“I asked the nurse assistant why she left a ham sandwich with the nursing home resident on a mechanical diet – who then promptly choked to death – and she said, ‘I thought mechanical diet meant that he was a mechanic and they like ham sandwiches.'”

That is not a dark joke. That is actual testimony from a lawsuit against the nursing home that provided the wrong diet to a man with swallowing problems.

There is much I could say about this, but I’ll focus on the big picture. First, ninety-nine percent of all nursing home care is done by CNAs (certified nurse assistants), who are notoriously under-trained (minimum 2 weeks) and underpaid. Yet we turn life and death decisions over to them when they are caring for our most vulnerable.

Second, this is not going to get any better as Texas cuts Medicaid funding to our long-term care facilities and the state groups charged with being a watchdog over them.

Third, and the most frustrating of all, is that this case is not a Texas case, because in our legislature passed ‘tort reform’ in 2005 and pretty much eliminated the ability to bring these types of cases on behalf of the neglected and abused, or in most cases, their surviving family members. Follow the money from the pockets of insurance company lobbyists and you will understand why. I have said it before and I will continue to say it: it is open season on the elderly in Texas. This type of case never sees a courtroom, and the real cause of death may never even be known by the family.

Our legislature likes it that way.