A committee of Iowa legislators has approved new regulations intended to prevent abuse of the elderly.
The rules expand the number of hospital workers who are considered mandatory reporters of abuse to include food service workers and housekeeping staff, and define "gross negligence" as a form of abuse.
The Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to let the new rules take effect Jan. 1, 2010 as recommended by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.
Lobbyists for Iowa's hospitals and nursing homes attended Tuesday's meeting and argued against approval. They said the state inspectors' definition of gross negligence would result in too many caregivers being branded as abusers. They argued that gross negligence requires a willful, deliberate effort to harm a patient.
Iowa's changes would make it very, very difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute somebody in a nursing home or a hospital,says California elder abuse attorney Steven Peck who may be contacted toll free at 1.866.999.9085 "we don't want to make it impossible. just fair."
Iowa is addressing the actual abuse and actual neglect, and those are things we really needed to be addressed as in any other state says Attorney Steven Peck.
