To the editor:

As a physician who has visited residents in all of the Lawrence nursing homes for more than 29 years, I was annoyed by the front-page article “Nursing homes: The good and the bad” (Journal-World, Jan. 20) about the quality of Kansas nursing homes.

First, the stock photo of a dark, barren, empty hallway and lone wheelchair was a cheap shot. All three of Lawrence’s nursing homes are brightly lit, comfortably furnished and cheerfully decorated.

In the third paragraph of the article were listed examples of serious deficiencies then a list of the number of deficiencies each of our local nursing homes received in the last survey. This implies that the deficiencies were directly related to the care or well-being of the residents. However, most deficiencies are of a much more minor nature — for example, missing a single daily check of a freezer’s temperature or leaving the cap off a shampoo bottle. After a survey, deficiencies are often corrected the same day and always within 30 days. In a hospital, a nurse may get reprimanded for leaving a bedrail down, thus putting the patient in danger of a fall. In a nursing home, one cannot even use a bedrail, as it is considered “a restraint.” Yet, if the patient falls, the nursing home gets a deficiency.

Labeling a nursing home “good” or “bad” according to the number of deficiencies is misleading. Ms. McFatrich is surprised that our nursing homes are not better. Anyone who has ever taken care of a frail elderly adult should be surprised how good our Lawrence nursing homes are.