oversight of skilled nursing facilities, and no limitations on fees or fee hikes. Monthly costs at assisted living facilities easily run in the thousands of dollars.

“Life and Death in Assisted Living” is sure to be an eye-opener and conversation starter for anyone caring for an elderly relative, and may well add to a call for greater state regulation of assisted living centers.

According to the National Center for Assisted Living, nine states made “major changes” between January 2012 and January 2013 to their policies relating to these senior-care communities.

Emeritus' shares were trading nearly flat at $23.25 on Wednesday, the day after the PBS program aired.

Follow Beth Kutscher on Twitter: @MHbkutscher