Investigation reveals fatal neglect in San Diego assisted living facilities

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Sep 9, 2013

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Investigation reveals fatal neglect in San Diego assisted living facilities

A six-month investigation by the San Diego Union Tribune and the California Health Care Foundation pieced together some sobering information about the care of senior citizens.

Walter Bruening, at age 112 now considered the oldest man in the world, clasps his hands while doing a radio interview via phone at the Rainbow Assisted Living Facility on July 23, 2009 in Great Falls, Montana. Bruening, born Sept. 21, 1896 in Melrose Minnesota, inherited the title when Henry Allingham of England died last weekend. Breuning moved to Great Falls in 1918 with the expansion of the railroad and worked in the railroad business for 50 years. He says he stays healthy by eating just two meals per day and excercises by strolling the halls of the retirement home with the aid of a walker. He shuns medicine, except for one low-dose aspirin per day. His earliest memory is of hearing his grandfather talk about fighting as a Union soldier in the Civil War. Bruening has no living relatives. The Guinness World Records is expected to make the official announcement soon, after verifying his records.

A six-month investigation by the San Diego Union Tribune and the California Health Care Foundation pieced together some sobering information about the care of senior citizens.

State regulatory records indicate that hundreds of seniors in San Diego County have suffered injuries and illness due to poor care at assisted living facilities. Since 2008, at least 27 seniors have died because of the neglect.

For more on this, we're joined by Deborah Schoch, senior writer for the CHCF Center for Health Reporting.