The Public Perception of Nursing Home Care

Fifteen years ago, I wrote a piece in response to an exposé published in my local paper, the San Antonio Express-News, about one of our nation’s oldest older adults — a man living with dementia and Parkinson’s disease who had developed pressure ulcers that wouldn’t heal. The local outcry against the nursing home where he lived was loud and ugly (K. King, “Slow Action on Nursing Home Problems,” Feb. 14, 2010; “What to Do When They Bash Your Nursing Home,” Caring for the Ages 2010:11[7]:18–19).