Zenith of Negligence

In our capitalistic society, the almighty dollar is king and it's all about profit. Nothing wrong with that, except when it is carried to excess. Then the consequences can be disastrous.

A Senior Citizens care centre in Santa Ana, California - in their eagerness to make a quick buck - lost sight of their primary purpose, which was to provide care to the elderly. They overbooked their facility; and compounded the felony by cutting back on staff. Result: too few staff for the growing number on inmates, many of them suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia.

In a paricularly gruesome incident, a 90-year old man, suffering from Alzheimer's, was found dead in his room. Cause of death? A rat had crawled into his mouth and died there. The particularly shocking aspect of this incident is that a staff nurse actually saw the old getleman playing with the rat in his room and feeding it candy, but did not bother - or was too busy - to do anything about it. Can one even imagine the agony and the bewilderment and humiliation of the old man as the rat crawled into his mouth and stayed long enough to die there?

Of course, a lawsuit has been filed, but can anything compensate for a tragedy like this? It is not known if any action was taken the negligent staff member. In all probability, he will get away with a reprimand. Which is not as unfair as it sounds. It is his bosses - and their greed - who are the real culprits. And their obscene profits will, no doubt, come in handy for hiring a fancy lawyer to fight the lawsuit. If their conscience pricks them at all, they will soon get over it.

Meanwhile, a lonely old man will be quietly buried and quickly forgotten. This is the brave new world we live in.