Check Finds Convicts Among Caregivers

Using FBI records, government auditors conducted criminal background checks on 1,000 employees at eight Maryland nursing homes, finding that 5% of the workers had been convicted of crimes that “should raise concern over their employability,” a report says. The workers included nurses and nurse’s aides, food service workers, housekeepers and maintenance workers. Among the crimes found were assault, child abuse, robbery with a deadly weapon and illegal drug sales. The inspector general’s report noted similar findings in Illinois, the only state that has done its own criminal background checks of current nursing home employees. After 21,000 checks, Illinois found about 5% of workers were convicted criminals. Most have been fired. Senate Special Committee on Aging chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.) are among senators pushing for new laws that would require every nursing home to run checks on workers whose jobs regularly involve contact with residents.