Megan’s Law for nursing homes gaining traction in Harrisburg
A state lawmaker is making good on a promise to repair a flawed system that permits aging and ailing convicted sex offenders to quietly enter long-term care facilities — often unbeknownst to patients and staff — where some easily are finding their next victims.
A bill set to be introduced next week by state Rep. Rob Matzie, D-Ambridge, comes in response to a Tribune-Review investigation published last month detailing what experts termed a simmering crisis involving more than 900,000 sex offenders on Megan’s Law registries across the nation.
On Friday, Matzie said his measure — which has drawn widespread, bipartisan support — calls for nursing homes, adult daycare centers and personal care homes to vet new admissions through the state’s Megan’s Law registry, create patient safety plans to protect others from the offenders, and notify staff and residents when convicted sex offenders are admitted.
I don’t recall this article being posted late last month, but here is the referenced article which started the entire movement (with others ref’d at the bottom of it): Registered sex offenders often go undetected in care homes, sometimes at an unspeakable cost (https://triblive.com/local/regional/hidden-danger-registered-sex-offenders-often-go-undetected-in-care-homes/)
The PA house member in question can be found here (https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=1173) if interested in sharing your thoughts on the matter. Remember, be polite, short, and succinct. I personally would like to know how they’ll guarantee this won’t prevent people from being denied elder care if they have to also register…perhaps put it in the bill that this fact can’t be used against them.
Megan wasn’t killed at a nursing home and what does this bill have to do with protecting children. Just another empty suit wanting fame by coming after registrants!!
The argument about that is the fact that they worry about the grandkids coming to visit grandpa or grandma or both. “Or any place children may congregate”. On my residency restrictions it gets specific as to location, schools, parks, daycare centers, etc ad infinitum; and then it ends with that quote “or any place children may congregate”. Homeless shelters and storm shelters operate under the same quotation.
Can’t even die with a shred of dignity. If someone is in such poor health they need to live in a skilled nursing facility it’s pretty highly unlikely they’re trolling for victims
One of the guys at our house was in a nursing home in the Sarasota area. He’s in a wheelchair because of an amputation of his left leg. He is also a veteran. For some reason he never explained, he left the nursing home to live in Orlando. He’s 72, I’m 68 (69 in March) and the third guy is 57. All of us on the registry. Considering we cannot go to homeless shelters nor hurricane shelters because families with children are there, now nursing homes and hospices are locked up.
If he is an honorable discharged veteran the VA policy is SO’s get treated the same as other patients and no flag is to be put in their file. There are some living at the VA hospital nearby in the inpatient mental health. So not sure why he wouldn’t be able to stay there.
Seems like the VA won’t help with burial services for anyone with a SO. My state won’t even allow a PFR the morbid (ha!) job of preparing the dead.
According to the VA only SO’s who have been found guilty of a tier 3 and sentenced to life in prison are not eligible for burials.
From what he told us, he was not allowed to be buried at Arlington Cematery like much of his family there.
Probably three worst thing in the article is where the facility was given a large fine because it wasn’t in the patient’s file that he was on the registry.
Then later it says they don’t have to take people, they can turn people away.
No punishment to see here.
Well, if the aged sex offenders can’t be placed in a nursing home they will just have to live with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Wait, aren’t those the people that they are supposed to be staying away from?
As I understand it, they’re not banning registrants from nursing homes. They’re just creating the circumstance where it’s easier for nursing homes to reject them in the first place. Like how they don’t actually bar registrants from Facebook – that would be illegal (perish the thought).