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Feds: Massachusetts VA Nursing Home Showed ‘Blatant Disregard’ for Patient Safety

Inspectors at “one-star facility” found nurses “fast asleep” on the job, sick patients unattended.

A Department of Veterans Affairs nursing home in Brockton, Massachusetts, drew “significant concern” from federal investigators who believe the nurses and nursing assistants at the home display a “blatant disregard for veteran safety,” according to a joint Wednesday report from USA Today and the Boston Globe. That concern was expressed late last month in a letter to President Trump and Congress from the agency that protects whistleblowers, after nurses were found “fast asleep” during their shift—though they reportedly knew federal inspectors were coming—and ailing patients left unattended. This is far from the first time that the facility—which has the lowest possible rating from the VA—has faced scrutiny: In 2014, a doctor claimed that three veterans with serious mental-health problems went years without proper treatment, and that two were given psychotropic drugs. And it’s also not the only VA facility that has come under fire: In June, a USA Today and Globe report showed that 100 VA facilities nationwide ranked lower than private nursing homes on many “key quality indicators.”