To the editor:

Douglas Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney is to be commended for filing a second-degree murder charge against Timothy D. Harrell of Lawrence whose father died of pneumonia linked to deep, infected bed sores while he was in the “care” of his son.

Ironically, it had been suggested that Harrell place his father in a nursing home, where deaths of residents prompted by failure of care are all but ignored. State health officials may issue a citation, request a written plan of correction, as if murder can be corrected, and perhaps even issue a fine, which is often reduced and far too often never collected.

Recently, during a discussion about nursing homes, a nursing home administrator said to an advocate for nursing home reform, “If we didn’t have lobbyists, we would all be in jail.” My, my, isn’t that telling. That administrator would be well advised to position herself behind the Fifth Amendment. Nursing home owners and administrators should be charged with second-degree murder when they create an environment, because of their enchantment with the bottom line, in which old and vulnerable people die before their time.

This is outrageous, but who is going to stop this murder of the innocent? Not politicians who accept enormous campaign contributions from the nursing home industry. Not AARP nabobs, who claim to represent the interests of senior citizens in this county. Not the public, who looks the other way.

Some of us must take to the streets, singing “We Shall Overcome.”

Jane Marshall,

Clarksville, Tenn.